OmniFocus 1.5 Wish List
 

I am starting the official one (cause I can't find it anywhere)

1) Stats - In any view or filter, show me at the bottom how many projects / tasks / contexts. Show me how much I got done last week, last month, last year in terms of tasks and projects. Give me a quick view of how many projects are active, on hold, pending, completed, etc. Give me data, for I need to breath.

2) iPhone Integration - 'nuff said (ahemSDKahem).

3) Update the API to allow for differences (look to problems with ToodleDo <--> OmniFocus sync).

4) Sorting Done Better - Like auto sorting folders when I drop new things into it.

5) Speed - It is already getting pokey on my 24" iMac Core Duo with 2GB of RAM. That is wrong.

BZ

(6) Inherited due dates: In any sequential project/group, a later action with a due date forces all previous actions to be due that same time (unless they already have an earlier due date).

(7) Folders can contain single actions directly -or- a checkbox to hide/show single-action lists in Planning mode.

8) the ability to generate good looking printed reports (completed tasks, task by a particular context or project)

9) stronger and more varied export capabilities. [URL="http://forums.omnigroup.com/showthread.php?p=32492#post32492"](see: export woes)[/URL]

2) iPhone integrartion?

In what way would you like the integration? The iPhone doesn't have a to do list, does it?

[QUOTE=pvonk;32517]2) iPhone integrartion?

In what way would you like the integration? The iPhone doesn't have a to do list, does it?[/QUOTE]

I basically want what [url]http://www.Toodledo.com/slim/[/url] has but in an application that syncs. I want to be able to enter in projects, do review, add tasks, sort, filter, etc all on my iPhone.

BZ

10) If I enter a start date and time using the calendar, I want to be able to tab to the due date entry field without first having to click out of the calendar

11) Also, for those few dates that will fit from the previous and prior months in the calendar, please show them!

12) If I change the start date to something later than the due date, also update the due date - at the moment it is possible to have nonsensical date entry where the start is after the due date.

13) Keyboard shortcuts to move back and forth through the months in the calendar.

[QUOTE=Craig;32514](6) Inherited due dates: In any sequential project/group, a later action with a due date forces all previous actions to be due that same time (unless they already have an earlier due date).[/QUOTE]
14) Similarly, if you have nested actions, the parent should adopt the earliest start and latest due dates of the children.

15) The ability to have iCal entries as events rather than to dos, with the ability to assign alarm(s) by default. This is important for phone synching reasons, where to do support is very limited in some phones.

Things that I have asked for already: -

16). I would like to be able to re-size the Start and Due columns in Context mode. At the moment, on a laptop with a 12" screen, the dates break onto two lines

17). Imagine the following: -

You use quick entry to add an item to a single action list called Next Actions and you don't enter a context.

You are using OF maximised (especially needed on a small screened laptop).

When you next go into OF the item may be at the bottom of the list. When you tab across to the context and start typing it in the list of contexts can fall off the end of the screen. This is especially the case when there are sub contexts e.g.

@Town: ABC Store
@Town: Books-R-Us
@Town: Camera Centre
etc.

18). I think that Omnifocus would benefit from Growl notification on receiving an email

19). It would be nice to have a shortcut command or toolbar button for Clear Perspective

I haven't asked for this: -

20). Better sorting - the ability to sort in a single action list in Planning mode to see which context you should be working in to get the most important thing done

21). Alarms when things are due

Andy

[QUOTE=BwanaZulia;32508]1) Stats - In any view or filter, show me at the bottom how many projects / tasks / contexts. Show me how much I got done last week, last month, last year in terms of tasks and projects. Give me a quick view of how many projects are active, on hold, pending, completed, etc. Give me data, for I need to breath.

2) iPhone Integration - 'nuff said (ahemSDKahem).

[snip...]

5) Speed - It is already getting pokey on my 24" iMac Core Duo with 2GB of RAM. That is wrong.[/QUOTE]

I'd especially love to see these three. In fact, I'd place the speed request as my number one item, with the other two close behind.

I also already requested that when right-clicking on the Dock icon, to arrange the list of Contexts hierarchically as is done in the sidebar of the Context mode. Right now, the list is flat and very long.

[QUOTE=JKT;32523]10) If I enter a start date and time using the calendar, I want to be able to tab to the due date entry field without first having to click out of the calendar

11) Also, for those few dates that will fit from the previous and prior months in the calendar, please show them!

12) If I change the start date to something later than the due date, also update the due date - at the moment it is possible to have nonsensical date entry where the start is after the due date.

13) Keyboard shortcuts to move back and forth through the months in the calendar.[/QUOTE]

The Calendar widget we're using now is the stock Apple one. It has many things that are not the best... (what does a diamond mean? why is "today" always blue, but my selection gray?).

