[psychguy]

Hi--
I have a number of projects and tasks that recur monthly. If I complete the taskfor the current month, the next month's task shows up with the correct due date. However, even though it isn't due for a month or more, it shows up as "past" in Forecast view. I can't figure out what I am doing wrong here - any suggestions?

For example, I have a recurring project CF that is set to recur every month, and has 8 tasks which are each also set to recur every month. When I completed these tasks for September, the same tasks popped up for October with October due dates (as I expected). However, in Forecast view, when I click on "Past", I have these events listed as overdue even though the due dates are in the future.

Thanks!

[whpalmer4]

Originally Posted by psychguy

For example, I have a recurring project CF that is set to recur every month, and has 8 tasks which are each also set to recur every month.

I think if you look carefully you may see that you are still using the original project, which means all of those repeating actions are now overdue because their later due date is overridden by the earlier due date of the project.

Generally, you want either the project or the action to repeat, but not both. There are benefits and costs to any of the approaches.

Repeating project: you get a fresh new project, the old ones can be easily archived or deleted, and you can have the project itself hidden away by a start date. However, if you don't get everything completed before the end of the repeat period, the next one doesn't show up on time, because the completion of the project is what generates the next one.

Static project, repeating action group: much like the repeating project, except that everything is contained in one fixed project. Largely the same disadvantages, too. Slightly more convenient if you wanted to make a project-based perspective that included it, because the project doesn't change.

Static project, repeating actions: offers more flexibility, especially if you want to be able to have the next repeat of any action start without waiting for all of the others to be completed. Need to be careful about structure so that actions are not blocked. Use a single action list or a parallel project, not a sequential project.

Use a template project, perhaps with Curt Clifton's Populate Template Placeholders script: the idea here is that you just stamp out a bunch of the repeats yourself with the right start and due dates. Curt's script offers great flexibility with date and placeholder processing, and you can set things up so that the repeats overlap. An example might be doing something with some documentation that is generated at a weekly meeting, where finishing the work on that documentation might well stretch past the start of the next meeting, so you don't want to have the project for the next week's meeting held up. At the moment, this is effectively limited to those also using OmniFocus on the Mac.

[psychguy]

That was it! Thanks so much for your help and detailed ideas about different ways to accomplish this. I am going to play around with them and see what works best for me.

[whpalmer4]

Consider also the possibility that different projects may be best met with different approaches...