The Omni Group
These forums are now read-only. Please visit our new forums to participate in discussion. A new account will be required to post in the new forums. For more info on the switch, see this post. Thank you!

Go Back   The Omni Group Forums > OmniFocus > OmniFocus 1 for Mac
FAQ Members List Calendar Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read

 
Actions Lacking Context Not Showing Up Under "No Context" Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
Actions lacking both a project and context do not show up in the No Context bin (top of the sidebar when in Context mode). They have no context, so shouldn't they be visible?

-Steve
 
This is particularly bothersome since it's precisely those actions with unassigned contexts that I wish to process (assign to a context) several at a time via multiple selection and drag and drop. I shouldn't be forced to assign them to a project first.
 
Right now an action without a project is an inbox item -- it isn't considered actionable or even something you've committed to. Since you haven't committed to it, it isn't shown in context mode (so as not to ask you to act on something you haven't committed to doing or necessarily even broken up into actions).

Now, of course I say "right now" in that if you'd like the application to work a different way, please feel free to send feedback, but I wanted to just mention why this is happening.
__________________
CTO, The Omni Group
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tim Wood View Post
Right now an action without a project is an inbox item -- it isn't considered actionable or even something you've committed to. Since you haven't committed to it, it isn't shown in context mode (so as not to ask you to act on something you haven't committed to doing or necessarily even broken up into actions).
Thanks, for the explanation, Tim. So your statement implies that assigning an action to a project constitutes "committing" to it. I was unaware of that "hidden meaning" of project assignment. For me, the act of putting an action into my inbox constitutes my commitment, so I was bewildered when I didn't see them in a list in which they should appear according to the view criteria - i.e. no context.

I'd be interested to know how others think of this. I suppose it could be made into a preference setting.

-Steve
 
It seems that since there is already the method to auto-assign an inbox item to a single-action project (bucket) when you assign a context, that there be more than the one method of being able to add a context to an inbox item.

-P
 
I definitely don't commit to items when the go into my Inbox. Commitment comes when they are processed into projects. If I have to think about commitment first, then I can't just throw ideas into my inbox. So, I like the current set up.
__________________
Cheers,

Curt
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by curt.clifton View Post
I definitely don't commit to items when the go into my Inbox. Commitment comes when they are processed into projects. If I have to think about commitment first, then I can't just throw ideas into my inbox. So, I like the current set up.
Fair enough. But let's not lose sight of my original point, which is: There are actions which have no context, and they don't show up when I choose to view actions with no context.

I can see nothing in the interface that indicates actions must be assigned to a project before they appear in context mode. For the way I work, it's just as likely that I'll first group actions by where I need to perform them (a context) and then group them into their corresponding projects.

To take things a bit further, one might question why there's even a list called "No Context" in Context mode. Its purpose, I can only assume, is to allow you to see and thus quickly assign contexts to actions which don't have any. That's all I wanted to do, but couldn't. Having said all that, a simple checkbox in the preferences would allow the user to specify the behavior...
[x] Show actions with no project in context mode
-Steve
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Shotster View Post
Fair enough. But let's not lose sight of my original point, which is: There are actions which have no context, and they don't show up when I choose to view actions with no context.
I see your argument, but another interpretation is that things in the inbox are not actions -- they might be projects, they might be action groups, they might just get deleted. Cluttering up your life while you are working with the fiddly scraps of ideas that are in your inbox would prevent you from focusing on actually completing the tasks you have committed yourself to finishing.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Shotster View Post
To take things a bit further, one might question why there's even a list called "No Context" in Context mode. Its purpose, I can only assume, is to allow you to see and thus quickly assign contexts to actions which don't have any.
Yes; this is exactly why we added the No Context group. But again, we don't treat inbox items as actions. If you have committed to an inbox item by dragging it into a project, you may still have either forgotten to assign a context or otherwise left it in a state were it has no context. In this case, you could be working away in Context mode, checking off actions and suddenly there is an invisible action blocking further progress on your project -- no further tasks show up in Context mode for that Project and you'd have to flip over to Planning mode to fix it.

Without the No Context group, there would be actions you'd committed without being able to see them while acting.

Another way to think of the No Context group is as a second inbox. Ideally you'll be able to fully process Inbox items the first time you touch them. But, in the case that good intentions fail, we want the No Context group to help you gracefully recover and move on.
__________________
CTO, The Omni Group
 
Thanks, Tim. Understanding the rationale behind the implementation is helpful. Being a relative newcomer to OF and thus not having seen it mature over the past months, some of the UI and concepts aren't readily apparent. Perhaps just a change in some terminology and/or some unique icons for the various types of list items would be helpful.

-Steve
 
 


Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
"Active Contexts" showing with no "available" actions? jasong OmniFocus 1 for Mac 28 2013-08-29 09:03 AM
actions under "on hold" context enigma2k OmniFocus for iPad 3 2012-05-16 04:38 PM
No "New Action"/"New Context" menu items in 1.7? WCityMike OmniFocus 1 for Mac 4 2009-09-30 05:01 PM
Scrolling crash in "Nearby" screen showing Next Actions [Reproduced; working on fix.] curiousstranger OmniFocus for iPhone 11 2009-06-02 05:14 PM
Project context menu: "Complete" vs. "Completed" vocaro OmniFocus 1 for Mac 6 2007-12-11 09:18 AM


All times are GMT -8. The time now is 12:19 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.