[markand]

I find the behavior of the Return key to be confusing and I've tried the 2 settings in the preferences dialog and don't see a difference.

If I have an item selected, and I hit Return, it creates a new item. This is as I would expect and I like it.

If I am entering the text for an item and I hit return, I would expect the behavior to be that I save the item that I'm editing, exit edit mode and have that item selected. I would especially expect this behavior when I've selected "Save items and close Quick Entry" for the "When pressing Return" setting.

However, regardless of how I have have "WpR" set, pressing return when editing an item saves the item AND goes into Quick Entry mode for a new item. As a result, every time I enter a new item, I wind up with a blank item that I didn't intend and have to then select it and delete it. It's very annoying.

Is this the correct behavior for "save items and close QE"? If so, can there be another option that closes QE and doesn't reopen it? I don't see ANY difference in behavior when selecting different options for "When pressing Return".

Thanks!

[Greg Jones]

Are you working directly in the main OmniFocus window or in the Quick Entry window? The preference setting only affects the behavior of the return key in the Quick Entry window. Pressing the return key in the main window will always create a new task, regardless of the preference setting (assuming the user is not editing the note field).

[markand]

Originally Posted by Greg Jones

Are you working directly in the main OmniFocus window or in the Quick Entry window?.

I was working in the main Omni Focus window. I think I've mentally blocked out the Quick Entry window because it looks so unwieldy.

I would love it if there was a preference for the return key in the main window. Otherwise, IMO it's awkward to enter new tasks and signal that you're done. The only way to do this seems to be to hit Esc, which seems like the wrong thing to do.

Mark

[whpalmer4]

You don't really have to signal that you are done -- you can just go off and do something else! Hitting ESC as you say will close the edit, or clicking on another row (or the selection handle of the current row will also work).

[markand]

When I say that I'm signaling that I'm done, what I mean is that I am trying to finishing editing the text for the item.

But the real problem isn't "how do I signal I'm done". It is that literally every time I go to add a new task, I hit enter at the end. I do this reflexively. And probably 8 times out of 10, it adds a new blank item where I don't want one. Yes I could hit escape, and I know that I can take my hands off of the keyboard, grab the mouse and click somewhere else. But this doesn't address the problem and that's what I would like to see addressed.

[Greg Jones]

Originally Posted by markand

It is that literally every time I go to add a new task, I hit enter at the end. I do this reflexively. And probably 8 times out of 10, it adds a new blank item where I don't want one. Yes I could hit escape, and I know that I can take my hands off of the keyboard, grab the mouse and click somewhere else. But this doesn't address the problem and that's what I would like to see addressed.

I do the same thing, but not as often as I once did. If this is any help, the dedicated Enter key not only finishes the edit, but it acts as a toggle to switch between editing the task title and finishing the edit. Over time I've become accustomed to hitting Enter rather than hitting the Enter/Return key.

[whpalmer4]

Originally Posted by markand

When I say that I'm signaling that I'm done, what I mean is that I am trying to finishing editing the text for the item.

But the real problem isn't "how do I signal I'm done". It is that literally every time I go to add a new task, I hit enter at the end. I do this reflexively. And probably 8 times out of 10, it adds a new blank item where I don't want one. Yes I could hit escape, and I know that I can take my hands off of the keyboard, grab the mouse and click somewhere else. But this doesn't address the problem and that's what I would like to see addressed.

How do you suggest this be addressed? You apparently don't want to hit some other key, and you don't want to click the mouse. It sounds like you want to be able to go along mindlessly hitting return but not have a blank line put in unless the program can somehow divine that you intend to put in another action.