Recommended Number of Actions
 

So Brian's [URL="http://forums.omnigroup.com/showthread.php?t=8442"]FAQ[/URL] reads:

[QUOTE]In general, we'd recommend trying to keep the number of actions on your phone down below a thousand.[/QUOTE]

OK, that sounds acceptable. But I've been using OmniFocus on my MacBook Pro for close to a year now and I've built up quite a large number of projects and actions (especially considering the on hold single-action lists I use for tracking my someday/maybe items). I probably have somewhere around 1,600 actions, if not more. Fortunately, I have virtually no embedded attachments (all linked instead) and my database file is only about 320 KB.

(BTW, what is the best way to determine how many actions I have? Do I really have to count them manually every time?)

At first, I thought maybe OmniFocus for iPhone didn't sync on hold actions and that the 1,000 number meant only [I]active[/I] actions. But I just realized that OmniFocus for iPhone can, indeed, display on hold and completed items. It's my whole database, which is really pretty cool!

But that still leaves me wondering what I can do to get my number of actions down below 1,000. It's going to be tough to trim out a third of my data.

What does Omni recommend for this sort of thing? I've already run the "Move Old Data to Archive" menu option. That helped but it's not enough. Should I move my someday/maybe lists out of the app and into something else? I hate to do that since OmniFocus' on hold capability is so good for that kind of thing.

Is a 320 KB database even going to be a problem? How much room do I have before the thing goes "Ka-boom"? I haven't noticed any significant problems so far.

Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Dennis

Ahh... I just found the move to archive option.

That's fantastic!

Thank you Omni.

[QUOTE=Toadling;41004](BTW, what is the best way to determine how many actions I have? Do I really have to count them manually every time?)[/QUOTE]

We plan to display this count somewhere in the app soon. In the meantime, if you're comfortable using Terminal you can run this UNIX command:

[CODE]sqlite3 ~/Library/Caches/com.omnigroup.OmniFocus/OmniFocusDatabase2 'select count(*) from Task;[/CODE]

[QUOTE]Is a 320 KB database even going to be a problem? How much room do I have before the thing goes "Ka-boom"? I haven't noticed any significant problems so far.[/QUOTE]

If you're not seeing any performance problems, then you're probably fine: that's the basis for that 1,000-action recommendation. (Also, we expect to significantly raise this limit soon: right before shipping 1.0 we thought of a performance optimization we could do, but we decided it was too dangerous to add unless we had more time to test it. Now that we've submitted 1.0.1, we're looking at doing that optimization in 1.0.2.)

The hard limit we have to avoid on the phone is the amount of memory used, and for that limit not all actions are created equal: a single action with a really, really, really long note (many megabytes of text) could exceed the phone's memory limitations. (We redesigned the attachment system to try to keep attachments out of memory most of the time on the phone, though we do have to read them into memory when viewing them and when coalescing transactions.)

It would be nice to put some sort of memory monitoring tool into the iPhone app, so you can monitor how close you are to the limit. I'll file a feature request.

Thanks, Ken. That helps a lot. Looking forward to 1.0.2.

-Dennis

[QUOTE=Ken Case;41107]The hard limit we have to avoid on the phone is the amount of memory used[/QUOTE]

I would like to recommend that OF Desktop users not be forced to permanently manipulate the size of the database on OF Desktop in order to fit it onto OF iPhone. I think a better solution would be an option not to sync old data onto OF iPhone. Wouldn't limiting the the amount of info synced to help OF iPhone manage its resources seems like a reasonable provision?

If I am going to manipulate my database based on a size requirement, let's not enforce an iPhone resource limit into an environment that is essentially resource unlimited.

Just my input. I do think some of my problem with this is that OF is becoming a Reference database for me too - not just purely an Action database.

Brandon

[quote=blewis;41139]
just my input. I do think some of my problem with this is that of is becoming a reference database for me too - not just purely an action database.

Brandon[/quote]

+1

[QUOTE=Ken Case;41107]We plan to display this count somewhere in the app soon. In the meantime, if you're comfortable using Terminal you can run this UNIX command:

[CODE]sqlite3 ~/Library/Caches/com.omnigroup.OmniFocus/OmniFocusDatabase2 'select count(*) from Task;[/CODE]

[/QUOTE]

That ought to be:

[CODE]sqlite3 ~/Library/Caches/com.omnigroup.OmniFocus/OmniFocusDatabase2 'select count(*) from Task;'[/CODE]

if you want to see a result :-)

6914 and counting...

[QUOTE=whpalmer4;41435]6914 and counting...[/QUOTE]

Wow, I thought I was doing well with 2594! You certainly have a *lot* to do!

Out of curiosity, how's your iPhone performance with that number of actions?

-Dennis

I don't have an iPhone, so I haven't noticed any slowdown :-)

There are a lot of repeated daily things in that count, I haven't used the archive facility yet, rarely delete completed tasks/projects, and that covers about 3 weeks shy of a year...

I get great satisfaction out of checking things off as completed :-) Now it is time to go add "apply the Lizard fix to bloated transaction file" to the task list, as I see I've got about a dozen client files despite only having used three machines...