More wishes
 

22) Alarm on actions, ie. like in iCal

23) Automatic sync with iCal

24) I use OmniFocus during programming to easy make notes and report bugs, it would be great if OmniFocus supported automatic import/export to Trac and Team Foundation Server (Microsoft Work Items)


+ iPhone client!!!!!!!!!!!!

(25) Linked files in notes include the filename next to the icon.

[QUOTE=Craig;32558](25) Linked files in notes include the filename next to the icon.[/QUOTE]

As long as it can be turned off. There is little enough screen space on a 12" Powerbook

26) I'd like to be able to reorder my columns (so I can have the note flag on the left.) I use notes a lot and it's a lot of mousing to have the icon way over on the right.

(I also prefer the standard way of column resizing.)

Adding up "estimated time"
 

I would like to have a small box that adds up the total estimated times for any specified time period.

So if Look at the view "Due this week" I can see how any hours work I have scheduled.

Graham

26) Robust repeating actions (i.e. repeat on M, T, W OR repeat 1st tuesday of every month OR every 2 weeks OR repeat every Monday and Friday at 5:00am)

n+1) Possibility to mark individual actions as 'Dropped'.

#27.

Multiple contexts!!

... and of course, definitely a full fledged, fully synch-able OmniFocus application for the iPhone.

- Art

[QUOTE=steve;32570]26) Robust repeating actions (i.e. repeat on M, T, W OR repeat 1st tuesday of every month OR every 2 weeks OR repeat every Monday and Friday at 5:00am)[/QUOTE]

+1!!

That's #1 on my wish list.

iCal Sync Options
 

#27 (I think) - Sync Option

I was setting up OmniFocus to sync with iCal and got to the part where you map contexts in OmniFocus to calendars in iCal. In my world that's like pairing apples to oranges (or PCs?). I'd like to see a choice of being able to sync context or project or grouping (my preference).

(I posted this elsewhere until I discovered the comprehensive wish list. Sorry about that.)

28) A Completed Date column.

Ability to see (everything due that day) in one window
 

Please, please, please!

Ability to see (everything due that day) in one window:
* Next action
* Flagged task
* Items that have a date that become due that day

Please, please, please!

29) Global find (even if you are hoisted on a particular project. . .[URL="http://forums.omnigroup.com/showthread.php?t=7118"]relevant discussion[/URL])

30) add a preference to keep the projects column sorted by name, date, status (currently, you have to do this manually.

I would really like to have OF email me a snapshot of things to do or next actions at a user-defined interval (every day, every week, or whatnot). This would help me with my daily review in the morning since i interact so much via email. I could email to myself, and it would also help people who have windows at work.

31?) As a follow up to kimomni, the ability to have a perspective show flagged tasks and tasks due in the next day or so. That's my "important" bucket but there's no way to use OR logic in combining filters (show tasks where flagged = true or due date is in next day). This would be huge!

32) Better handling of context menus in the project/context bar. It's not easy to add a task list, for example. You have to deselect everything, then add the list, then move it where you want it. It should be possible to just add it from the right click menu in one step, but it's not an available menu option.

I also second the call for a "Clear perspectives" toolbar or keyboard shortcut. Sometimes you make a tweak here or there and you don't realize how things are filtered until you clear everything.

I also second the call for the search to be global, not focused on your current context or project. Or at least make it a selectable option. It's not often that I'm searching for just the current context or project (because if I'm in it, I can usually see everything I need). I'm usually searching for something somewhere else, either because a phone call came in or something popped into my head.

33) Better export options - the ability to export to OmniOutliner, to export individual projects or contexts, etc. There's a thread on this elsewhere but I don't have time to find the link.

34) Not for 1.5 probably, but I would like to have an ability to save sets of actions as "Masters" so that I can add them to new projects as they arise. What do I mean?

Well, if I am going to a conference on business, I have a set of tasks that are going to be more or less the same each time (e.g. pack passport, boarding pass, toiletries, clothing, business cards, laptop, etc) under the same group heading of "Packing". So if I could create this group just once, then store it as a "Master" group, when I next go to a conference, I could drag it across and drop it on that conference's project thus saving me from having to duplicate it or recreate it each time.

This would be something akin to the stencils palette in OmniGraffle, only for tasks/actions.

JKT,

export
-------
Here is a [URL="http://forums.omnigroup.com/showthread.php?p=32666#post32666"]link[/URL] to some concerns about export

Masters
---------
Curt Clifton created a great script called Populate Template placeholders found [URL="http://www.rose-hulman.edu/~clifton/software.html#PopTemp"]here[/URL] but I think it should be baked in.

