[curt.clifton]

Originally Posted by Beckes

One more article to finish, and then I'll delve into applescripting OF. I hope there's a way to export projects to, and import projects from, text files.

OF's AppleScripting is very robust. When you're ready to dive in, head over to the OmniFocus Extras forum. Several of us have shared code for scripts to manipulate OF in various ways. My OmniOutliner import/export scripts are available here. Others have posted scripts for plain text import export, iGTD import, and LifeBalance import.

[reuben]

Midnight Inbox was miserable when I tried it. All flash, no substance. I wish the iGTD interface was a little bit more Omni, a little bit cleaner, but frankly I think it allows me subscribe to the GTD methodology a little bit more closely. Granted that's an unfair statement since OmniFocus is still an alpha and sure to expand it's capabilities and refine the IA and user interaction more, but at this point it seems like Omni is trying to put it's own stamp of how GTD should be used on the users. A little bit of reinventing the wheel...

[ksrhee]

Originally Posted by reuben

Midnight Inbox was miserable when I tried it. All flash, no substance. I wish the iGTD interface was a little bit more Omni, a little bit cleaner, but frankly I think it allows me subscribe to the GTD methodology a little bit more closely. Granted that's an unfair statement since OmniFocus is still an alpha and sure to expand it's capabilities and refine the IA and user interaction more, but at this point it seems like Omni is trying to put it's own stamp of how GTD should be used on the users. A little bit of reinventing the wheel...

I think there is some confusion here. It's my understanding that Omni folks aren't creating a GTD application, but a personal task management application that people can apply the GTD methodology with it. To me this is a huge difference. It's great that we have a lot of GTD devotees on this forum, but sometimes I wish they look beyond the methodology.

See here (from OF web page):

"OmniFocus is a personal task management system, designed to quickly capture your thoughts and allow you to store, manage, and process them into actionable to-do items. Tasks can be assigned to projects and stored within contexts (for example: "Home", "Work", or "Garden"), with built-in visual cues to highlight the next action you need to take care of. With OmniFocus, you can narrow your field of concentration to only those areas—tasks, contexts, projects—you wish to view, which helps you stay on track and organized.

OmniFocus can be used to implement the "Getting Things Done®" work-life management method developed by David Allen, but it's designed to be flexible enough to accommodate different styles of personal organization."

[reuben]

That is an excellent point, and one that I hadn't considered. I thought that OmniFocus was another GTD app, not a task management system that can be used to implement GTD.

However, all things considered many of the potential users of OmniFocus will be current GTDers. One "pie-in-the-sky" suggestion, have some sort of preference that allows GTD users to stick to the existing methodology, and not go away from it in terms of action groups, etc. Perhaps it's a checkbox that says "constrain application to GTD-like behavior." I believe there's a snowball's chance in hell that you guys would do that, but it's a thought...

[Frosty Crunch]

Perhaps it's a checkbox that says "constrain application to GTD-like behavior." I believe there's a snowball's chance in hell that you guys would do that.

Yeah, it's just not the cool, hepcat developer thing to do these days. The ideal app would have no preferences -- and be written in Ruby (or is that Erlang?).

I just don't know how I survive using BBEdit. It's so retro.

[bongoman]

Well there is always the GTDalt bundle for TextMate, written in Ruby and relying on text files.

It's actually a pretty neat solution if you like working in TextMate and plain text.

It syncs to iCal and to Remind; allows for recurring tasks, dated tasks, can attach notes to actions, has Quicksilver/Launchbar integration via "append text" to an inbox file.

[reuben]

I've also come back to OF because iGTD is having some serious filtering issues with Leopard. I've been pleasantly surprised at the progress OF has made since I ditched it a month ago. I still have some gripes with the philosophical approach that Omni takes towards action groups (not ascribing them with the same properties and visibility as projects), but I'm going to give it a chance. I just hope the Clippings functionality starts to behave properly...

In short, I'm back to OF and willing to kick the wheels some more.

[rmathes]

just found this thread and it reflects where I'm at now. I’m a reasonably satisfied iGTD user, but a longtime user of OmniGroup products. OmniWeb is my default browser, I love and use OmniGraffle Pro, and I own a license for OmniOutliner Pro (but tend to use Notebook more as it better suits my needs). I love OG’s UI designs and they have a long history of building high quality apps. OmniFocus is no exception.

