Why do "due items" disappear when I close the OF window?
 

One of the great things about OmniFocus is that it displays the number of "Due Soon" and "Overdue" items in the menu bar or/and in the dock icon.

But - why has a window have to be open for this?

OmniFocus is a single-database application, just like iCal.[B] It should be enough that the application is running.[/B] Just like iCal's reminders come up whether I have a calendar window open or not.

This is more than a glitch: I have to take care not to close the last OF window by accident! The last window has to be minimized, not to be closed. Otherwise the red or orange number disappears from the menu bar, signalizing that [I]everythings OK, nothing's burning[/I]. While there might be twenty items overdue!

I have to think of this, but I should not have to. It's a distraction, and the result is that I cannot fully [B]trust[/B] my system in the moment!

I agree that it seems strange that the Dock icon badge is displayed only when OmniFocus has at least one window open. Is there some design reason for this or is it just an oversight? Is it something that will be changed in a future release? I'll be sure to send feedback to Omni Group on this.

In the mean time, another thing you can do is just hide the app (Command-H or OmniFocus->Hide OmniFocus from the menu bar). The advantage of this method is you don't have to individually minimize each window (all app windows are hidden together). Also, hidden apps don't take up any extra space in the Dock, as minimized windows do.

Yes, hiding is an option. But hopefully not the final word.

I mean, OmniFocus is supposed to be the center and heart of ones work. It should be as present and available as Mail. Or the Finder.

Me too!
 

Just a +1. Also filed feedback and encourage others to do so as well.

You know I had never noticed this idiosyncrasy. Now that I have its really annoying me..... :(

It perhaps isn't obvious in "normal" use, but OmniFocus can have documents from multiple databases open simultaneously. The usual reasons you would do this would be restoring something from a backup, copying from another database, or looking at the archive of completed projects (if you use the archiving feature to keep your database trim). When you close the last window, you close the database document.

What's the problem with keeping the last window open? If it's the nerve center of your life, don't you need to see it? :-)

Yes, what's wrong with keeping OF open and minimized? In order for OF to do what you want, it has to have something running in the background anyway whether the program is running or not. So, for me the decision to whether provide the background service comes down to its footprint. As far as I can tell OF has a small footprint; so, why not let OF start when you log in and let it minimize. That seems to be more efficient than having a background service running + OF at the same time when you are using OF.

[QUOTE=whpalmer4;53322]It perhaps isn't obvious in "normal" use, but OmniFocus can have documents from multiple databases open simultaneously.[/QUOTE]

That actually a very good point I hadn't considered. So is the Dock badge tied to the database associated with the frontmost window? Will the badge actually change to reflect the due or inbox count of the database file that's currently open? Or does it only show the count for the default database? I've never worked with more than the default database and the archive (which never has due or inbox items), so I've never been able to test this theory.

FWIW, I vaguely remember Ken saying this Dock badge thing was a known issue and that they intended to address it in the future.

-Dennis

I also remember Ken saying something about that, but couldn't find it within the short amount of time I was willing to spend searching...but I'll ask him about it if I see him at Macworld today :-)

[QUOTE=ksrhee;53333]Yes, what's wrong with keeping OF open and minimized? In order for OF to do what you want, it has to have something running in the background anyway whether the program is running or not. So, for me the decision to whether provide the background service comes down to its footprint. As far as I can tell OF has a small footprint; so, why not let OF start when you log in and let it minimize. That seems to be more efficient than having a background service running + OF at the same time when you are using OF.[/QUOTE]

The issue here for me often is that with OF's annoying habit of opening additional windows (when I don't want it to!), sometimes I can have 4 or 5 windows on top of each other and I don't know that another perspective I'd like to see is buried. So I close window after window after window... at which point the last one closes and the app keeps running, but the dock notification goes away.

The windowing behaviors of OF are not endearing to me... I really hate the way it handles multiple windows and the dock status icon.