[Tate]

Originally Posted by malisa

...you can uncheck "Show full hierarchy..." in Preferences...

Thanks! This is an excellent suggestion and something I did not know.

I guess I more think about the intellectual overload and the general frustration with duplicated structures in context and projects.

It seems that it can't be ideal to have both a home and work contexts (with a bunch of sub-contexts) AND have home and work master folders (with a bunch of sub-folders). Further, if I had to pick, I would say home and work or inherently contexts.

[whpalmer4]

Originally Posted by Tate

Thanks! This is an excellent suggestion and something I did not know.

I guess I more think about the intellectual overload and the general frustration with duplicated structures in context and projects.

It seems that it can't be ideal to have both a home and work contexts (with a bunch of sub-contexts) AND have home and work master folders (with a bunch of sub-folders). Further, if I had to pick, I would say home and work or inherently contexts.

Perhaps you would do better to think of "personal" and "work" rather than "home" and "work" -- isn't that the essential division, not where the project/action actually takes place? You could conceivably take care of personal items on the phone from work during your lunch break, for example, or read a report from work at home.

[Tate]

Originally Posted by whpalmer4

Perhaps you would do better to think of "personal" and "work" rather than "home" and "work"

Point well taken.

Ultimately, from a software perspective, I would not want to lose the option to focus on folders, obviously, but just add the option to focus on contexts.

Also, I need to have a bunch of work contexts because that is how OF syncs with iCal. So, I have a bunch of contexts that correspond to my project folders that sync with the project calendar in iCal. This means instead of, "true" contexts I end up with a bunch of project names for work stuff.

So, I have complete redundancy between folders and contexts and I seem to want to do everything backwards (i.e., besides wanting to focus on contexts I'd also prefer the ability to sync certain folders from the planning view with certain iCal calendars instead of just contexts.)

I'm not left-handed in real life, but I guess I am in OF world. :)

(I'm not complaining about any of this, but just pointing out how I have ultimately ended up using the product. I love OF and clipping right from emails or wherever!!!)

[whpalmer4]

You can get an acceptable version of focus on context by simply selecting a few contexts out of the sidebar, then closing the sidebar by sliding the divider between sidebar and outline to the left. You'll only see actions in those contexts, and you won't see the listing of all those other exotic, alluring, forbidden contexts to distract you :-)

[Tate]

Not a bad little work-around.

The problem comes when I have the urge to switch to planning view to see the full projects the actions are part of. On that side of life there will be no selections displayed only all my undone tasks staring me down!

Well, I guess I just have to fight the urge!

[whpalmer4]

Originally Posted by Tate

Not a bad little work-around.

The problem comes when I have the urge to switch to planning view to see the full projects the actions are part of. On that side of life there will be no selections displayed only all my undone tasks staring me down!

Well, I guess I just have to fight the urge!

Or maybe you don't! One of the advanced perspectives features is that it can retain settings for both context and planning view. So, you could do the following:

Go to context view and select the contexts of interest
Close the sidebar
Create a new perspective with the Perspectives window, checking the "Also restore settings for other mode" box
Select the entire contents of the outline
Switch to planning view
Click the Focus button
Take another snapshot to update your perspective

Now you've got a perspective that when in context view only shows the contents of the "focused" contexts (and hides the sidebar), but when you flip back to planning view shows all the projects that contain actions in those contexts (in their entirety, including the actions that aren't in the "focused" contexts). Perspectives are cheap -- make one for your afternoon's work and delete it when you are done. The only drawback I've encountered with this philosophy is that they aren't automatically synced, and when I wander off to another machine for a while, my "temporary" perspective(s) don't follow me.

[curt.clifton]

Originally Posted by Tate

Not a bad little work-around.

The problem comes when I have the urge to switch to planning view to see the full projects the actions are part of. On that side of life there will be no selections displayed only all my undone tasks staring me down!

Well, I guess I just have to fight the urge!

You can also double click the handle of an action in Context View to open a new window focused on that action's project. I find this very useful for quickly dropping into project mode while avoiding distractions.

[malisa]

Originally Posted by curt.clifton

You can also double click the handle of an action in Context View to open a new window focused on that action's project. I find this very useful for quickly dropping into project mode while avoiding distractions.

I didn't know this and am trying it out. Can someone confirm that it doesn't actually switch you over to planning mode but does focus on the project chosen...but still in context view? Am I doing what Curt suggested?

I think I'll rather like this. Thanks.

[whpalmer4]

Originally Posted by malisa

I didn't know this and am trying it out. Can someone confirm that it doesn't actually switch you over to planning mode but does focus on the project chosen...but still in context view? Am I doing what Curt suggested?

Confirmed. It does say "focused on <XYZ>" in the window title, doesn't it? You will get a window in whichever mode you were in when you did the double-clicking -- this works in both project and context mode. You can of course switch to the other mode once you have created the new window.

I use this when looking at my tickler list (context view grouped by start date) to set out the projects I want to work on.

[curt.clifton]

malisa,

Occasionally the new window seems to be in whatever mode I last left my second window in. It's kind of odd and probably somewhat buggy. If I double click and the window opens in context mode, then I choose View --> Planning Mode to get the right view. What's weird is that if I then close that window and try the double-click trick again, the new window will be in planning mode.