It’s a beautiful application, but I just find myself taking longer to get things done within it. In an effort to present a clean interface they’ve created an app that makes it more difficult for me to do what I want to do than in iGTD. I prefer OF’s UI to iGTD’s, but iGTD lets me get things done faster.

Two examples that have been discussed on other threads here. First, email. I hate ‘clippings’. Hate it. I have to use the mouse and select some text before I can import the email? That’s fine if I also get iGTD’s one button ‘F6’ trick of hit one button and the email is a task, and I get to set a preference for whether I want to do anything else within iGTD at that time, like see an entry window to modify task attributes or just have it dump into my inbox. I've got it set so that I simply get a Growl notification that it’s been added to my inbox and that’s it. It allows me to process my email VERY quickly. OmniFocus takes exponentially longer for me to do email processing, and that’s unacceptable for me and my workflow.

The other is Focus. What I find extremely ironic and more than a little disappointing is that for an app that seems to be all about ‘focusing’, the Focus function is only effective in the planning side of things (if you equate projects to planning and contexts to execution). Why they didn’t extend Focus functionality to the context side is beyond me. I’ll give you a specific example. In iGTD, I have a smart folder that lets me see everything due today or prior and NOTHING else. I have another that lets me see everything due within the next 3 days. So if I want to FOCUS in on what I have to do today and ONLY what I have to do today, iGTD lets me do that. OmniFocus does not. Say wha?!? In my mind, this is one of the most fundamental things a task manager can do. In fact, when I test a new task mgmt app the first thing I do is add some tasks, give them some dates, then see if I can focus in on only what I need to see and act on today. If I can’t do this, I don’t particularly care what other features the app has. It has failed my first test. I am, literally, stunned that OmniFocus does not allow me to focus in this way. It’s a serious shortcoming and for such a strong design group, it is a horrible design flaw in my opinion.

To compound the difficulty in comparing these apps, iGTD is in for a major reworking. Within the next 2 months I expect to see iGTD2, which will include far more robust smart folder functionality along with tabs and saved workspaces. What this means is that unless OmniFocus adds or changes functionality from what is available today, iGTD will simply do a stronger job of letting the user focus in on precisely what they want to see, ignoring all else.

Frankly, in comparing these two apps I'm rooting for OmniFocus. I love the company and their products, and I have more confidence that they’ll be around in 10 years supporting and continuing to develop than I do in one guy in Poland. He gets hit by a bus, iGTD is dead. So there’s intrinsic risk involved in using that app. But right now, at least for me, it lets me get more stuff done with less effort than OmniFocus does. OF is prettier, but sometimes pretty is as pretty does, and for me right now that makes iGTD the belle of the ball.

[brianogilvie]

Originally Posted by rmathes

So if I want to FOCUS in on what I have to do today and ONLY what I have to do today, iGTD lets me do that. OmniFocus does not. Say wha?!? In my mind, this is one of the most fundamental things a task manager can do. In fact, when I test a new task mgmt app the first thing I do is add some tasks, give them some dates, then see if I can focus in on only what I need to see and act on today. If I can’t do this, I don’t particularly care what other features the app has. It has failed my first test. I am, literally, stunned that OmniFocus does not allow me to focus in this way.

Have you tried the following: in Context mode, Group by Due, sort by Due, and filter by Coming Due?

If you have, why don't you find it adequate to help you focus? I'm curious because even before the Coming Due filter was added, I found that grouping and sorting by due date worked fine for me when I decide that I absolutely must handle pressing deadlines.

(Aside: I try as much as possible to follow this advice about managing my things to do, but I don't always succeed!)

[rmathes]

because when I sort by due, I see everything, well, sorted by due date. It doesn’t show me JUST what I need to do today unless I bastardize the ‘coming due’ functionality, set it to 24 hours, and then it STILL doesn’t just show me only what I have to do today. If I minimize the other blocks (like tomorrow/next week/next month), if I click on another context and then return to the prior one, those settings don’t persist. Plus, I shouldn’t have to use ‘coming due’ to focus on what I want to see today, because now I can’t use it for what it’s intended to be used for.