[bernardosw]

Hi there,

I would like to know if OmniFocus for iPad will support PDF and DOC attachments in the near future?

I am thinking of buying the product but this is something that I would really like to have in sight as it would be very helpfull on managing my projects.

Thanks,

Bernardo.

[whpalmer4]

Well, it depends on what you mean by "support" :-)

Currently, OmniFocus for iPad can sync and display such documents (or hand them off to another app) when attached to actions or projects. I can create a document in Pages or Microsoft Word, embed it in an OmniFocus action or project on the Mac, and sync it to OmniFocus on iPad (or iPhone/iPod Touch). There I can either view it directly in OmniFocus, or send a copy of it to another application that has registered with iOS as being able to handle documents of that type. So far, so good.

If you only have the iPad app, however, it may be difficult or impossible to get the document into OmniFocus on the iPad in the first place. Also, if you intend to edit the document, returning it to OmniFocus on the iPad after editing is similarly problematic. If this is a showstopper for you, please send email to omnifocus-ipad@omnigroup.com and tell them that! Omni's CEO has expressed a desire to implement the document interchange standards that should make it possible to send documents to OmniFocus on the iPad from other iPad apps, but it isn't of such of a priority that the work has been done and released to customers.

[bernardosw]

Thanks for your reply. :)

I don't have a Mac so my case would be the latter if I end up buying OF for iPad.

I am currently using 2Do and I have seen OF and Things being used by my friends, however, I haven't been able to identify anything in these products to justify the higher price.

OF's Forecast view would be a nice thing to have but US$ 40 is pretty high.

[gameboy213]

I totally agree this is a feature that could do wonders in the iPad as more and more people use it as their main road machine. I know that I would use it often.

Perhaps implementing the 'open in' feature somehow. No clue how it would work but being able to attach docs from Dropbox let's say would be amazing for me.

[wilsonng]

I don't like to bog my OmniFocus database down with large attachments. It takes longer to sync from OmniFocus Mac to my iPad.

I use box.com or Dropbox to make attachments available to me. Then I just download it with the Box app or the Dropbox app.

This is another possible route you can try. It's a workaround but at least it's another way of looking at attachments.

[kastork]

Originally Posted by wilsonng

I don't like to bog my OmniFocus database down with large attachments. It takes longer to sync from OmniFocus Mac to my iPad.

I use box.com or Dropbox to make attachments available to me. Then I just download it with the Box app or the Dropbox app.

This is another possible route you can try. It's a workaround but at least it's another way of looking at attachments.

Just curious. How do you make a link from OmniFocus item to Dropbox file in a way that makes the link work properly on both Mac and iPad?

[kastork]

Originally Posted by whpalmer4

Well, it depends on what you mean by "support" :-)

Currently, OmniFocus for iPad can sync and display such documents (or hand them off to another app) when attached to actions or projects. I can create a document in Pages or Microsoft Word, embed it in an OmniFocus action or project on the Mac, and sync it to OmniFocus on iPad (or iPhone/iPod Touch). There I can either view it directly in OmniFocus, or send a copy of it to another application that has registered with iOS as being able to handle documents of that type. So far, so good.

What do you have to do to get attachments on the Mac OmniFocus to sync to the iPad OmniFocus? I sync over my local network (Bonjour), and I don't see any of the word docs I've attached to items on the iPad. (I attach files by selecting the OF item and choosing "attach file" on the Mac side -- do you mean something else when you say "embed")

[whpalmer4]

Originally Posted by kastork

Just curious. How do you make a link from OmniFocus item to Dropbox file in a way that makes the link work properly on both Mac and iPad?

You don't.

[whpalmer4]

Originally Posted by kastork

What do you have to do to get attachments on the Mac OmniFocus to sync to the iPad OmniFocus? I sync over my local network (Bonjour), and I don't see any of the word docs I've attached to items on the iPad. (I attach files by selecting the OF item and choosing "attach file" on the Mac side -- do you mean something else when you say "embed")

At the bottom of the dialog box you get when doing Attach File... is a pair of radio buttons. One button (the default) creates a link to the file (essentially just recording the pathname to the file). The other button actually embeds the file in the database. Only the option that embeds the file is useful if you need the file sent along. The iPad can't do anything with the pathname to the file's location on your Mac...

Note that even if you do embed the file in your database, it isn't really smooth sailing, depending on your intentions for the file. About all that you can easily do is view the attached document. If you want to edit it, your changes are probably not going to get embedded back in the database copy of the file. So, for read-only reference material, it's workable, but that's about it. What works somewhat better is using another application (I use DevonThink Office Pro) which will give a link that can be opened either on the Mac or the iPad. I put the link in the OmniFocus note field, and let DTOP sync the actual document back and forth.