[QUOTE=steve;32694]29) Global find (even if you are hoisted on a particular project. . .[URL="http://forums.omnigroup.com/showthread.php?t=7118"]relevant discussion[/URL])[/QUOTE]

Hmm, I can understand how non-global searches might be confusing, but losing the ability to search just the current sidebar selection or a focused/hoisted item is _not_ a good trade-off. I don't know what the solution is, but it's not to forced searches across the whole database in all cases. I used these limited searches all the time and it would be a great disappoint to lose the capability, especially considering performance is much better with a smaller data set.

[QUOTE=Craig;32558](25) Linked files in notes include the filename next to the icon.[/QUOTE]

Yup. Even better: handle links/references to files the same way OmniOutliner does. I often add web links or links to local PDFs to a task and if I have more than one of those I can't tell them apart, as they don't even show a tooltip.

[QUOTE=otter;32606]#27.

Multiple contexts!!

- Art[/QUOTE]

Yes, I'm missing this, too!

Just to clarify this: It would be wonderful if I could add multiple contexts to a single action. Just like having multiple labels in Google Mail.

Thank you for considering this feature!

Best regards,
Rauchbier

35). The ability to hide chosen sub-contexts from perspective views

36). Clicking any where in the task are selects the task, whilst double clicking edits the text.

37). The option to auto timestamp all actions

[QUOTE=Dogsbreath;32755]37). The option to auto timestamp all actions[/QUOTE]

If you open the Inspector, you can see timestamps for when each action or project was added and changed. Do you want something more?

38) A bit more fuzzy logic and/or increased shortcut menu for date entry recognition (e.g. a typo like "tomm" should be recognised as meaning tomorrow, as should be "tomo"; a correct entry like "tues" or "thurs" should be recognised as meaning Tuesday and Thursday respectively; "nd" and "nw" as next day and next week, etc.).


(Steve - thanks for adding the export link and for the pointer to Curt's AS... I can't check it out yet as I am away on business ;-)

39) A sort of Omnifocus HUD would be great. Growl notifications are so transient!

it would be great to have something like a floating, next-action(s)-based-on-context HUD up while I'm drilling through e-mails in mail.app.

[QUOTE=Toadling;32731]Hmm, I can understand how non-global searches might be confusing, but losing the ability to search just the current sidebar selection or a focused/hoisted item is _not_ a good trade-off. I don't know what the solution is, but it's not to forced searches across the whole database in all cases. I used these limited searches all the time and it would be a great disappoint to lose the capability, especially considering performance is much better with a smaller data set.[/QUOTE]

I think the answer is to have both options available, with the ability to select which is active via a dropdown in the search box. Exactly like how Safari shows recent searches in the Google search box.

The ability to automatically bump up uncompleted items with past due dates to a new due date.

Right now if I have iCal set to "Hide Items Outside of Calendar View" your past undone items disappear forever! And to show all the items means I'm staring at dozens of to-dos, most of which I can't even act on yet!

[QUOTE=alexius;32853]39) A sort of Omnifocus HUD would be great. Growl notifications are so transient!

it would be great to have something like a floating, next-action(s)-based-on-context HUD up while I'm drilling through e-mails in mail.app.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, Growl notifications aren't really designed for this sort of thing. But OmniFocus can already do what you're looking for without Growl. Just create a custom perspective with a small window size. I do this all the time and it works great.

40) A Quicksilver plug-in. (More detail [URL="http://forums.omnigroup.com/showthread.php?t=4674"]in this thread[/URL].)

[QUOTE=Toadling;32860]Just create a custom perspective with a small window size. I do this all the time and it works great.[/QUOTE]

Thanks for the suggestion -- I tried this but it doesn't do what I'm asking for. The window is still quite large and I would love an option to have the next action 'float' above mail.

[QUOTE=alexius;32942]Thanks for the suggestion -- I tried this but it doesn't do what I'm asking for. The window is still quite large and I would love an option to have the next action 'float' above mail.[/QUOTE]

Still quite large? Did you try resizing the window before saving it as a perspective? Perspectives preserve window dimensions. They also preserve the size of the sidebar, the state of the toolbar, and the View bar. So you could collapse all those as well. I don't think a window can get much smaller.

As for it not floating, that's about the only thing you can't achieve with Perspectives as they are now.

[QUOTE=brianogilvie;32761]If you open the Inspector, you can see timestamps for when each action or project was added and changed. Do you want something more?[/QUOTE]

No, you are right Brian, that's sufficient.

[QUOTE=Dan;32859]The ability to automatically bump up uncompleted items with past due dates to a new due date.

Right now if I have iCal set to "Hide Items Outside of Calendar View" your past undone items disappear forever! And to show all the items means I'm staring at dozens of to-dos, most of which I can't even act on yet![/QUOTE]

I bet it would be pretty straightforward to make an toolbar applescript for this.

[QUOTE=Lucas;33012]I bet it would be pretty straightforward to make an toolbar applescript for this.[/QUOTE]
See [URL="http://forums.omnigroup.com/showthread.php?t=7057"]this thread[/URL] for my Defer script -- I think it does exactly what you're looking for.

