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Where should I store project support files? Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
Many of my projects require a couple megabytes of supporting material. Once the project is completed, I'll never need to see the support material again.

Omnifocus supports attachments for projects, but I've been warned not to attach large files to omnifocus because it slows it down. Is this truly the case? It really feels to me that these files BELONG with my omnifocus project, not in a separate folder on my hard drive that I'll have to clean up later.

Thanks in advance,
Philip
 
You can embed the files in your OmniFocus document, if you want. Here are some reasons you might not want to do so:
  • Sync performance: adding a few megabytes (or more) to your database will certainly slow down any sync operations where the whole database needs to be read or written (and you'll really notice it if you are using a nonlocal webDAV server and you have asymmetric bandwidth)
  • Disk space: every time OmniFocus makes a backup copy of your database, you'll be duplicating your megabytes of attachments
  • Accessibility: while it seems like a great idea, in practice, it isn't so wonderful if the support material tends to change. You don't get convenient access to those documents except by going through OmniFocus. If any of that support material is something that needs to be edited by multiple people, this is going to be a headache.
  • iPhone: there's limited RAM on the iPhone, and there isn't any means to sync only part of your database. Bloat the database enough with embedded files and suffer either slow loading or possibly no loading at all. To add insult to injury, the iPhone might not even be able to do anything constructive with those embedded files.

Now, if you are just using OmniFocus on the desktop, with no synchronization with either other copies of OmniFocus on the desktop or iPhone, some of these issues become less significant.
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by whpalmer4 View Post
  • Accessibility: while it seems like a great idea, in practice, it isn't so wonderful if the support material tends to change. You don't get convenient access to those documents except by going through OmniFocus. If any of that support material is something that needs to be edited by multiple people, this is going to be a headache.
Wasn't there some issue with saving modified embedded files? I think if you embed a file, and then open it and make changes to the file, updates aren't written back to the attachment in OmniFocus.

I haven't tried this myself (actually, I don't embed files at all due to the reasons listed by whpalmer4), so I could very well be wrong. Or perhaps it once was a problem but was later fixed. I dunno. But it's something to check for if you go the embedded route.

-Dennis
 
There may well have been an issue at one point, but I tried editing an embedded file just now, saving the changes, closing the editing program, and reopening from the embedded icon got me the right stuff...but even if it didn't, that wouldn't contradict my original point about the difficulty of accessing the embedded file, would it? :-)
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by whpalmer4 View Post
...but even if it didn't, that wouldn't contradict my original point about the difficulty of accessing the embedded file, would it? :-)
Oh, no, not at all. I was just thinking out loud. :-)

And thanks for checking. I'm happy to hear things are working properly with embedding.

-Dennis
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by whpalmer4 View Post
You can embed the files in your OmniFocus document, if you want. Here are some reasons you might not want to do so:
  • Sync performance: adding a few megabytes (or more) to your database will certainly slow down any sync operations where the whole database needs to be read or written (and you'll really notice it if you are using a nonlocal webDAV server and you have asymmetric bandwidth)
  • Disk space: every time OmniFocus makes a backup copy of your database, you'll be duplicating your megabytes of attachments
  • Accessibility: while it seems like a great idea, in practice, it isn't so wonderful if the support material tends to change. You don't get convenient access to those documents except by going through OmniFocus. If any of that support material is something that needs to be edited by multiple people, this is going to be a headache.
  • iPhone: there's limited RAM on the iPhone, and there isn't any means to sync only part of your database. Bloat the database enough with embedded files and suffer either slow loading or possibly no loading at all. To add insult to injury, the iPhone might not even be able to do anything constructive with those embedded files.

Now, if you are just using OmniFocus on the desktop, with no synchronization with either other copies of OmniFocus on the desktop or iPhone, some of these issues become less significant.
Thanks for the clear explanation. Of the reasons you listed, iPhone syncing is the main one that concerns me. If we could make iPhone syncing ignore attachments, then the problem would be solved.
 
Wait a moment - isn't this the difference between "attaching" a file and "embedding" a file?

According to the help file:

"By default, OmniFocus creates links to the files you attach, rather than adding the files to your OmniFocus database. This keeps your database from growing needlessly (which is especially important if you are syncing your data), but the link will break if you delete the file or put it somewhere OmniFocus can’t find it. To make OmniFocus copy a file into its database for safekeeping, hold the Option key as you drop the file, or select Embed the file in the document in the Attach File dialog."
 
Philip,

You say you won't need to see your support material again and yet you want to keep it in OF, so I guess that tells me you DO need it. Or think you at least might.

For both simplicity and a slim OF file, I would recommend a single folder on your HD in which you can archive all your completed project support materials (each in its own subfolder of course). Then attach each specific project folder to the project in OF as Hoff describes, simply by dragging the folder to create the link (or alias).

If it's all in one folder, hopefully it can sit there harmlessly and not bother you. But if you need it, you can get there either through the link in OF or by going directly to the archived folder, whichever seems easiest.

Bob
 
 


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