[Chrisws]

Good morning! Using Omnifocus already for a while I find, that I do not really know how to use it in the right way.. (Im am one NeverReadTheManual guys)

Since some things turn out not to be working as expected, I will have to go through the papers, but is the available manual really actual? I mean, we are at 1.10 and the manual says 1.5? Or is it just minor fixings which do not influence the handling?

Please tell me before I read it :)
Thank you!

[wilsonng]

I think the manual has been neglected for some time now.

You can probably check the built-in OmniFocus help menu or visit some great third-party sources for OmniFocus:

http://www.usingomnifocus.com

The author has an audiobook or ebook for sale that is worth every penny. If you really want to learn how to use OmniFocus and learn about different workflows that you can use to increase your productivity, this book is an excellent choice.

Click on the Resources link at the top of the page to see a variety of online articles on how to harness OmniFocus' capabilities.



http://www.asianefficiency.com/omnifocus/

A great list of articles written about OmniFocus is located at Asian Efficiency. Each article is nicely written and builds upon each other.


An official software manual will mostly show you the feature set of a program. A third-party writer will show you different workflows and how each feature fits in your own personal workflow. That's the big difference.

[whpalmer4]

The manual is old and some things have changed or been added, though the overall approach of the program has been stable. The built-in documentation (Help menu) may be somewhat more up-to-date, but the manual has never done much more than describe the basic features of the program, as wilsonng points out. It doesn't discuss how you might use the tools provided except in the most basic fashion, but if you read the forum, you'll discover that there are many ways you can use the tools, some of them not all that obvious at first glance! The AsianEfficiency pages, Kourosh Dini's excellent Using OmniFocus ebook, MacSparky's videos, etc. all attempt to fill a bit of the vacuum between understanding how to manipulate the program and using it effectively. The manual tells you how to operate the keys and pedals on the piano; building on that knowledge to become a skilled musician takes some time, practice, quite a few wrong notes, and imagination (and/or a willingness to investigate what others have done before you).

You should definitely watch the videos on the product page: http://www.omnigroup.com/products/omnifocus/videos/
(MacSparky's videos are linked from that page and deserve your attention, though you may be able to skip over some of the material if you don't use the iPad, for example).

[Chrisws]

Thank you so much for these comprehensive replies! I understand my question was somehow stupid, the comparison with the piano made it clear... I was watching the videos already, but maybe after using omnifocus for quite a while it is more than time to go through them once more.

Thank you very much for pointing me to the audiobook and the asianefficiency page - that was what I have been looking for!

Appreciate your assistance big time,
Chris