[mjw]

an inbox item just showed up from an email i sent and it was in red font. What makes it red? Why is it red?

[mjw]

I sent an item to my Inbox via email and it showed up in red font. What causes this red font? Should I be alert to something (new user).
Mike

[whpalmer4]

Does the item have a due date? Select it, bring up the inspector by clicking the inspector button in the toolbar or pressing cmd-shift-I, and have a look at the due date field. By default, uncompleted items will be styled in red once the due date/time arrives, and in orange in the "due soon" interval before that. See the OmniFocus->Preferences command for setting the length of the "due soon" interval (in the "Dates & Times" portion of the Data tab) and the Style tab will show you a key of how everything is styled (and allow you to make changes, if you want).

The email processing feature does allow the specification of a due date, so if there's a # in your message, that might explain the presence of a due date without your having knowingly set one. See the "Processing Mail messages into actions" program help for the details.

[curt.clifton]

If you have the default styles, red indicates an item that is past its due date. Use View → Columns → Due to display the due date column, or click on the task and use the Inspector to see the due date.