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Integrating OmniFocus in your daily life Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
How long did it took you to get used to OmniFocus, I mean, like really being able to work with it efficiently.

I am currently using it on Trial Basis, have been mind sweeping and processing for some time, until I realized that a few hours have passed by. >.<

At the moment, I see OmniFocus more as a hurdle than getting things done, maybe you have some tips on how to use it more efficiently?

Hope to get it into my daily routine before the trial expires.
 
Six months, on the inside. The arrangements of Contexts is quite different than what I started with but many (make that all, they were not mine) of those good ideas have been written about on these forums. The dump is the most time intensive, then reorganizing things needs to happen over some week(s) as you digest all the information, then the Contexts come together as you begin to work out of the program.

Last edited by pjb; 2011-01-18 at 04:47 PM..
 
The first go-through with mind-dumping will always be the longest. Everything and anything that you want to capture will take a while depending on how much stuff you want to capture.

I think part of my problem of adopting OmniFocus was my personal workflow part. There are just so many ways to use OF.

You can use it exclusively in project perspective mode to keep track of all your projects and its subtasks. Or you can finally utilize the context perspective mode. There are a couple of people I know who don't even bother with context mode and stay in project mode.

Check out the free screencasts to help with the learning curve:

http://www.screencastsonline.com/ind...-omnifocus.php


There is the OmniFocus Basics, Advanced OmniFocus + iPhone, and OmniFocus for the iPad. The more time you invest in learning how to drive OF, the better you'll get at it.

Like pjb, I had to discover my own personal workflow. My OF setup from 1 year ago has evolved into something a little different. My OF structure with different folders and different contexts were also changed as a I got the hang of things.

Personally I bought OF for the iPad and it made a world of difference. Hopefully OF 2.0 will adopt some of the UI improvements from the iPad version.
 
I'm going on four or five months now and I'm still not fully integrated with OF. Some of that is GTD and old habits (procrastination), and some of that is OmniFocus specific. There's a lot about the interface I don't like and I'm finding that it's causing enough friction for me that I actively look for something else to do when it's time to sit down and use OF for a while. And I'm not talking about how pretty it is or isn't, that doesn't matter to me so much.

OmniFocus (and GTD in general) was helpful for getting all my projects recorded and organized during the dump phase, but as you said it's been a bit of a hurdle to actually getting things done. It took a lot of reading, research, and fiddling around just to reach the point I'm at now where I think I can actually use it for being productive. Up until now I've spent more time messing with OF than using it.

The other big factor is that I use Windows at work. Trying to integrate Windows at work with my Mac based GTD has been a real challenge and is really slowing my GTD uptake. I'm making progress, though.

Funny thing is, just yesterday I tried out Things for the first time. It took no more than five minutes for me to discount it. Sure, it had some nice UI features but after transferring my OF projects over via a script I immediately recognized that it was lacking important features such as sequential/parallel projects, sequential/parallel task groups different from the parent project, and even just subtasks or task groups altogether. I removed the app shortly thereafter and it reinforced the notion that I need to keep at it with OmniFocus and it will eventually pay off big. I'm actually feeling a bit energized about it right now.
 
I agree about Things. It's a really nice looking program but whenever I download it to try it out, I just keep coming back to OF. It seems like Things development have slowed to a crawl. I've pretty much given up on Things and just stuck to OF. I'm really not in the mood to export and import my projects/tasks from one program to another.

Things can work for some people who don't need OF's firepower but missing sequential and parallel projects just doesn't cut it. I believe that Things and OF will leapfrog each other much like other programs. I remembered the Dreamweaver vs. GoLive competition. There is also the Parallels vs. Fusion leapfrog game. Then there is the Windows vs. Mac comparisons. Each competitor will offer pro's and con's. When one program offers a new set of features, the other will match it and then add some new unique features. Then the game repeats itself again.

It just seems that OF for the iOS devices and Mac just seems to surpass Things by leaps and bounds.

OF was tough to get into. As well as using OF, I was encountering the same problem as any GTD person - falling off the GTD bandwagon and then getting back on when my life turns crazy.

As for working in a Windows environment, I think that investing in an iPad and getting OF for the iPad has made all the difference for me.

I'm just looking forward to OF 2.0 and seeing a new user interface.....
 
I'm also someone who uses Windows at work and I'm having a bugger of a time integrating OF into my daily workflow.

While nice, entering information into the iPad is a bit of a kludge. I guess I could get a keyboard, but using the touch screen is a recipe for wasting time. The biggest issue I have is that I work with Outlook a lot and often need to act on things from e-mail. Sure, I could have OF for "everything else" and Outlook tasks for e-mails, but so much of my work life is tied to e-mail that I'm not sure how to approach it.

Quickly entering information from my Windows machine for it to appear on my OF (which is synced via WebDAV) would be ideal. Even if it's just entering a quick task into my inbox, I can sort it later during my daily reviews.

So I guess that begs the question.. Any quick way to "send to OF" from Outlook on Windows?
 
Have you tried the new "send to omnifocus" service?

http://forums.omnigroup.com/showthread.php?t=19421
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by JRArseneau View Post
The biggest issue I have is that I work with Outlook a lot and often need to act on things from e-mail.

Quickly entering information from my Windows machine for it to appear on my OF (which is synced via WebDAV) would be ideal. Even if it's just entering a quick task into my inbox, I can sort it later during my daily reviews.

So I guess that begs the question.. Any quick way to "send to OF" from Outlook on Windows?

See the message I just posted in the OmniFocus Extras forum. That's exactly what I'm doing now and it's a HUGE improvement.

Edit: here's a link http://forums.omnigroup.com/showthread.php?t=19907
 
 


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