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Using flags and contexts Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
I'm trying to optimise the way in which I use OmniFocus, and I'd like to know how you people are using flags. What kind of uses have you found for them?

Also, how many different contexts do you have? Do you prefer to have many specific contexts or a small set of more general contexts?

Thanks!
 
I use flags to mark the projects or actions related to my monthly goals. I have an "Important Items" perspective that shows my flagged, available actions. Once I've completed any urgent items, then I use this Important Items perspective to focus on my most important actions.

I vacillate on the right number of contexts. There are competing interests here. Too many contexts can make it hard to decide in which to put a task. Too few contexts can make it hard to review the list of actionable items. Here's my current list:

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Under the collapsed "Agenda" item is a list of all the people that I regularly interact with on work-related items. That's a long list, but having lots of contexts there doesn't create the same problems that I had when I had 10 different subcontexts under Mac.
__________________
Cheers,

Curt
 
Thank you very much for describing the way you use flags and contexts.

I'm using the default People context in the same way you're using Agenda. I have a sub-context for most of my friends and colleagues so I can just press their context and see all the relevant actions whenever I meet them.

I'm having some trouble with the Mac and Online contexts though. I got an iPod Touch this week, so now I have two different online environments.
I'm considering the following setup:
- Online (for the Mac & iPod Touch)
- Email
- Mac (for actions where I need to be on my Mac, regardless of whether they're online or offline actions; my Mac is almost always online)

I noticed that you have Online and Offline sub-contexts under your Mac. Do you gain a lot by differentiating them there? I'd like to avoid having two different online contexts.
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by JoaoPinheiro View Post
I noticed that you have Online and Offline sub-contexts under your Mac. Do you gain a lot by differentiating them there? I'd like to avoid having two different online contexts.
The Offline sub-context is part of my "Traveling Without Network" perspective. It's useful in airports, on planes, and in coffee shops when I don't trust the open Wi-Fi or am just trying to conserve battery life by turning off AirPort.

For me having separate Online and Offline sub-contexts is useful frequently enough that I've kept the distinction. In your situation with your iPod Touch and always on Mac, I think your proposed contexts sound great.
__________________
Cheers,

Curt
 
Yes, I do understand the reasoning for your online and offline sub-contexts now. I usually don't have a big list of things to do when I travel — I travel often, but I'm mostly a recreational traveller — so I don't think having that distinction would be very important for me at the moment.

Thanks again for the help :)
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by JoaoPinheiro View Post
I usually don't have a big list of things to do when I travel — I travel often, but I'm mostly a recreational traveller — so I don't think having that distinction would be very important for me at the moment.
How about "feel sorry for all the poor saps who have to get some work done while traveling"? :-)
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by whpalmer4 View Post
How about "feel sorry for all the poor saps who have to get some work done while traveling"? :-)
Haha. Well, I feel sorry for all the poor saps who have to work, period. ;)
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by JoaoPinheiro View Post
I'm trying to optimise the way in which I use OmniFocus, and I'd like to know how you people are using flags.
I use flags to indicate items that are not work-related. I do no work Friday evening to Sunday morning, so I only look at flagged items during that time.

If I could have different-colored flags, it would allow me more idiosyncratic distinctions. Or different-colored backgrounds which could be used for sorting, grouping, or showing/hiding. Different users could interpret those however they see fit, as in Apple Mail.

I think that may be part of 1.5?
 
 


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