[venkitac]

AFAICT, the search box searches only what's focused/selected either in planning mode or context mode.

It would be fantastic to have a "global" search always, from whatever omnifocus view, such that it will search all projects. The reason is that sometimes I want to search for another action item when I'm dealing with a project that I'm focused on, and "Show All" followed by search, find what I want, and then go back to where I was, is very very distracting.

Any idea how to do this?

Thanks!!

[CatOne]

"Search" is a mis-label for the box, at present. It's actually a filter.

If you want to do a "global" search, then you must first select the "all items" perspective and then search.

[whpalmer4]

RobTrew's got a handy Applescript that will do a global search and put the results in a new window (which you can close to return to your undisturbed previous workspace).

http://forums.omnigroup.com/showthread.php?t=17900

[Jay6821]

+1 for the global search function.

One of the complaints I've had with OmniFocus is "losing" things. I've been tripped up before, searching for something, not finding it, and moving on because what I thought was a global search, actually wasn't. A global search should be the default.

[whpalmer4]

Did you happen to read the documentation? The built-in help states:

The OmniFocus toolbar includes a Search field for filtering the main outline down to items that contain a certain string of text. (emphasis added)

I would agree that labeling it "Search" is a bit misleading. If the label for the Search field was "Search View" or "Search Window" or something to that effect, would you have been tripped up by this?

Do you also propose that search should search all items, regardless of their state of completion? The iPad app does that, and frankly, I find it unhelpful most of the time! If your proposed implementation does heed the view settings, scraping off all of the matching items not in the current view due to their completion status, or dates/duration/etc. what is the fundamental difference between that and the current behavior? Both will give you an incomplete list of matches if you are expecting the input to the filter to be everything in the database. If you do not heed the view settings, don't you think that is also going to be confusing when the view bar settings and window perspective name say one thing but the window contents are completely different? The iPad app's search function gives a view that is different enough (there's a big search bar right across the top of the screen) that it is clear that you aren't in the standard view, but that isn't so much the case on the Mac.

[CatOne]

Originally Posted by whpalmer4

Did you happen to read the documentation? The built-in help states:

The OmniFocus toolbar includes a Search field for filtering the main outline down to items that contain a certain string of text. (emphasis added)

I would agree that labeling it "Search" is a bit misleading. If the label for the Search field was "Search View" or "Search Window" or something to that effect, would you have been tripped up by this?

It's confusing because the OS X standard behavior for that box is to have it SEARCH, not to be a filter. Overloading that box and making it a filter is going to confuse the users, regardless of what you call it, because it flies in the face of 10 years of convention on OS X. End of story.

Do you also propose that search should search all items, regardless of their state of completion? The iPad app does that, and frankly, I find it unhelpful most of the time! If your proposed implementation does heed the view settings, scraping off all of the matching items not in the current view due to their completion status, or dates/duration/etc. what is the fundamental difference between that and the current behavior? Both will give you an incomplete list of matches if you are expecting the input to the filter to be everything in the database. If you do not heed the view settings, don't you think that is also going to be confusing when the view bar settings and window perspective name say one thing but the window contents are completely different? The iPad app's search function gives a view that is different enough (there's a big search bar right across the top of the screen) that it is clear that you aren't in the standard view, but that isn't so much the case on the Mac.

I've seen other applications with a disclosure triangle in the search field itself that allows you to limit what you search. It's more workable, but again I've found myself tripped up if I don't know a filter is "set." See differing behaviors on Yojimbo and DEVONthink for this (DEVONthink is, of course, the de facto example I give when I talk about "overload," though it's OK for this). Their UI is still as bad as you can get though, which is why I rarely use it ;-)