[usertech]

Now that I know what I know, it would have sped up my learning of Omnifocus if I had read the following information. I hope it helps those seeking to learn Omnifocus.

"Omnifocus has a Planning Mode and a Context Mode. One way to change between these two important modes without possibly performing unwanted additional actions is by choosing the appropriate Mode from the View menu or by typing Command 1 or Command 2. Changing between the the modes by pressing buttons on the view bar is not advised for those seeking to learn how the program operates initially.

Planning Mode could have just as easily (or more helpfully?) be named Project Mode. Planning Mode allows one or more projects to be selected (making the actions of those not selected not visible). The view bar in Planning Mode allows operations (which include sort operations) to be applied to whole projects not to individual actions. The actions themselves are unaffected by the view bar - the are sorted in the order in which they were created. However in Planning Mode this can be overridden - individual actions within projects can be sorted by either manual dragging them up and down or by highlighting some or all actions (selecting them at the far left works nicely) and then choosing Sort from the Edit menu. This has the effect of only changing the order in which actions appear when displayed in Planning Mode as will be explained further below.

Context mode on the other hand is able to make the actions associated wih particular contexts visible by choosing one or more Contexts in the left hand sidebar. Each of the view bar's settings in Context mode, unlike with Planning Mode where they affect whole Projects, instead affect individual actions. Because in Context Mode the view bar's settings include the ability to sort actions in various ways, Context Mode cannot therefore provide a way to enable actions to be viewed in the order they appear within projects by either manually dragging actions up and down nor by sorting actions using the Sort command from the Edit menu.

Planning Mode and Context Mode are almost completely independent of each other in that changes to settings in one mode have no effect on the data and how it is displayed in the other mode. There is only one exception to this statement which shall be dealt with further below. To explain further regarding this independence, neither applying view bar settings in one mode, nor sorting records in either mode, has any effect on data displayed in the other mode. Not even selecting Projects in the left sidebar in Planning Mode or selecting Contexts in the left sidebar in Context Mode has any effect on the data displayed in the other mode.

The only way in which actions in one mode can affect the data displayed in the other mode (the exception I mentioned above) is through the use of the Focus feature. The Focus feature, which can be set in either mode, has the effect of "focussing" on a subset (one or more) of projects. Even when used in Context Mode, the Focus feature still only limits which PROJECTS' actions are visible. When Focussing in Planning Mode its not enough to select Projects in the left sidebar of Planning Mode alone (although selecting projects will cause the actions of those projects not selected to become invisible). Selecting is one step short of Focussing and only affects the current mode. For the Focus feature to be active, in Planning Mode projects need to be selected in the left hand sidebar and then either the Focus button on the toolbar be pressed or the Focus command in the View menu be chosen. To apply the Focus feature in Context mode, it is of course not possible to choose the desired Projects in the left hand sidebar because in Context Mode the left hand sidebar displays Contexts not Projects. Instead, in Context Mode, the Focus feature is activated by selecting ACTIONS which are associated with the desired projects - i.e. by first choosing All Items from the Perspctives menu and then looking for those actions whose Project value is one of the Projects wanting to be Focussed upon. When such action records are identified (only one action need be found for each Project that will be part of the Focus), the action records can then be selected as a group by clicking on the first record and then either shift or command clicking the far left edges of the other records. This wil cause the entire actions to highlight. To complete the Focus in Context Mode, the user then performs one of the final actions required in Planning Mode, namely to press the Focus button on the view bar or choose the Focus command in the View menu.

A final word on Perspectives. I am including this information because a particular feature of Perspectives described below made me more prone to believe that settings made in the two modes could have more effect on each other than they actually do.

Using Omnifocus is all about creating data snapshots that provide the greatest assistance in viewing and editing your actions. To create a particular display of data (a Perspctive) one chooses a Mode (Planning or Context) and then applies the following features and settings as needed:
- the popup menus on the view bar.
- selecting items in the sidebar
- the Focus feature.
- clicking triangles to the left of headings (which either expose or hide the action records that are grouped under that heading). Yes these settings are stored
- layout settings such as which columns of information will be present on the layout.

At the time the Perspective is saved it only stores the settings listed above for the active Mode. However at the time of saving a Perspective there is a way to ensure that, when that Perspective is recalled, the Mode that wasn't current when the Perspective was saved also has settings recalled to it as well. This is achieved by choosing the "Settings From a X Perspective feature" in the Perspective window. I cannot think of any purpose for this capability when I can always save a Perspective for either mode and change to it with that Perspective's keystroke shortcut. The most important thing to remember about this feature of Perspectives is not to let it confuse you about the Modes and their independence!"

If anything I have listed above is incorrect or misleads by failing to explain something necessary please correct it or add it below. I hope what I have written helps a few people who are struggling to understand Omnifocus get their brain around it.