More info, screenshots, and script download [URL="http://bylr.net/3/2008/02/omnifocus-defer-script/"]here[/URL].

Archive completed projects
 

I would like the option to send completed projects & actions to an archive so they no-longer appear in the main windows or review perspective. The archive should be available & searchable for reference as needed. I want them out of site unless I need them.

[QUOTE=lennie;33054]I would like the option to send completed projects & actions to an archive so they no-longer appear in the main windows or review perspective. The archive should be available & searchable for reference as needed. I want them out of site unless I need them.[/QUOTE]

This isn't really needed as OmniFocus already provides this functionality in a much more elegant way. Simply mark finished projects as Completed. Then set your view bar to display only Active projects (the default). Completed projects are then hidden from view and don't show up in the window.

If you want to look at your finished projects, just switch your View Bar to display Completed projects. You can search across them as well.

One of the advantages of this approach is that OF allows you to see completed items in the context (lowercase c) of all your other items or isolated if you prefer. It's much more flexible than moving them into a separate archive!

You may not need this feature but I would like to have the option to move select items to an archive.Trying to fully utilize OF as a GTD tool, I can easily see thousands of completed projects amongst hundreds of active ones.
Filtering works great to hide or reveal all items with the same status. However I want more control. As an example. I have no need to see the completed project "Take wife to opera" a year after it has been completed. I would like this to be archived. I do not want to delete this in case I need it years later when my wife accuses me of never taking her any where.
There are other complete projects which I do not want to archive. Several home remodeling projects are complete. I want to filter these out daily work in OF. I do not want to archive them as I am considering placing my home on the market. I want ready access to the info.

To avoid having hundreds or thousands of completed projects cluttering up my active work space over tine, I have been deleting completed items that I don't think I will need. The problem is now they are gone and no longer available for reference. I am looking for a way to file away the records that will be used infrequently (if at all).

[QUOTE=lennie;33081]You may not need this feature but I would like to have the option to move select items to an archive.Trying to fully utilize OF as a GTD tool, I can easily see thousands of completed projects amongst hundreds of active ones.
Filtering works great to hide or reveal all items with the same status. However I want more control. As an example. I have no need to see the completed project "Take wife to opera" a year after it has been completed. I would like this to be archived. I do not want to delete this in case I need it years later when my wife accuses me of never taking her any where.
There are other complete projects which I do not want to archive. Several home remodeling projects are complete. I want to filter these out daily work in OF. I do not want to archive them as I am considering placing my home on the market. I want ready access to the info.

To avoid having hundreds or thousands of completed projects cluttering up my active work space over tine, I have been deleting completed items that I don't think I will need. The problem is now they are gone and no longer available for reference. I am looking for a way to file away the records that will be used infrequently (if at all).[/QUOTE]

OK, why not create an "Archive" folder in Planning Mode and move old, completed projects into it when you don't want to see them anymore? You could even mark the folder as "Dropped" to make it inactive so you'll only see it when displaying "All Projects".

Again, it seems like everything you're asking for already exists in one way or another. The only difference is the current implementation isn't dedicated to the purpose you describe (i.e. it's flexible enough to do what you want and still fill a variety of other roles).

I agree with Toadlings suggestions, and offer the following suggestion to lennie regarding archiving projects that he want completely out of OF. Before deleting the project, select it, export as CSV, import into a spreadsheet, confirm that you got what you wanted, and then delete the project from OF.

FWIW, I'm sure that Omni is already looking at an archive feature. No system can scale without limit; and, for performance reasons, OF will eventually need this capability.

<tongue-in-cheek>And if you need OmniFocus's archive to demonstrate to your wife that you do, in fact, take her somewhere, I think your problems go far beyond what a to-do and project management program can handle....</tongue-in-cheek>

41) Make a project inspector for what to do with completed projects. Options like Delete (send to trash), Nothing (just like it does today) and Archive (which sends it to a predefined folder)

It would also be helpful to have this on tasks. This would be great for projects/tasks that repeat all the time and have little to no use of keeping all the archived versions (Weekly Review).

BZ

42). Some sort of highlight in a task when the notes section contains a link to somewhere else within OF

Proper Waiting For
 

43) A nice "Waiting For" section

Yes, you can hack it with actions + context, but it breaks from the GTD model. In reality, I just don't like this form

44) Someday/Maybe List

I use omni-outliner right now, so some kind of integration like that would be fine, just a list, maybe add an option to add tags for sorting (aka, I have a list of books I want to read, instead of always having to group them, I can just search on books and everything tagged that way shows up).

I just use 2 Single Action lists for Waiting For and Someday/Maybe

Action templates
 

I don't know if this has been posted as a wish yet, but I'd like to see some kind of template feature for actions. Let me explain...

