I just started really playing around with OF yesterday (I'm only a quarter of the way through the GTD book), and after watching the video, still have a real basic question.

Do all actions need to be committed to a project to show up in the Context List? I have an item, "Buy replacement light in kitchen", that is a one-step project. It seems overkill to create a project for it, since it's only one step. I don't seem to be able to make it show up in the Context List (under Errands) while it's in the Inbox, and if I drag it over, it become a project itself, needing an action attached to it.

Do I need to create a project (Miscellaneous?) that's actually a bucket for individual, unrelated, discrete actions for these to live? If so, fine, but it seems counter-intuitive to me, and just wanted to make sure that I'm not missing something obvious.

[nggalai]

Hi there,

OF has “Single Actions Lists“. Those show up as buckets in Planning Mode and can contain pretty much everything you might need. Click the wheel icon in the left pane.

I called my bucket “Random Stuff” and have been working with it for some time, now. Works great.

Cheers,
-Sascha

[brianogilvie]

To expand on Sascha's explanation: you can define a default single-action list in the Data tab of Preferences, so that when you Clean Up, any action in the Inbox that has a context but no project will automatically be added to your default list.

There was a very long thread some time ago on whether single-action lists (at the time, called singleton projects or "buckets") were a good idea or the spawn of the Devil. Those in the latter camp had two (mutually exclusive) arguments: (1) A single action is conceptually on the same level as a project, so you should be able to put them in folders and see them in the sidebar. (2) A single action can't be planned, so it should not appear in Planning mode at all, but only in Context mode.

Those on the other side responded as follows: To (1), that the conceptual elegance would create a huge mess, as the sidebar and project list got stuffed with a whole series of single actions that could not easily be hidden. A single-action list allows you to hide single actions by collapsing the bucket in the outline. To (2), that not showing single actions at all in Planning mode would make it impossible to use the Focus command to include them.

I'm among those who think that Omni did a pretty good job with single actions. I have single-action lists in many of my folders (to use while focusing) plus a default one for those actions that either really are miscellaneous or are not worth the time to categorize.

[planthis!!]

My problem is that although I have designated a Miscellaneous Actions list in the Data tab of Preferences, it does not show up in the Projects list when I am categorizing actions in the Inbox and when I do a Clean Up the action does not get moved to the designated bucket. What am I doing wrong?

[brianogilvie]

Hmm. I'm not sure why your default single action list doesn't show up in the project list. Mine does.

Actions without projects will be cleaned up into the default single action list only if, in the Data tab of the Preferences, you set the inbox preferences so that clean up processes actions that have been assigned a context, not "both a project and a context."

[planthis!!]

Thanks for the tip on selecting "contexts" only instead of "both a project and a context." That will solved my problem. Although I still wonder why my "Miscellaneous Actions" bucket doesn't show up in the project selection list when I click on the list arrow. It does show up when I type the letter "M" (I just figured that out).

[joelande]

Originally Posted by planthis!!

My problem is that although I have designated a Miscellaneous Actions list in the Data tab of Preferences, it does not show up in the Projects list when I am categorizing actions in the Inbox and when I do a Clean Up the action does not get moved to the designated bucket. What am I doing wrong?

As to why you are not seeing your buckets:
It could be that somehow the single action bucket was set to a status other than active and you are filtering non-active projects from your view

As to why they are not moving from the inbox after cleanup:
Make sure your Data Preferences are setup to move single actions only if a context and/or project are assigned and they do not meet that criteria

[planthis!!]

Once again, thanks for the response. I have checked the status of the "Miscellaneous Actions" bucket and it is definitely set to active. Also, my filter is set to "All Projects". Like I said, the bucket will show up on the list if I type in the letter "M", but not if I click on the list arrow.

[ptone]

When I first started using omnifocus, my autocreated bucket wasn't visible for some time as well...

I've never gone back and done a clean install to see if this is some bug with a new database.

Have you quit and relaunched OF?

-P

[planthis!!]

Yes. The computer gets shut down every night and restarted the next morning.