Where is my OF file kept?
 

I'm a new OS X user, and one of the things that has been bugging me for a while is that some apps create a file, but don't ask you to save it somewhere, or it's not found by default in the documents folder.

Where does OmniFocus store my tasks file, so that I can make an offline backup and can I move it into my Documents folder?

[QUOTE=Frank M;52676]
Where does OmniFocus store my tasks file, so that I can make an offline backup and can I move it into my Documents folder?[/QUOTE]

~/Library/Application Support/OmniFocus/

This is where OmniFocus creates the file. Depending on how you set up Preferences, OmniFocus makes a back up file for you. As I recall, if you try moving the file OmniFocus won't see it and won't be able to access it.

Regards
Robert

[QUOTE=rsilber;52677]~/Library/Application Support/OmniFocus/

This is where OmniFocus creates the file. Depending on how you set up Preferences, OmniFocus makes a back up file for you. As I recall, if you try moving the file OmniFocus won't see it and won't be able to access it.[/QUOTE]

Thanks. I must admit, this is pretty counter-intuitive. Application Support is about as natural a place to look into as say, the operating system. There's no file "Save as..." and now that I notice, there's no "File -> New" option either.

I really don't like this choice on the developer's part. I like to keep all my files in one place to make backing up and auto-synching between machines easy. And what if, for some absurd reason I wanted to have multiple files? One for my work life and one for my personal life, for example. I know it can be done in one file, but it seems such a Microsoft-force-the-user-to-do-it-our-way sort of thing.

Time for another feature request!

You used to be able to keep the files where you wanted them. This was removed when the sync feature was added. Perspectives and Themes are stored in the same spot. The Application Support tree in your Library directory is an Apple-supplied concept, and used by many applications to store their data on a per-user basis (the Address Book, for one prominent example).

Yeah, the Aplication Support folder is actually the most [I]logical[/I] place to keep the file according to Apple's guidelines. I think the problem here is the user's lack of familiarity with Mac OS X convention rather than any poor or counter-intuitive decisions by the developer.

BTW, if you want to create additional database files, just use File -> Export and save a copy wherever you like. But Quick Entry and syncing will only work for the default file location.

It's nice that OmniFocus provides this flexibility, but it's really been designed more as a "single-database" type app (like Mail, iTunes, iPhoto, Address Book, Stickies, etc.) rather than a document-based app (like TextEdit, Pages, Keynote, OmniOutliner, etc.). There are advantages and disadvantages to both, but I think the single-database approach is better for OmniFocus. Besides, OmniFocus gives you some of the advantages of a document-based app as well with the export command.

To the OP: You should explore the Application Support folder (actually the entire ~/Library directory structure) and get familiar with its organization and contents. Even a passing familiarity will come in handy in using Mac OS X.

Also, you should think of your [I]entire[/I] home folder as "your stuff," not just the Documents folder. There's a lot of important data stored in ~/Library in particular.

-Dennis

PS - A handy trick for determining the location of a file associated with a window is to right-click or Command-click on the little document icon (called the proxy icon) that appears in the windows title bar. This will show a list of all the folders in the file's path. By selecting one of the folders, the Finder will open a window displaying that location. You can also use the proxy icon in drag operations (e.g. to move or copy an open file to a new location), although that's probably not recommended in the case of the default OmniFocus database file.

[QUOTE=Frank M;52683]Thanks. I must admit, this is pretty counter-intuitive. Application Support is about as natural a place to look into as say, the operating system. There's no file "Save as..." and now that I notice, there's no "File -> New" option either.

I really don't like this choice on the developer's part. I like to keep all my files in one place to make backing up and auto-synching between machines easy. And what if, for some absurd reason I wanted to have multiple files? One for my work life and one for my personal life, for example. I know it can be done in one file, but it seems such a Microsoft-force-the-user-to-do-it-our-way sort of thing.

Time for another feature request![/QUOTE]

This isn't non-intuitive at all. As of OF 1.1 (which were the betas, 1.5 is the released version), OF uses a database that can be synched between computers. You can't relocate it and have sync work. A very large number of apps that have a "database" of this manner store it in ~/Library/Application Support. Including Yojimbo, for example.