[cebailey]

Just curious if this would be useful for anyone else:

I make quite heavy use of the "Subproject"/"Action group" functionality in my projects. Often I use a main "Project" to contain metadata and such, but under each project I have several subprojects or action groups pertaining to that project. This is especially useful when I want to have both parallel and sequential task groups inside a single project--which is actually quite often.

The only problem with this is it makes keyboard-only sorting very difficult; if I want to create a task from Quick Entry and stick it at the end of a particular action group, I have to save it to the Inbox, then either open a separate window with its destination project or drag-and-wait to get it there.

If any subprojects/action groups with existing child tasks showed up in the searchable 'breadcrumb' list in Quick Entry, this wouldn't be an issue. Would anyone else use that functionality? Or is there a sexier way I could be dealing with this?

[curt.clifton]

I think I'd like something like this. I'm imagining that typing a ':' in the project field would cause the text entered thus far to be matched against projects. The user could then select a project. Additional text after the ':' would then be matched against action groups of the selected project, and so on.

I used to do as you suggest and put new items in the In Box for later filing. Now I tend to put new items into the "root" of a project from Quick Entry. I file the individual actions into action groups when I review the project. I also will sometimes use a Focus Applescript that I got on the Extras forum to open a new OF window focused on the project. I can then enter a new action immediately into the correct action group.

[cebailey]

Thanks for the heads-up about the AppleScript, Curt... that might actually get me closer to the functionality I want.

An easier way than having to manually insert the ":" yourself would be to have the Project field match against the 'full path' of all projects AND subprojects, much in the way it already does for projects. This way, you can still use Clippings, etc.

[sfkeydel]

This is a long-standing frustration of mine: in OmniFocus, "subprojects" (in quotes because there is no such thing) don't have project status or characteristics. As you note, Action Groups cannot be selected when filing an action via Quick Entry, thus requiring additional steps before you can get the action to the right spot.

Seems like a no-brainer to me, although I'm sure there are valid viewpoints to the contrary.

[whpalmer4]

Originally Posted by sfkeydel

This is a long-standing frustration of mine: in OmniFocus, "subprojects" (in quotes because there is no such thing) don't have project status or characteristics. As you note, Action Groups cannot be selected when filing an action via Quick Entry, thus requiring additional steps before you can get the action to the right spot.

Seems like a no-brainer to me, although I'm sure there are valid viewpoints to the contrary.

I'm not arguing to the contrary, but I am curious as to how often the action you are adding via QE is to be the last one in an action group. In my experience, it seems like the end of the project is usually the right place when I think of something to add to a "flat" project, but if there are action groups in the project, better than half of the time the new addition needs to go somewhere in the middle of an action group. Possibly the reason is that I often don't employ action groups until I've already done some fairly detailed sketching out of the project structure, and at that point almost anything that needs to be added is a refinement of something already in place rather than entirely new material. I'm curious if I'm the exception or the norm in this regard!

[curt.clifton]

Originally Posted by whpalmer4

… In my experience, it seems like the end of the project is usually the right place when I think of something to add to a "flat" project, but if there are action groups in the project, better than half of the time the new addition needs to go somewhere in the middle of an action group. … I'm curious if I'm the exception or the norm in this regard!

For me it depends on the project. For many projects, my experience is like yours. But I often have a "keep up with grading" action group within a project that represents a course I'm teaching. It would be handy to throw new grading tasks onto the end of that action group. That said, it isn't such a big deal that I would list it as one of my top 5 most wanted improvements to OF.

[Brian]

Tactical level: We've got a feature request open on the ability to do this; interested parties should email the support ninjas and we can vote this up on their behalf.

Strategic level: Looking over some of the threads here from back in beta days will turn up the entertaining discussions re: how to handle action groups. The current implementation was 'good enough', but I don't think there are too many folks who feel it's ideal.

This is something we want to revisit at some point in the future, in other words. :-)

[marekp]

I totally second that feature request!

[howardtnyc]

Yes I do exactly the samething. I cant categorize to dos when I create them because i need to put them in a specific "sub proejct" as you say...so instead I have to create them in the Inbox and then periodically drag stuff...which has to be done with 2 windows open . I actually have a perspective called "sorter" that is expanded to just the right level to make this convenient.

[whpalmer4]

A different approach you could try would be to simply file them in the right projects when created, and when you review that project, have a look at the actions at the end of the project (where the newly added ones will appear) and finish filing them at that time. That will probably eliminate the need for multiple windows if you're on a system with a small screen.