Folders and Projects
 

I'm new to OmniFocus, but have used GTD with Tinderbox for some years. I have RTF and read this forum thread.
I have (like most people) several master-buckets (school, grad students, business, home) etc. and hierarchies within those (e.g. school:graduate students:John:read thesis). I set up a folder for graduate students because as a group they represent a series of ongoing projects (read papers, meetings, theses, etc.). Within grad students, I have individual students a projects, and then actions under students. But the interface seems clumsy to me, and I'm wondering if I'm missing something. The folder "graduate students" seems to have no status as a project folder. Which means I have had to create a project, "graduate students" within the folder of the same name, and then when I assign a project and try to use the project assignment field it reads "Graduate students: graduate students." If I have individual names, then I am proliferating projects like crazy, e.g. "Graduate students: Mark, Graduate students: John." Is there a way to use a folder as a project level assignment, and then have projects within, without proliferating individual projects in the assignment field?

An unrelated question: is there a way to hoist individual items besides dragging (e.g. control-arrow keys)?

[QUOTE=LewF;45312]An unrelated question: is there a way to hoist individual items besides dragging (e.g. control-arrow keys)?[/QUOTE]

Command-] and command-[ will indent and outdent items, if that's what you're looking for.

Thanks
 

That is what I am looking for horizontally. Is there a way to "lift" or demote an item vertically with key strokes?

In planning mode (or in the left pane), ctrl-command-up and ctrl-command-down work. You can't manually rearrange main-pane items in Context mode, IIRC.

[QUOTE=LewF;45312]If I have individual names, then I am proliferating projects like crazy, e.g. "Graduate students: Mark, Graduate students: John." Is there a way to use a folder as a project level assignment, and then have projects within, without proliferating individual projects in the assignment field?[/QUOTE]

What is your main concern with said proliferation? It would seem that each student is a "project" that gets completed on its own timeframe. Your folder "Graduate Students" isn't really a project because you never complete it, its an "area of work".

Dealing with this proliferation is not too bad with Omni's very good pattern matching algorithm. To jump to Grad Students:Mark in the column entry, you would just type "g-r-m-a" and it would highlight. (you don't need to finish typing the first part of the hierarchy)

Depending on how much detail you are tracking in your system. Each student may be a folder of their own with projects:

Grad students:Mark:PNAS Paper
Grad students:Mark:Poster for meeting
Grad students:Mark:Thesis

etc

I'm finding the more I use OF, the more I break things down into discreet projects. It is far easier to plan, review, and complete a project than an action group within a project.

-P

I've tried using OF several times, but each time the 'habit' has failed to stick, because I just cannot figure out how you're supposed to use the whole Folder / Project / Task structure in a meaningful, GTD way.

I would find it incredibly useful to have some [B]real[/B] examples of different OF set ups. The example data that comes with the application, and that is shown in the 'instructional' movies I've viewed, is fun but unhelpful.

Does Omni have [B]real[/B] examples of how OF has been set up by different users and for different uses? Showing effective usage of the Folders, Projects and Tasks structure?

I think sharing 'working practice' examples like this would be extremely useful -- to me at least!

A

[QUOTE=Asterion;45889]
Does Omni have [B]real[/B] examples of how OF has been set up by different users and for different uses? Showing effective usage of the Folders, Projects and Tasks structure?
[/QUOTE]

I think quite a few people have been posting their arrangements. You might want to look for the threads with paperclip icons. You'll almost certainly see planning & context screenshots.

Log in
 

where are paperclips icons ? Can you post a link?

If you're using the "Omni" view style for the forums, you'll see something like this (click graphic to enlarge):

[URL=http://img511.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture34xh2.png][IMG]http://img511.imageshack.us/img511/9290/picture34xh2.th.png[/IMG][/URL]

The paperclip can be seen on the right in the middle row.