Advantages of "Anywhere" context vs. "No Context"
 

Thoughts?

Sorry if this has been discussed. Search term of "anywhere" seems to be disallowed.

Thoughts about what? Changing the name? Adding a special context called Anywhere? Isn't Anywhere just the sum total of all the other contexts?

You can certainly create your own context named Anywhere and put actions in it. What do you have in mind that's different than that?

Or do you want OF to assume that any action which you haven't assigned to a context can be done anywhere?

Cheers,

Curt

Hey Curt- Thanks for getting back. Sorry if I was unclear.

I'm trying to imagine if there is any practical advantage to NOT assuming that any action with no context can be done anywhere. I had created an "anywhere" context but it seems like just leaving actions free floating may accomplish the same thing. But being that I'm new to OF I figured that I might be missing something. -Nathan

OmniFocus currently works much more predictably if a context is assigned to actions, so I would suggest that you do come up with some context schema for your 'available anywhere' tasks. Personally, I look at contexts as being more than just location-bound as contexts can have time/space, energy level, etc. aspects as well.

As example, If I always have my iPhone with me, then tasks to check email, research the Internet, make calls, etc., are, at least theoretically, always available. However, if I am driving that would not be the best time to check email. Likewise, if I am waiting in line in a restaurant, that would not be the best time to make sensitive phone calls, but I might want to fire off an email or research something on the Internet. Having 3 separate contexts for the above 3 examples allows me to focus on specific always available tasks. Also, if you are using OmniFocus on the iPhone/iPod, you can designate contexts as 'always available' so that they always show up when using the location services view.

Nice explanation, Greg -- all the points I wanted to make, but with better examples!

Thanks! I'll mess around with this.

[QUOTE=Greg Jones;72094]As example, If I always have my iPhone with me, then tasks to check email, research the Internet, make calls, etc., are, at least theoretically, always available. However, if I am driving that would not be the best time to check email. Likewise, if I am waiting in line in a restaurant, that would not be the best time to make sensitive phone calls, but I might want to fire off an email or research something on the Internet. Having 3 separate contexts for the above 3 examples allows me to focus on specific always available tasks.[/QUOTE]

I'm kinda hoping you don't actually have an @Driving context list that you check....

Based on what I see, most people have a @Driving context which is full of things like "Call <XYZ>", "Look for something in glove compartment", "Yell at children in back seat", "Attempt to run down unwary cyclists and/or pedestrians"...and the projects are all set to parallel execution so that several of those actions can be attempted simultaneously!