[Teresa_H]

So my Omnifocus has updated to version 1.8. And here is the problem.

I had finally figured out a focus that would use the start date to show me items upcoming so I could look at them and be sure I was on track to get things done in a way that made sense to me. I was pretty happy with it.

Then the update.

Now it seems Projects have been given a "Start Date" field. All the projects show up at the top of my "Start" list. (no date in the field sorts to the top) Of course until now, none of the projects themselves have had a "Start date" on them only the items inside have a start date.

I tried changing the date to a future time so the project header would drop out of the picture, but as soon as I do that - the entire project disappears including the subordinate tasks. Nothing from that project shows up any of my perspectives.

Let's take a small example:

I have a meeting coming in January. Because set up has only just begun, I have the Project header in place and one item so far. I have a due date on the item itself of 10/3/10. If I leave the start date empty on the project line, the project name shows at the top of my Start Date perspective. The one item shows up further down the list with the due date.

If I put that same "Start Date" on the Project header, the entire project vanishes. It is no longer visible at all in the Project perspective AND the to-do itself is no longer visible. It's not in the "Start" perspective, it's not even listed in the "Context" perspective. I can only get it back by going to the Project Perspective and clicking on view--> remaining and removing the date from the Project header. The odd thing is - I set my perspectives to view "Remaining" items, but until I actually go to the menu and use the view --> remaining - nothing shows up. And apparently the View setting I choose in the menu is not kept once I click away from that perspective it resets to Active.

The really annoying thing is some of my projects cover months. So if I got the "start date" working with Projects, I would have to change it every time I finished an item - move the 'start date' forward on the project line itself if you will. That is too annoying.

So what's up? Do I need to change all my set ups to be able to get a reasonable view of day to day tasks? Am I missing a change that I need to make in my perspectives?

[Lucas]

I don't think that 1.8 made a change to how start dates work.

I think I understand you to be changing the start dates on actions within projects to help arrange the sort order of projects in project view. If you are in project view and are sorting by start date, it will sort the project as a whole according to the earliest start date of any of its actions. I hope that I understood your question correctly: if I have it correct that projects are not sorting as you would expect, I would double-check that you are in project mode, then make sure that the earliest start date of any action is really what you think it is. When you have that view as you like it, you can use the snapshot button to update the perspective with the correct view settings.

[whpalmer4]

Originally Posted by Teresa_H

So my Omnifocus has updated to version 1.8. And here is the problem.

I had finally figured out a focus that would use the start date to show me items upcoming so I could look at them and be sure I was on track to get things done in a way that made sense to me. I was pretty happy with it.

Then the update.

Now it seems Projects have been given a "Start Date" field. All the projects show up at the top of my "Start" list. (no date in the field sorts to the top) Of course until now, none of the projects themselves have had a "Start date" on them only the items inside have a start date.

Projects have always had a start date field. However, the projects themselves haven't always shown up in a context mode view. The same is true of action groups.

I tried changing the date to a future time so the project header would drop out of the picture, but as soon as I do that - the entire project disappears including the subordinate tasks. Nothing from that project shows up any of my perspectives.

A couple of things you can do:

View->Hide Parent Items in Context Mode (cmd-option-P) will hide the project (and action group) headers.

If you're like I am, and are using the view as a "tickler" view, where you are only interested in things that actually have start dates, close the "No Start Date" group and save the perspective again, making sure that the Restore Expansion box is checked in the Show Perspectives window.

Optionally, use Help->Send Feedback to tell Omni that you would prefer the "No Start Date" group show up at the other end of the display. IMO, most use of a start date based display is to look at items that actually have start dates, so the logical place to put the items that don't is at the bottom where they are out of the way. One wouldn't want the corresponding list grouped by due date to start off with items with no due date, right?