I run several websites and blogs and for the purpose of getting traffic to them I do certain actions regularly. These sets of actions are basically the same across all websites. For example, I would post in forums related to my websites' topic once a week.

Now, if I create a new project for a new website, I have to create all these actions in that project. I know I can duplicate them from another project, but I'd like a single place where I can store and manage sets of actions that I can add to a project with a click.

Thanks
Tom

Tom, it has been requested, but always good to have another vote.

Check out Cliff's scripts for doing this:

[url]http://www.rose-hulman.edu/~clifton/software.html[/url]

45) The ability to enter a project into the Quick Tool (pop up) and pick a folder while doing it. I find I create a project there and it sits at the end of my folders. If I could pick the folder (maybe with a : ) that would be great.

46) Auto sorting project folders. Again, as I drag things in and out of folders, I want it to sort projects by alpha, automatically. This should be a folder level preference.

BZ

I have to say, I hope Omni folks are readings this thread - it's a GREAT consolidation of terrific feature requests IMO.

47) Smart Folders— I would love to see smart folders implemented like in the mail.app or itunes. I can't remember if anyone has put tags in this list, but you could create fake tags by putting &agenda, &fred in the item description and then search for that.

48). I would like the perspective that I am currently in to turn off when I click on an item in the left hand pane automatically

[QUOTE=Dogsbreath;33200]48). I would like the perspective that I am currently in to turn off when I click on an item in the left hand pane automatically[/QUOTE]

Wouldn't that prevent you from viewing different combinations of items when a Perspective is active? Or am I misunderstanding you?

Quick View support in Leopard.

[QUOTE=villageboy;33223]Quick View support in Leopard.[/QUOTE]

You mean Quick Look support of the OmniFocus database file? Does anybody work with a significant number of database files that this would be useful? I use only one database, so this doesn't seem to be of much value to me.

Or do you mean Quick Look support of linked files? OmniFocus already supports that.

[QUOTE=Toadling;33201]Wouldn't that prevent you from viewing different combinations of items when a Perspective is active? Or am I misunderstanding you?[/QUOTE]

If I am clicking outside of the perspective it is usually because I have finished in that perspective. I tend to scroll up and down the list and look at the whole perspective when I am in a perspective, but perhaps other are using it differently.

What I have done in the absence of a button to clear perspective is just created a perspective that lloks at the library in planning view and put a button for it on the toolbar.

Andy

49). Remove the need to print out the project name especially in a Single Action List where the project name is the same

50). Columnar printing of Actions

51). Ability to force font size when printing out especially to 5x3 cards, which I struggle to read in 5x3 portrait, but which come out nicely in 5x3 landscape, but take up too many cards on a long list.

If request 49 were acted upon this might improve the portrait printing situation.

[QUOTE=Dogsbreath;33247]If I am clicking outside of the perspective it is usually because I have finished in that perspective. I tend to scroll up and down the list and look at the whole perspective when I am in a perspective, but perhaps other are using it differently.[/QUOTE]

What do you mean by "clicking outside of the perspective"? Clicking in the sidebar of the perspective's window? If so, I certainly wouldn't want a click in the sidebar to clear the perspective! That defeats a large part of the "focus" aspect in OmniFocus! That ability to narrow down your view by eliminating irrelevant items (e.g. by selecting specific items in the sidebar) is central to the software's design. Why on earth would you want to eliminate that? And if you aren't using that feature, you're really missing out!

[QUOTE=Dogsbreath;33247]What I have done in the absence of a button to clear perspective is just created a perspective that lloks at the library in planning view and put a button for it on the toolbar.[/QUOTE]

That's certainly a valid solution - nothing wrong with that. You could also select the Perspectives->Revert to Default View menu option.

Or just set your Perspectives to always open in a new window. That way your main window always stays in your original state.

[QUOTE=Dogsbreath;33248]49). Remove the need to print out the project name especially in a Single Action List where the project name is the same[/QUOTE]

If I understand, you are suggesting making the Project column optional in Context Mode?

I agree, that would be a nice addition. I'd like to be able to turn it off for some of my tiny perspective windows where it's really not important. It seems like it should be toggle-able from the list of options under View->Columns.

Toadling

Yes, clicking in the sidebar of the perspective's window, perhaps on another context outside of the perspective.

Bear in mind what I said earlier. [I select a perspective and] scroll up an down in the perspective. I do what tasks I can in that perspective, but sometimes I want to look at another perspective or context easily which may relate to a location that I will be at later.

a few more ideas ;)
 

hi there... a few more suggestions for upcoming versions of omnicfocus. i already forwarded some of the ideas in a loose way to the omnifolks but also wanted to place the ideas in here for further discussions and in the case you like refinement ;)


52)
lists and perspectives are kind of abstract so far. most people are bit more visually oriented. so why not face that fact and create a third view called "focus". its just a aproximate idea so far. much space for tweaking and visual presentation. but i would recommend create a dynamic view in the veine of 43 folders. with a monthly view with squares for each day of the month like e.g. in ical and additional squares for the next 11 month and one square even further into the future.

