[BillSiegrist]

Greetings all,

I am a new user of OmniFocus & this forum. A few questions:

(1) In the various Omni programs/products is the a journal type application?

(2) Is it possible to archive "Action Items" after they have been completed, for future reference?

(3) Is it possible to edit the "Context" options? Such as adding Family. The three Mac designates are not very useful for my purposes.

(4) Is it possible to place "Actions Items" into a folder which does not appear? I am wanting to create a long range folder, with "Action Items" which do not need to be seen on a regular basis.

Thanks!

Kind regards,
Bill Siegrist
Bill@TexasCEF.org

[curt.clifton]

Bill,

Welcome.

Originally Posted by BillSiegrist

(1) In the various Omni programs/products is the a journal type application?

OmniOutliner probably comes the closest to this. It's a general purpose outlining program. It has shortcut keys for entering today's date. So you could create a journal outline with your daily journal entry under a heading for the current date.

(2) Is it possible to archive "Action Items" after they have been completed, for future reference?

All completed items are saved in the OF database. An option lets you send completed items from prior to a certain date to a separate archive database. This feature keeps your active database small for faster syncing to the iPhone or other computers.

(3) Is it possible to edit the "Context" options? Such as adding Family. The three Mac designates are not very useful for my purposes.

The contexts are fully editable. You can set them up however you like. There are several threads on the forums where people discuss what contexts they use.

(4) Is it possible to place "Actions Items" into a folder which does not appear? I am wanting to create a long range folder, with "Action Items" which do not need to be seen on a regular basis.

You can mark folders as "dropped", which hides them from views that show active items. You can also put projects on-hold—useful when you aren't currently working on them—or set future start dates for projects. For example, I have a project to plan a 50th anniversary party for my parents, but it's on-hold for a few more months until we get closer to the date.

You can run OF in trial mode for free. Why not give it a try?

Cheers,

Curt

[BillSiegrist]

Originally Posted by curt.clifton

Bill,

Welcome.



OmniOutliner probably comes the closest to this. It's a general purpose outlining program. It has shortcut keys for entering today's date. So you could create a journal outline with your daily journal entry under a heading for the current date.

Thank you ... I'll check out OmniOutliner.


All completed items are saved in the OF database. An option lets you send completed items from prior to a certain date to a separate archive database. This feature keeps your active database small for faster syncing to the iPhone or other computers.

Saved in the backup database? I am unsure how to do what you have recommended. Wouldn't opening a saved (backed up) database do away with any new items added from the last back up.


The contexts are fully editable. You can set them up however you like. There are several threads on the forums where people discuss what contexts they use.

I know the contexts I would like to add. I am unsure the steps/process for accomplishing this. I cannot locate the edit feature in the drop down menus.



You can mark folders as "dropped", which hides them from views that show active items. You can also put projects on-hold—useful when you aren't currently working on them—or set future start dates for projects. For example, I have a project to plan a 50th anniversary party for my parents, but it's on-hold for a few more months until we get closer to the date.

I tried this, I could not locate the "dropped" folder. Where did it go?

You can run OF in trial mode for free. Why not give it a try?

Cheers,

Curt

Kind regards,

Bill Siegrist
Bill@TexasCEF.org

[curt.clifton]

Bill,

See File → Open Archive and File → Move Old Data to Archive. The Archive is a special database for old items. It doesn't have anything to do with backups. You can have your regular database and the archive database open simultaneously.

For editing contexts, see the buttons at the bottom of the context bar: +, -, and gear. You can also just select a context in the sidebar and press return to add a new context below it, or press delete to delete the context. Finally, the Edit → Outlining menu will let you arrange the contexts into hierarchies.

For viewing dropped or on-hold actions, you need to adjust the View Bar settings. You can turn on the View Bar with View → Show View Bar. You'll want to adjust the Project Filter (the first lozenge in the View Bar) to control which projects are shown.

The learning curve for OF is a bit steep. You have to be willing to experiment a bit to see what does what. Have you watched the videos on the OmniFocus web page?

[Greg Jones]

Have you watched the videos on the OmniFocus web page?

In addition to the 2 videos Curt mentioned on the OmniFocus Web page (watch these first), you'll also want to watch the 2 ScreenCastsOnline videos that are a sticky at the top of this forum. All of the videos are for versions prior to 1.7, and some of the videos are for versions prior to 1.6x, so they won't look 100% like what you will see on your screen. However, the concepts and commands are still 99% applicable so you can learn a lot from them.

[BillSiegrist]

Originally Posted by curt.clifton

Bill,

See File → Open Archive and File → Move Old Data to Archive. The Archive is a special database for old items. It doesn't have anything to do with backups. You can have your regular database and the archive database open simultaneously.

Got it ... thanks.

For editing contexts, see the buttons at the bottom of the context bar: +, -, and gear. You can also just select a context in the sidebar and press return to add a new context below it, or press delete to delete the context.

Got it ... thanks.


Finally, the Edit → Outlining menu will let you arrange the contexts into hierarchies.

I have not been able to accomplish this/figure it out..

For viewing dropped or on-hold actions, you need to adjust the View Bar settings. You can turn on the View Bar with View → Show View Bar. You'll want to adjust the Project Filter (the first lozenge in the View Bar) to control which projects are shown.

Still have not conquered this one yet.

The learning curve for OF is a bit steep. You have to be willing to experiment a bit to see what does what. Have you watched the videos on the OmniFocus web page?

Yes, I have watched the video. I appreciate your prompt responses.

[BillSiegrist]

Originally Posted by Greg Jones

In addition to the 2 videos Curt mentioned on the OmniFocus Web page (watch these first), you'll also want to watch the 2 ScreenCastsOnline videos that are a sticky at the top of this forum. All of the videos are for versions prior to 1.7, and some of the videos are for versions prior to 1.6x, so they won't look 100% like what you will see on your screen. However, the concepts and commands are still 99% applicable so you can learn a lot from them.

Any additional thoughts on the following:

Finally, the Edit → Outlining menu will let you arrange the contexts into hierarchies.

I have not been able to accomplish this/figure it out..

For viewing dropped or on-hold actions, you need to adjust the View Bar settings. You can turn on the View Bar with View → Show View Bar. You'll want to adjust the Project Filter (the first lozenge in the View Bar) to control which projects are shown.

Still have not conquered this one yet.