[kendolondon]

Hi,

I'm now here and to OmniFocus so apologies if this is covered elsewhere - I couldn't find it if it is!

I understand that a project can either run sequentially or in parallel but is there a way to link the tasks together in a project so that their availability is driven by the status of their defined predecessors - similar to the way a normal PM Gantt Chart would work? I guess what I'm asking for is a sort of conditional parallel mode.

Thanks,
Kenny

[whpalmer4]

While it is true that the top level of a project must be either sequential or parallel, you can have action groups (nested actions) which are the opposite of what their containing project (or action group) is. So you can have a project which has several parallel sequences running, and some of those sequences can have spots which have parallel tasks, etc.

You can't get quite the degree of spaghetti tangles that you can with a Gantt chart with Start-Start, Start-Finish, Finish-Start, and Finish-Finish dependencies. Some might see that as a good thing :-) I find it is often better to just sketch out the first few steps in a project in detail and not worry so much about the later ones at the outset. When I've got a few of them done, then I'll sketch out a few more steps. It's pretty rare that a complex plan goes exactly as planned, so I roll with it and save the effort that would otherwise go into reworking the plan again and again.

[whpalmer4]

One thing you can do for linkage is to put a link to the dependent item in the notes of the prerequisite action. Select the dependent, do Edit->Copy as Link, and paste into the prerequisite's note. You can do as many as you want, so if you had one action gating several different actions (or even projects), that's not a problem. Then when you check off that prerequisite, you click on the links to bring up new windows focused on the project containing the linked item and make them active (take it off hold, change the start date, do the work, or whatever). You could of course put a link back to the prerequisite in the dependents as well.

[whpalmer4]

Finally, if you want some enhanced functionality for this (or anything else), be sure to use Help->Send Feedback to send in your requests so they get into the development database. Just posting on the forum generally won't do it.

[MrNiceGuy]

Originally Posted by whpalmer4

One thing you can do for linkage is to put a link to the dependent item in the notes of the prerequisite action. Select the dependent, do Edit->Copy as Link, and paste into the prerequisite's note. You can do as many as you want, so if you had one action gating several different actions (or even projects), that's not a problem. Then when you check off that prerequisite, you click on the links to bring up new windows focused on the project containing the linked item and make them active (take it off hold, change the start date, do the work, or whatever). You could of course put a link back to the prerequisite in the dependents as well.

Is that the extent of linking abilities? "Copy as link" does work, but I find it clunky. Is there something more like a "hyperlink" that stays in the same window, but jumps to the link target location? Maybe even with a "back" button to jump back to the starting point. I'd rather avoid multiple windows.

[whpalmer4]

Nope. There's no guarantee that the target link is even in the current window.