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How do local notifications work in OF 1.7? [Similar to Push alerts] Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
Quote:
Originally Posted by hypotyposis View Post
Ok, I understand better what you guys meant having received my first "alert" today... And I must say (respectfully) that I'm personally not in favour of implementing more options/more complications for alerts... In fact, I don't really see the points of alerts outside of calendar reminders, i.e. outside of the OF system.

Now since I don't want to be completely daft, I was wondering if those of you requesting alerts, and particularly those of you with many actions/projects, could tell me how you use them in your workflow, since I don't see it currently?
For example, how many alerts are you expecting to/would you like to/do you currently receive per day? How do you incorporate this vs. (or with) daily/weekly reviews, if at all?

Just curious and hoping to understand other workflow styles...

Thanks
If I were King of OmniFocus for a day, here is an example of my workflow and how additional options to alarms would benefit me. First, I don't use a lot of due dates, and for a task that does have a due date, a reminder that the task is now overdue is typically too late to be of any use to me. I do however use start dates and times extensively. Some start times default to midnight of the day, but I also use start times during the day and these are the tasks that I would like to have reminders for.

As example, a west coast office opens at noon my time, and I want an alarm at that time to remind me to call them. I don't need an alarm at 8pm to tell me the task is due-it's too late to call them by then. With the old OmniFocus calendar alarms, I would sometimes fake what I needed by assigning a due time to the actual start time, but that's a bit of a kludge when I actually do have a set date and time when I need to complete a particular task.

Another example is that I do project work where I need a set length of time between the completion of one task before I can begin the next task, and I want to start that next task immediately when it becomes available to keep the project on schedule. What I do currently is go into the Clock app and set a timer or an alarm, but it's just one more step/app to use to remind me of what is already established in OmniFocus.

Give the above, I'd like to see the following additions to notifications in OmniFocus:

1) A preference setting to enable notifications for start times, due times, or both.

2) A preference to set notifications to an audible alarm/vibrate, vibrate only, or visual only (as works currently). Technically, this preference does not need to appear in OmniFocus if OmniFocus was included in the Notifications section of the Settings app. I already have 8 apps that appear in this preference-not sure why OmniFocus was not coded to do the same?

3) A preference to set a 'quiet' time period (say 11:00pm-5:00am) when alarms are turned off. This would be very important to keep all the alarms that would be triggered at midnight from going off while I'm in bed. Boxcar handless this very nicely with the notifications I get through the service.

4) Number 3 above would also require a preference in OmniFocus to set a default start time for tasks, just as the user can set the default due time. OmniFocus really needs this option anyway, and should be added even if notifications remain unchanged.

Everything above is set through a preference setting, so once the options are set they are transparent to the day-to-day use of OmniFocus. This would meet my needs while not requiring me to think about assigning notifications on a task-by-task, project-by-project basis. However, I can understand and respect fudster's thoughts to have that level of control.
 
Thanks Greg, I see what you mean: a kind of Growl for the iPhone... (on my Mac, I do have Growl inform me of when tasks become available in OF), and I agree with a general pref pane in your 2) (I of course also respect fudster's thoughts, but I'm slightly concerned at the extra level of complication/weight for the iPhone app that task-by-task alarm preferences would introduce).

As for your workflow with projects of sequential tasks with set duration, am I right in thinking this is the kind of stuff a better OmniProject/OmniFocus integration would cover?
 
I've used Prowl to get Growl notifications on my iPhone, and if it were not for the fact that I have to leave my Mac open and on, that notification system would suite me just fine.

As to a better OmniProject/OmniFocus integration, I'm sure that would would help some users. Not sure that it help me as I don't think that I need a project management app, but depending on how tightly the two integrate-I just might give it a try.
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Greg Jones View Post
I've used Prowl to get Growl notifications on my iPhone, and if it were not for the fact that I have to leave my Mac open and on, that notification system would suite me just fine.

As to a better OmniProject/OmniFocus integration, I'm sure that would would help some users. Not sure that it help me as I don't think that I need a project management app, but depending on how tightly the two integrate-I just might give it a try.

They don't integrate immensely right now, if you do a search in the forums you'll see lots of threads about that... It would be nice if they did!
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Brian View Post
There's no visible UI for changing the settings, but you can tap the two links below in Safari on your device to enable or disable them
Yikes. So it's just a global "all or nothing", with no visible controls? Sorry, but that's just crazy. I seeked out an answer because I was tired of millions of things popping up on my screen and couldn't figure out how to disable them. That seems like a UI failure to me. Users should never have to find your forums and search through them to turn off these irritating alerts.

Last edited by avandelay; 2010-06-29 at 02:24 PM..
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Brian View Post
There's no visible UI for changing the settings, but you can tap the two links below in Safari on your device to enable or disable them.
Disable local notifications

Enable local notifications
(You'll need to restart OmniFocus for the settings to take affect.)

The time isn't adjustable at this point, but as always, folks that want that can email the support ninjas and vote for the feature. Thanks!
Thanks for posting this. This feature should not be enabled without the user's knowledge or permissions -- it's very annoying. Each day I get like 10 notifications that I have to dismiss -- I'm not interested in any of them and they are modal dialogs that I HAVE to deal with before continuing. Very unproductive feature. Please disable this by default and make it an option. Thanks!
PS -- just sent this to ninjas as well. Others please add your voice, this cannot be good for most people to be nagged by default...

Last edited by wealthychef; 2010-06-30 at 10:01 AM.. Reason: to note that I followed up
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Greg Jones View Post
If I were King of OmniFocus for a day....I'd like to see the following additions to notifications in OmniFocus:

1) A preference setting to enable notifications for start times, due times, or both.

2) A preference to set notifications to an audible alarm/vibrate....

3) A preference to set a 'quiet' time period....
4) Number 3 above would also require a preference in OmniFocus ...

Everything above is set through a preference setting
Effin' brilliant! Absolutely the perfect solution! Yes
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Brian View Post
There's no visible UI for changing the settings, but you can tap the two links below in Safari on your device to enable or disable them.
Disable local notifications

Enable local notifications
(You'll need to restart OmniFocus for the settings to take affect.)

The time isn't adjustable at this point, but as always, folks that want that can email the support ninjas and vote for the feature. Thanks!
Is there any indication on the device that this worked? (Other than waiting for the next notification to not appear.)

As others have said, this is an extremely annoying "feature". I can't believe it was added without a UI setting to turn it off.
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chris View Post
Is there any indication on the device that this worked? (Other than waiting for the next notification to not appear.)

As others have said, this is an extremely annoying "feature". I can't believe it was added without a UI setting to turn it off.
click it, and the notifications will stop. It's easy enough to verify :-)
 
Well, I clicked it yesterday, and I got a notification today, so there must be something more than that.

Edit: Oh, I see, there is more too it. You have to wait for OF to bring up the big "Invoke and Quit" dialog. I wasn't patient enough yesterday. (iPhone 3G, so some things take a while.)

Last edited by Chris; 2010-07-01 at 12:05 PM..
 
 


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