1-31 (january)

february
march
april
may
june
july
august
september
oktober
november
december

further future ;)


new tasks with existing due dates should be sorted into the corresponding squares.

tasks and projects without any starting or due dates should be presented in todays square

you can take a closer look in each square. there in contrast to planning and context mode you should be able to change the order of the shown tasks and projects so you are able to change the running order of tasks of the day. on your daily or weekly review you are able to change the running order respectively to the importance of the tasks.

and you are also still able to filter by perspective to narrow down todays tasks to-do

53)
Additionally it would be nice if not only to-dos from ical are synced but also dates. cuz overall each date inflicts also a task to perform. maybe new dates could be automatically imported into the inbox for further assignment to contexts and projects. only the due date and time set in ical should be put in task in the inbox already

54)
sub contexts should be creatable via apple+return. so far you are only able to create contexts. but it is impossible to create:

home : phone

home
phone

directly you only get a context called "home : phone" instead a context home with a subcontext phone.

More requests...
 

1. Change the appearance of the view bar to something that has [B]more contrast[/B], such as black text on the grey background. Better yet, some other color that is not so depressing. Either way, do something that [B]makes the text stand out[/B].

2. Have the projects in the left panel grey when there are no available next actions. Alternatively, show the number of next actions available for each project.

3. Have OF provide an [B]RSS feed[/B] that summarizes what is going on by project, by time (i.e., today, soon, and so on), what's past due. The idea is to make it easier to see what the lay of the land is without having to consult OF. This would also ennoble one to include the OF needs in a [B]personal dashboard[/B].

[QUOTE=rtalexander;33349]1. Change the appearance of the view bar to something that has [B]more contrast[/B], such as black text on the grey background. Better yet, some other color that is not so depressing. Either way, do something that [B]makes the text stand out[/B].[/QUOTE]

Hmm, I prefer it the way it is. I don't think it should have any more visual weight than it already has.

[QUOTE=rtalexander;33349]2. Have the projects in the left panel grey when there are no available next actions. Alternatively, show the number of next actions available for each project.[/QUOTE]

I like this idea. It would be nice to have.

[QUOTE=rtalexander;33349]3. Have OF provide an [B]RSS feed[/B] that summarizes what is going on by project, by time (i.e., today, soon, and so on), what's past due. The idea is to make it easier to see what the lay of the land is without having to consult OF. This would also ennoble one to include the OF needs in a [B]personal dashboard[/B].[/QUOTE]

I can understand the desire for a "dashboard", but why RSS? Do you want to share your data with others or access it when you're away from your main machine? Why force users to look at a feed reader to view their OF data? Why not just look at OF itself?

[QUOTE=Toadling;33356]Hmm, I prefer it the way it is. I don't think it should have any more visual weight than it already has.
[/QUOTE]

I certainly understand this position. However, for me at least, this is a usability issue. Unfortunately I have a visual impairment that makes it very difficult to discern the text on the view bar in the current color scheme. Perhaps this could be added as an preference option.



[QUOTE=Toadling;33356]I can understand the desire for a "dashboard", but why RSS? Do you want to share your data with others or access it when you're away from your main machine? Why force users to look at a feed reader to view their OF data? Why not just look at OF itself?[/QUOTE]

I just want a very simple view with nothing distracting. For me at least, I find the OF interface to be very heavy and too busy when all I want to do is see what's going on. As for RSS, no, I do not want to make it available from other machines. Having a [I]local[/I] RSS feed would afford the flexibility to get that simple view using a news reader or web browser.

I just had an idea as I was reinstalling DocStar--I wonder if docstar-like badging-flexibility would be useful in for the OF dock icon. If I see counts by a particular CONTEXT or PROJECT as a badge, I could make badging more useful. (I have no idea how the menu-bar icon could work).

Right now, the li'l white # in red really only tells me how far I am behind GENERALLY, or how far I am about to be behind (75, recently 85). I LIKE the badge--I look at it often--but it has lost some of its value (the difference between 75 and 25 is nothing when it comes to task management).

So then,

54) Some flexibility around some of the badge data could help that.

(sorry if this one has been posted, I looked, I really did!)

-Scott

[QUOTE=rtalexander;33366]I just want a very simple view with nothing distracting. For me at least, I find the OF interface to be very heavy and too busy when all I want to do is see what's going on.[/QUOTE]

Have you tried customizing your window layout in OmniFocus? You can turn off the view bar, the toolbar, and even the sidebar. You can also turn off all of the optional columns and resize your window down, resulting in a nice, compact list of actions.

