How to change action groups between parallel and sequential
 

Hopefully this thread will soon become obsolete!

One problem with OmniFocus for iPad version 1.0.2 and earlier is the lack of any UI elements for choosing whether an action group (or sub-action or sub-project or nested action or whatever you like to call it) should have parallel or sequential execution. The UI is there to set this property for projects, and OmniFocus for iPad honors whatever default setting gets synced over from the other OmniFocus apps (as well as what is in the database for a given action group, of course), but what if you only have the iPad app, or the other applications aren't available?

Here's a workaround. Let's assume that you have a parallel project (the default, I think), and you need to add a sequential action group to it. Make a new project, naming it whatever you want the sequential action group to be named. Populate it with at least one action. Now tap the project header to bring up the editor and set the project to be sequential. Okay, so how to install the project as an action group in another project? Tap the Move button, and tap Convert to Action. This will put the project into your default single action list (called Miscellaneous by default) and open up that single action list. Now scroll down to the project-turned-action-group and tap on it to bring up the editor again. Open the Info section, and set the Project to be the project in which you want the action group. Now you can go to that project (via the Go to Project button) and do any reorganizing necessary to get the action group exactly where you want it. The action group will remember that it started out as a sequential project, even though it is now in a parallel project.

Obviously, the same technique can be used to put a parallel action group inside a sequential project (or action group).

Thanks for the workaround. I really hope they implent a "real" software solution.

Hi,

Thanks very much for the notes on how to do this. You are right, this is certainly a workaround to the point of being a bug in the UI and needs to be fixed pronto.

Can you believe I've spent the best part of an hour looking for this solution, and to think that it's listed as one of the main features of the product on the App store.... I am annoyed and hope it is addressed very shortly in an update.

I perform various auditing tasks for clients and as such need to be able to separate out controls that need addressing for PCI-DSS, creating tasks and sub tasks is the only way to address it.

This should be an extremely simple change to make in the UI - either select the task to assign it against (to create a subtask) when creating a task / moving a task / converting to action, or create an "indent" icon or similar a bit like MS Project to "nudge" the tasks into a sub-column.

I hope that someone from Omni might be able to comment on this as it really does seem to be an oversight as the workaround although works seems like a sledgehammer to crack a nut.

Thanks in advance.

James Gillies

[QUOTE=JimboG;86088]Hi,

Thanks very much for the notes on how to do this. You are right, this is certainly a workaround to the point of being a bug in the UI and needs to be fixed pronto.

Can you believe I've spent the best part of an hour looking for this solution, and to think that it's listed as one of the main features of the product on the App store.... I am annoyed and hope it is addressed very shortly in an update.

I perform various auditing tasks for clients and as such need to be able to separate out controls that need addressing for PCI-DSS, creating tasks and sub tasks is the only way to address it.

This should be an extremely simple change to make in the UI - either select the task to assign it against (to create a subtask) when creating a task / moving a task / converting to action, or create an "indent" icon or similar a bit like MS Project to "nudge" the tasks into a sub-column.

I hope that someone from Omni might be able to comment on this as it really does seem to be an oversight as the workaround although works seems like a sledgehammer to crack a nut.

Thanks in advance.

James Gillies[/QUOTE]

Hi,

It looks like sometimes all you need is a fresh pair of eyes!

All you need to do when creating a task (even if the original project was a "Parallel" project) is to select "Move" and choose "Move inside item" - at that point you can select exactly where you need to drop the new task.

I have confirmed that this works on "old" Parallel projects and brand new sequential ones, Omnifocus doesn't care.

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,

James

Use Contact Omni under the gear menu to make sure they know you want this fixed. I just sent in another request myself.

[QUOTE=whpalmer4;86092]Use Contact Omni under the gear menu to make sure they know you want this fixed. I just sent in another request myself.[/QUOTE]

Hi,

Perhaps I am missing something from the experience you are having but I can't see the problem now that I've (finally) spotted the "Move behind item" function when creating a task.... It seems to be about as streamlined as it's going to get bar having an "indent" icon/button on the task itself to nudge it in to the right.

What do you think?

Kind regards,

James

Sorry, I misinterpreted your first message, and thought you were actually talking about the topic of this thread. You weren't, you were talking about how to create an action group (sub-tasks, as you put it). The issue I'm discussing is how to set whether the sub-tasks are the equivalent of a parallel or sequential project. The editor/inspector on the iPhone and Mac allows one to control this, but on the ipad one can only control it for full-fledged projects at the moment. Clear as mud?