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Feature request: Full hierarchy of grouped actions to be shown in context view Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
I have mailed this to omnifocus support. Posting it here too for community comments/suggestions. I tried to search the forums if this has been suggested before, but couldn't find any instance. Moderators may delete this if its a repeated thread.

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Hi,
This a feature request. If in case such a feature exists already kindly let me know.

If i create an action group, and assign the sub-actions a context. Then in the context mode, when i view the particular context, the sub-actions are shown, but the group action to which it belongs is not shown. I understand that the group action is not an action in itself and so should not be shown in a separate line. But i do think the hierarchy of the sub-action should be shown in nested format exactly like folder: subfolder: project hierarchy is shown.


E.g. Say I have a project 'Learn Punjabi language'. And i have various actions and sub-actions under it -


Action 1 - Buy 'Learn Punjabi' language learning audio CD's from Amazon
Action 2 (grouped) - Listen to 'Learn Punjabi' CD set
>Sub-action 1 - CD 1
>Sub-action 2 - CD 2

Action 3 - Rent 'Punjabi made easy' CD set from library
Action 4 (grouped) - Listen to 'Punjabi made easy' CD set
>Sub-action 1 - CD 1
>Sub-action 2 - CD 2
>Sub-action 3 - CD 3

All of the above actions have the same context, say 'Learning/Development'

Now when i click on the context 'Learning/Development' in context mode, it lists all of my solitary actions and my sub-actions but not the group name of the action. I understand that the group name is not an action in itself and so it is not shown, but the problem here is that i get two rows saying "CD1" and "CD 2" with no way of distinguishing between them.

I can of course make a more descriptive sub-action, however I always to keep that it mind when i set up my actions in planning mode. And thus, I feel sub-actions under context mode should be displayed as "action: sub-action"

"Listen to 'Learn Punjabi' CD set: CD 1"
"Listen to 'Learn Punjabi' CD set: CD 2"
"Listen to 'Punjabi made easy' CD set: CD 1"
.
.


But in many other cases even when there is no overlap of sub-action names, it is helpful to know that a sub-action falls under a particular group action. Unless i make the sub-action descriptive, i might not remember which action it belongs to. I have had some other cases where i had to right click on the sub-action and say 'show in planning mode' just to see which group-action it belonged to.
This problem is compounded if someone is using several hierarchies of grouped actions.

Another example -
group-action: 'Ask friends to return DVD's rented to them'
>Sub-action 1 (grouped): Office colleagues
>>>Sub-sub-action 1: David
>>>Sub-sub-action 2: Vishal
>Sub-action 2: Amit
>Sub-action 3: Mike

Kindly neglect the usefulness of such an organization for this example (assume a larger project exists). Point is, it would be much more helpful if the action line in context mode reads

"Ask friends to return DVD's rented to them: Office colleagues: David"
instead of merely saying
"David"

And finally, (i know these has been recommended in the forums), there should be a choice to auto-complete my group-action if sub-actions are complete. If i am checking off my sub-actions in context mode, and i don't remember that they belonged to a group action, the group-action remains gets left out. The probabilily of this happening is increased even more since the group action name is it is not even shown in context mode.
Moreover, by showing the nested structure I don't have to type lengthy desriptions for each sub-action, I can leave it at "David" itself if the group action is clear enough.

Regards.

Last edited by pumpkinwhite; 2008-01-16 at 09:20 PM..
 
This may not be to your taste, but I write each action to be as descriptive as necessary on its own. Ethan Schoonover has described this as a kind of delegating to yourself. The idea is that your future self might need more instruction than you think at the moment you enter an action in OF (or write it in your hPDA, or on the fridge, etc.), so it's good to be explicit. I find it helpful and I don't mind the additional typing.
 
 


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