That layout can be saved as a perspective, so you can return to it easily in the future when you want the "dashboard" view, and the original layout can be saved as another perspective for when you want to do more detailed planning.

Does that help?

[QUOTE=rtalexander;33349]1. Change the appearance of the view bar to something that has [B]more contrast[/B], such as black text on the grey background. Better yet, some other color that is not so depressing. Either way, do something that [B]makes the text stand out[/B].
[/QUOTE]

Have you ever looked at an app called Midnight Inbox?

That struck me as one of the most attractive GTD apps that I have seen. I just wasn't keen on how it worked.

Printing
 

I would love to see OF integrate pagepacker printing, I feel this is the best way to take the GTD system with you if one does not own a iphone or itouch.

Regards,

Jack

55) Spell checking in all text entries.

Timestamp / Completed Date column
 

[QUOTE=crispyking;32663]28) A Completed Date column.[/QUOTE]

It would be *extremely* useful to me to be able to see (and PRINT or otherwise export) a view of completed tasks/projects, organized by when they were done.

I have to account generally for what projects/tasks I'm completing each week, and it would help so much if OmniFocus could help me compile a weekly report showing what I completed by date/time.

Thank you!

I assume that filtering the Context mode by Completed actions to display only completed actions isn't adequate - do you need more granularity?

[img]http://homepage.mac.com/jtyzack/.Pictures/screenshots/OFcompletedfilt.jpg[/img]

I think something like this might have already been requested, but I can't spot it on a quick look:

56) A calendar view where you can see what actions are due (and for the poster above) or completed on that date or on a selection of dates.

Admittedly, this is getting into project planning mode, rather than following the GTD philosophy, but it is how some of us are using it.

[QUOTE=JKT;33569]I think something like this might have already been requested, but I can't spot it on a quick look:

56) A calendar view where you can see what actions are due (and for the poster above) or completed on that date or on a selection of dates.

Admittedly, this is getting into project planning mode, rather than following the GTD philosophy, but it is how some of us are using it.[/QUOTE]

i suggested something similar. one page before on page 8. in suggestion 52 and 53. especially 52 would consider the point you have mentioned but would also stick to the gtd philosophy at the same time ;) what do you think ? ;)

I guess my quick look was [I]too[/I] quick. ;)

Another Request
 

57) The ability to print in black and white.

Showing various colours to identify next actions, due actions, etc, is all well and good, but if you only have a black-and-white printer, the results are quite hard to read. All you get is various shades of gray, so you can't tell the difference between the various colours any more -- and the printout is dithered to the point where small text becomes almost unreadable.

Colour is great on the screen, but not (necessarily) when printed out.

- Erik.

PS: There is, in the OmniFocus "Page Setup" options, a checkbox to print only in black and white, but that checkbox doesn't do anything -- I've got it checked, and my printouts are still coming out in colour. Can this be fixed, please?

feature request: outlining in notes
 

As I understand it, if I put any items under a task, they become a group and OF sees them all as tasks, except for the top level item, which becomes the group header.

I would really like to have the option to either:

1. Create an outline of notes -- not tasks -- with collapsable headings as part of the notes of a task..or...

2. Be able to toggle off the group feature so that sub-tasks are notes rather than tasks.

Thanks!

[QUOTE=Jody Severson;33746]

...snip...I would really like to have the option to either:

1. Create an outline of notes -- not tasks -- with collapsable headings as part of the notes of a task..or...snip..
[/QUOTE]

Although they wouldn't be collapsable you could always press return after the first line of notes then tab to indent for an outline

[QUOTE=Dogsbreath;33760]Although they wouldn't be collapsable you could always press return after the first line of notes then tab to indent for an outline[/QUOTE]

Or create your notes in OmniOuliner and either link them into the OmniFocus note field or copy the document in and store it within the database.

Everything due on a given day
 

[QUOTE=kimomni;32681]Please, please, please!

Ability to see (everything due that day) in one window:
* Next action
* Flagged task
* Items that have a date that become due that day

Please, please, please![/QUOTE]

And, of course the ability to print it. Yes!

Thanks, in advance....

Printing B&W
 

[QUOTE=erik_westra;33623]57) The ability to print in black and white.

Showing various colours to identify next actions, due actions, etc, is all well and good, but if you only have a black-and-white printer, the results are quite hard to read. All you get is various shades of gray, so you can't tell the difference between the various colours any more -- and the printout is dithered to the point where small text becomes almost unreadable.

Colour is great on the screen, but not (necessarily) when printed out.
[/QUOTE]

Erik,

You CAN print documents in black & white. In the print dialog, under Colorsync, choose Quartz filter and B&W or gray, or sepia, or whatever you want. Not sure if this will work with all printers, but it does on mine (not a B&W, BTW). You can save these settings as a Preset in the print dialog and make sure it's chosen every time you print to that printer.

