[Phibermaster]

Hi all! I am really new to Omni Focus, and GTD aswell. My question is this: i want to have a list of items that dont necessarily mean i will have to act on them. For instance i now have a list of good gifts and presents. I just want to keep this list in OmniFocus but i dont want those item to be listed as actions in the context mode. What is the best way to do this?

[pvonk]

Many moons ago, the concept of maintaining lists of things, not actions, was discussed. The consensus (although not approved by everyone) was that for such lists, you should use something like OmniOutline or some other list app or even a text file. One example was a shopping list, as I recall. For this, you could have a "shopping" task whose note includes a link to a list file (text file, OO file, whatever).

[Phibermaster]

Thanks for clarifying this. I am a little disappointed though since the GTD book talks alot about these kinds of lists. However, there must be some kind of work around for this, maybee i can just create a context which would imply that no action would be requiered....

[Toadling]

Perhaps there is no official support for arbitrary lists, but I see no reason you couldn't use OmniFocus anyway. It doesn't matter what others are doing if it works for you.

To keep your list from showing up among your actionable items, you could assign all the non-actionable items to a Context that's On Hold or put them all in a Single-action List that's On Hold, or put them in a Folder that's set to Dropped. None of these methods were defined for your purpose but they'll work fine. OF is pretty flexible.

[Phibermaster]

Thanks, the solution was so easy. I just created a folder in planning mode, and then put a single action list there, and then put that project on hold. Done. :-) Now i am happy and order is restored in my universe....:-D

[Phibermaster]

....and the folder was named "Lists" of course

[Toadling]

I'm glad it worked out so well. Bringing order to the universe is always a good thing. :)

I used a similar solution for a list of ideas I've been thinking about but am not yet ready to act on. I also have a list of books I want to read and a list of web pages I want to look at. The lists are growing a lot faster than I've been able to clear items, but it's helping me reach the "mind like water" state.

[jpkunst]

But a shopping list or a list of books to read is actually an action list, right?

• Buy item A
• Buy item B

• Read book A
• Read book B

I keep my shopping list as a list of single action items with context 'Shopping'.

[ext555]

I think some of what's being misunderstood is , the GTD concept involves many " lists " but not all of them are " task " or " action " lists . Your system should include reference lists " places I'd like to visit " etc ..

Omni-focus is just a part of the GTD system and it's specifically for managing " actions " and to some degree , the projects that may or may not be connected to them . If the tool tries to become the " whole system " then you've got a bloated thing that gets so complex , no one enjoys using .

I've always believed I needed and used to purchase the bloated " do it all " programs ...now I'm learning differently .

[Toadling]

Originally Posted by jpkunst

But a shopping list or a list of books to read is actually an action list, right?

• Buy item A
• Buy item B

• Read book A
• Read book B

I keep my shopping list as a list of single action items with context 'Shopping'.

That's a good point. Really, it seems just about anything can be a list of actions if you precede them with a verb: "Think about A", "Decide what to do about B", "Research C", "Explore concept D", "Achieve E", etc.