Creating Nested Projects/Contexts while in quick entry or inbox
 

Hi everyone!!!

I am coming back to Omnifocus after trying Daylite and PersonalBrain to setup my GTD Workflow.

The dilemma that I have is being able to process items in "inbox / quick entry" in a very fast way.

I have a long hierarchy of Folders within folders that are within folders and projects / SAL within them.

This is good because it allows me to make sense of all my areas of focus, projects, subprojects, etc.

The problem comes when I am in quick entry or the inbox.

Imagine I have 15 items in the inbox. Now I have to process them and put them where they belong.

I have to take every item and on the left scroll to see to which project they belong to. This takes a long time because of my long hierarchy of folders/projects (I have used some scripts that Kurt provided to focus on folders that has helped for this) but...

The other issue is that even though when you are in quick entry / inbox you can create a "project" on the fly, I don't seem to be able to create that project INSIDE the hierarchy, in other words, can you create a project and place it inside a folder, that is inside a folder, WHILE you are inside the quick entry or the inbox?

When I create a project there, I find myself having to go to where the projects is and then position it where i want to in the hierarchy, thus defeating the purpose of me creating the project inside quick entry / inbox.

I hope that the way I am describing it make sense to you.

Thank you in advance for your help.

Edward

Yes, you can assign a project into a nested folder hierarchy. This feature is impressive but subtle.

Example:

Folder structure:
Home
-folder A
--folder b
---project A

to assign a task to project A from the inbox, tab over to the project field in the task, then start typing.

h:fa:fb:prA

then hit enter.

Depending on what your search results are as you type, you may have to change the letters that you type. However, you typically will not have to type out the entire folder/project.

You can also create a new project doing the same thing.
h:fa:fb:my new project
then command + enter

The only thing you can't do is assign an action into a projects hierarchy. I have a perspective that filters based on projects changed. I'll look at this perspective and move actions around in projects where I have a hierarchy and need to organize the actions.

SpiralOcean, THANKS!!! It worked like a charm.

Being able to process actions directly on the inbox/quick entry when having to create a new projects is a very important aspect of my workflow and did not know how to do it or even if it was possible.

The other thing about adding actions to already created projects while on the inbox/quick entry created the issue of having to "find or navigate" to that project and reorganize the actions and your "changed project perspective" addressed that issue with spades....thanks.

This is how I created that perspective:

Project View
Side bar hidden
Grouping by "Changed"
Sorting by "changed"
Any Satus
Any duration
Any flag state



Is that the way you have that perspective?

Thanks again for your great help.

Edward

Glad this is useful for you.

I have my changed set up like yours, only, I have the side bar visible, my availability is set to remaining, my projects are set to active.

Thanks again SpiralOcean. This is great for me.

I am curious, if you have this perspective to be able to rearrange newly added actions, why would you have the sidebar open?

I am only asking just in case I will be missing an important functionality that because this is my first time using this perspective I can not foresee right now.

Thanks,

Edward

No functional reason. I often prefer seeing the projects in the left side. Probably because I glance over there to make sure the library folder is selected and I am seeing all projects. Or, if I want a "soft" focus on a folder to view the changed projects in that folder, it's one less step to click on the folder rather than showing the project sidebar and then clicking.

Thanks!!!

Makes a lot of sense.

SpiralOcean, I really appreciate your help.

Edward