[pjb]

What about self-expiring tasks? Add another date item to an action which would represent the time it should expire and automatically manage itself. Marking as complete would not be good for folks who keep logs; perhaps an option to move the action to an inactive context would be more useful. Or maybe another color representing a setting which would auto-complete when that item is marked as Reviewed.

I could see using a repeating action to be done after Wednesday but before Friday, but if it doesn't get done (and that's ok) this week then it could auto-complete and the action for the next week would be created. Or if there's a list of things to do before an event, after which time that list is meaningless, they could all just auto-complete themselves. How long do I wait for that call back before that project should move on (and the automatically-appearing next item in that project is to call the person who didn't call me back after 2 weeks). I know there's a script to postpone an action, but I'm thinking about having the app clean itself up when appropriate and with less intervention.

[Greg Jones]

I'm not sure I'm understanding when you suggest that you want OF to auto-complete an action? In particular, auto-complete items after a project is marked 'Reviewed'? Isn't the purpose of the weekly review process to identify all the loose ends in your lists and take action accordingly? If you are not using the weekly review that way, could the 'Stalled' view help you identify those items that need action to move forward?

For myself, I would expect that having the option for OF to auto-complete actions for me would be a nightmare. At a minimum, it would surely not be a 'trusted' system. Perhaps I am misunderstanding the functionality you are suggesting, so my apologies if that is the case.

[Brian]

We have a feature request open for expiring tasks, but the existing concept isn't quite what you're describing here. If you'd like to add your feedback to the development database, send an email to the support ninjas so they can do so. Thanks!

[pjb]

The key is to have an expire date/time associated with an action. Of course an action without such a time would behave as actions do now.

If using the wait-until-reviewed approach, an action passed its expire date could be in an outline font or other unique style so it would be apparent what has happened but then by marking it reviewed you would be acknowledging that it is no longer useful and could be retired as per your original intent when you set that date.

I just thought this kind of built-in intelligence would make using the app easier, with less manual clicking, and more flexible.

[whpalmer4]

Originally Posted by Brian

We have a feature request open for expiring tasks, but the existing concept isn't quite what you're describing here. If you'd like to add your feedback to the development database, send an email to the support ninjas so they can do so. Thanks!

The feature request you have, is that for repeating tasks that stop repeating at some fixed point in the future?

[Brian]

The existing request has a couple different requests for 'skip instances of this task if I don't do them; just bring it up to date' - the feature request is organized around the general issue they're having, rather than having a specific solution designed.

Example: daily repeating task. I do it today, don't touch it again until Monday. In current builds, I might have to click through the saturday and sunday versions of that task to get the 'do it tomorrow' action I actually want. Folks would like to have some way of skipping those intermediate steps.

What you guys are talking about goes a couple steps beyond the requests we've gotten thus far, which is why you should send it in as email. :-)

[whpalmer4]

Originally Posted by Brian

The existing request has a couple different requests for 'skip instances of this task if I don't do them; just bring it up to date' - the feature request is organized around the general issue they're having, rather than having a specific solution designed.

Ah, what I was thinking with "expiring tasks" is the ability to say "repeat this action 5 times" or "repeat this until April 1" to save me from the hassle of entering lots of otherwise identical actions differing only in start/due dates. I've sent in another request, just in case you haven't already implemented it for 1.6 :-)