[visionsnap]

I have been researching OmniFocus and found it to be great and just purchased.

But, I am trying to sync with iCal and of course I have separate calendars within iCal for work, personal, and other items. I have been using iCal and its To-Do feature and assigning different tasks to each calendar.

I have been reading forums all day and cannot find the fix...

In setting up iCal sync with OF, how do you assign 1 context to multiple iCal calendars. The instructions tell you to;

"Drag context names into the calendar name you’d like to synchronize them with. For instance, if you drag your “errands” context to your “Home” calendar, any actions assigned to your errands context will get corresponding to-do items in your Home calendar in iCal."

How do you assign "errands" to sync with my work calendar and personal calendar. I run errands (a task/project in OF) in both calendars.

There has to be a way to do this...?? This is a big part of iCal and seems it would be a core piece in OF since I may run errands and be able to see both sets for work and personal to achieve my tasks per GTD. There has to be a fix for this.

[whpalmer4]

You don't. The iCal sync is designed as a way to get your data onto a mobile device that isn't an iPhone, and to do so in a context-based fashion so that you can pull out your device, pull up the calendar that corresponds to your context, and look at the available actions. You're trying to make it work in a project-based fashion.

If you treat your errands as a context (or set of contexts) instead of a project, it makes more sense from a GTD standpoint. The place where you need to be to do the errand is the context. Nothing fundamentally wrong with putting work-related tasks and personal tasks in the same context. If you really want them separated, you could make duplicate contexts Errands-Personal and Errands-Work and assign tasks to one or the other and sync them to separate calendars.

Does that make sense?

[visionsnap]

I have to disagree with some of your comments.

RE:"The iCal sync is designed as a way to get your data onto a mobile device that isn't an iPhone, and to do so in a context-based fashion so that you can pull out your device, pull up the calendar that corresponds to your context, and look at the available actions."

The software syncs via "using Bonjour, through the cloud using MobileMe or any standard WebDAV server, or even with something as simple as a USB drive" which the device then syncs to capture the tasks.

If you are stating the iCal feature is to "pull up the calendar that corresponds to your contexts" then it should show more than just one calendar. Who in this day does not have separated or multiple calendars in their lives and they coincide together and need the tasks to coincide as well? There will be some contexts that are only for one specific calendar but many are for multiple areas of our lives.

RE: "If you treat your errands as a context (or set of contexts) instead of a project, it makes more sense from a GTD standpoint. The place where you need to be to do the errand is the context.

By default OF provides "errands" as a default context. Which is part of the GTD focus. If that is the case and you have multiple areas of your life, i.e. work and personal, its is more efficient to share "errands" between the two so while you are running errands, you address both work and personal.

RE: "If you really want them separated, you could make duplicate contexts Errands-Personal and Errands-Work and assign tasks to one or the other and sync them to separate calendars."

I don't want the contexts separated. I would like to SHARE the contexts in order to optimize my time between work and personal, or any other separated calendar within iCal.

Allowing all the contexts which are default with the OF application or new items a user adds, should be able to shared between your separated iCal folders/calendars & to-do just like they are within the OF application.

So is there any kind of work around or planned changes with the application to share contexts between iCal folders? This seems odd they don't work together since they make a product to sync with iCal's To-do's.

[whpalmer4]

Originally Posted by visionsnap

I have to disagree with some of your comments.

Okay, no problem.

RE:"The iCal sync is designed as a way to get your data onto a mobile device that isn't an iPhone, and to do so in a context-based fashion so that you can pull out your device, pull up the calendar that corresponds to your context, and look at the available actions."

I agree with this part, 100% :-)

The software syncs via "using Bonjour, through the cloud using MobileMe or any standard WebDAV server, or even with something as simple as a USB drive" which the device then syncs to capture the tasks.

This is talking about syncing with other copies of OmniFocus, either on Mac or iPhone/iPod Touch, not the iCal sync.

If you are stating the iCal feature is to "pull up the calendar that corresponds to your contexts" then it should show more than just one calendar.

I don't understand what you are trying to say here. You can sync to as many different calendars as you have contexts. How you view them depends on the device or program you are using.

Who in this day does not have separated or multiple calendars in their lives and they coincide together and need the tasks to coincide as well? There will be some contexts that are only for one specific calendar but many are for multiple areas of our lives.

The intent of the developers was to allow you to view the contents of your contexts on any mobile device that could sync with iCal. This feature was the first sync support of any sort in OmniFocus.

Here's a post from Omni's CEO saying the same thing.

If you treat a calendar as a context, this works just fine. You have a calendar for calls. You have a calendar for errands. You have a calendar for computer tasks. It doesn't matter whether they are work tasks or personal tasks -- if you find yourself running some errands, you look at the errands calendar and there are your actions in the to do list.

By default OF provides "errands" as a default context. Which is part of the GTD focus. If that is the case and you have multiple areas of your life, i.e. work and personal, its is more efficient to share "errands" between the two so while you are running errands, you address both work and personal.

I didn't say otherwise, although I did provide a suggestion for how you could structure matters if you wanted them separate.

I don't want the contexts separated. I would like to SHARE the contexts in order to optimize my time between work and personal, or any other separated calendar within iCal.

Fine, then you sync your errands context to your errands calendar, and any action which is an errand, whether for work or home or anything else, goes in the errand context. Want to see your errands, look at that calendar.

Allowing all the contexts which are default with the OF application or new items a user adds, should be able to shared between your separated iCal folders/calendars & to-do just like they are within the OF application.

So is there any kind of work around or planned changes with the application to share contexts between iCal folders? This seems odd they don't work together since they make a product to sync with iCal's To-do's.

I believe there is a feature request in the development database to sync projects, not contexts, to calendars. If you can explain to the support ninjas just what it is that you want (I'm clearly not grasping it), they'll put a feature request in for you. Use Help->Send Feedback or email omnifocus@omnigroup.com. Be warned that it will probably be very low on the priority list unless a bunch of other people ask for it, too.