[cdhutch]

Hello,
My OF database has multiple Single-Action Lists (SAL) scattered across the directory structure. In addition to being configured as single-action lists, my SAL's all have the text "SAL" in their names.

Is there a technique to show only the tasks from these SAL projects?

Thank you,
Craig

[jkanellis]

I've done a similar thing by using text (in your case this would be "SAL") in the action, to pull together those tasks into one perspective. I have one which pulls together recurring actions (mundane routine tasks etc. that are good to review together) which all have the text "recur" in them. These all live in various projects in separate folders. I have "recur" for work tasks and "rpt" for home tasks and I use these perspectives every day to act as reminders for all my repeating actions.
For example:

Pay AMEX bill: rpt
Check Time Capsule backup: rpt
Ring to arrange car service: rpt

Review mail inbox: recur
Write work roster: recur

The way I've done this is firstly to create a Perspective I've called Search.
This shows everything - available and unavailable, on hold, dropped etc.. Incidentally, this is what I click on to then use the Search field in the menu bar for anything that needs a comprehensive search.



The next step is to actually enter the search term. For you this will be SAL.
(I have this Search Perspective as the icon next to the search field for easy access):



You will then be given a list of ALL these pulled together actions. Now save this view as a perspective. You can tweak the settings in the Perspective for availability etc. Voila!

I have mine set to available actions and to context view so that i can also see these perspectives synced on my iPhone, iPad etc.



When I discovered this trick I was wrapped. The possibilities are endless. You simply need to use a keyword to pull the tasks together.

Cheers
JK

[Brian]

Craig, if I'm understanding your request correctly, the following steps should work:

File -> New Window
View -> Planning Mode

Next, type "sal" into the search field in the upper right, ensure that the projects you want to see in the view are expanded, then Command-click the notecard icon in each row you want to include, as well.

At this point, View -> Focus on -> <things you selected> will hide everything else.

If the window looks the way you want, select
Perspectives -> Save Window As -> New Perspective
from the menu bar, give it a name, and you're good to go.

Hope that helps!

[cdhutch]

Brian and JK,
Thank you so much for answering my question. Your techniques did exactly what I was looking for. On a side note, if I try to use the new perspective (which uses a search tag) as it is synced into OmniFocus for iPad, the query response is "No items match this perspective." Is this technique Mac only?

Craig

[emory]

Perspectives must be against Context Views for iOS OmniFocus.

For a work-around, you would need to create a perspective that views all contexts but against specified lists as-focused. I don't remember why iOS OmniFocus doesn't support Project Perspectives, but it is working as designed and is not considered a bug.

[cdhutch]

Thank you for the explanation.

[malisa]

On a related note, if I have a perspective set to include various projects/SAL via focus and want to add another project/SAL, what is the easiest method to do so?

I know I can basically go through all the steps of changing the window to show the sidebar, showing all projects, re-choosing the focus, resetting the window to the way I want it displayed and saving the perspective that way (and I may have skipped one or two steps in there). I wondered if there was an easier way.

[whpalmer4]

It's not very difficult to update the selection.

Open a window in your perspective
Select all of the projects in the sidebar
Unfocus the view with the Show All button in the toolbar, or View->Show All Projects
Command-click on projects in the sidebar to toggle them in or out of the selection without disturbing the existing selection
Focus the view again with the Focus button in the toolbar, or View->Focus on <selected projects>
Perspectives->Take Snapshot of <perspective name>

You just need to avoid clearing the selection or you have to start all over again.