Does it work for yours?

Aaron

Filter by Energy Level
 

60) The ability to set energy level required for an action. This might be a radio button set in the inspector (high, med, low) but would probably be most useful as a simple boolean. Could be similar to the "flag" - a quick click in the action row to indicate that this action requires minimal brain activity to complete. Then in context mode, the available actions could be filtered such that only the low-energy (or high energy) actions are shown.

David Allen talks about having this no-brain list on p. 194 of GTD: "I recommend that you always keep an inventory of things that need to be done that require very little mental or creative horsepower. When you're in one of those low-energy states, do them."

[QUOTE=JKT;33569]I think something like this might have already been requested, but I can't spot it on a quick look:

56) A calendar view where you can see what actions are due (and for the poster above) or completed on that date or on a selection of dates.

Admittedly, this is getting into project planning mode, rather than following the GTD philosophy, but it is how some of us are using it.[/QUOTE]

I'd like to second this suggestion. I have a number of tasks with specific due dates and I would love to have an "at a glance" view, where all tasks with specific due dates show up on a calendar.

I currently use a saved perspective sorted by due date (so I have groupings like "Due Today", "Due tomorrow", etc) but that doesn't have the same feel as a visual calendar.

Aaron - while you can print in b&w, it doesn't help to differentiate between e.g. red coloured and orange coloured entries as they look near identical. I think Erik probably wants a b&w printing feature that will e.g. mark overdue and due entries differently (e.g. a x and a tick perhaps) so that you can easily differentiate them.

[QUOTE=Captain Tex;34002]I'd like to second this suggestion. I have a number of tasks with specific due dates and I would love to have an "at a glance" view, where all tasks with specific due dates show up on a calendar.

I currently use a saved perspective sorted by due date (so I have groupings like "Due Today", "Due tomorrow", etc) but that doesn't have the same feel as a visual calendar.[/QUOTE]
What would be great with this feature would be the ability to drag and drop an entry or groups of entries from one date to another, thus updating the due date in bulk.

I'm still waiting for the ability to set the number of backups kept. I need to remove these manually periodically as the number of automatic backups keeps growing and growing...

[QUOTE=ape;34013]I'm still waiting for the ability to set the number of backups kept. I need to remove these manually periodically as the number of automatic backups keeps growing and growing...[/QUOTE]

I use Hazel, which does this and much more. Mine is set to delete backups older than 8 days old. As I backup twice per week this should cover all eventualities.

[QUOTE=Dogsbreath;34041]I use Hazel, which does this and much more. Mine is set to delete backups older than 8 days old. As I backup twice per week this should cover all eventualities.[/QUOTE]

I use Hazel too, and it does 95% of what I would like. But still, it would be helpful if OmniFocus monitored the number of backups in your backup directory and handled the deletion of old copies, allowing you to set how many to keep.

With Hazel, you can't set it to always leave a certain number of copies (without the help of AppleScript). It deletes things strictly by how old the file is. So if you went on holiday and didn't launch OmniFocus for over 8 days, you could come back and have no backups.

[QUOTE=Toadling;34058]I use Hazel too, and it does 95% of what I would like. But still, it would be helpful if OmniFocus monitored the number of backups in your backup directory and handled the deletion of old copies, allowing you to set how many to keep.

With Hazel, you can't set it to always leave a certain number of copies (without the help of AppleScript). It deletes things strictly by how old the file is. So if you went on holiday and didn't launch OmniFocus for over 8 days, you could come back and have no backups.[/QUOTE]

You are absolutely right except I am one of those that takes the computer on holiday with me!! Technically Hazel moves the item to the Trash so it is still available (as long as you haven't got automatic trash emptying turned on, but I take your point.

I am sure that OG will sort this matter out in a subsequent install. It is a glaring error and not the sort of thing that people would expect from the company.

[QUOTE=JKT;32524]14) Similarly, if you have nested actions, the parent should adopt the earliest start and latest due dates of the children.[/QUOTE]

if all childs are checked complete, the aunt should be automatically checked complete

[QUOTE=brest;34109]if all childs are checked complete, the aunt should be automatically checked complete[/QUOTE]

I think you mean parent, not aunt. This question has been debated many times on the forums. Many of us do not want automatic completion, because it presumes that you have already defined all the relevant children of that parent. I, for one, do not plan that obsessively. Instead, during my daily and weekly reviews, I examine action groups or projects with no remaining actions and decide whether they are truly done, in which case I mark them complete, or whether I need to add another action to them. If they were automatically marked complete, I would miss that important stage in my planning.

One compromise that has been suggested would be to create a new option for projects and action groups that would allow the user to specify whether they should automatically be marked complete when all children were marked complete. As long as the user could specify which action was the default, I would be happy with that.