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Applescripts: Better Templates, Complete Tasks From Mail.app Sender, and Batch-Defer Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
Tested this out. Seems to work. One other option that would be great (at least in my workflow) is to have a choice about whether the script places the new project at the beginning or end of the list of projects in the chosen folder.

I tend to place new projects at the top of my list and then triage them from there.

Curt's script put the new project at the very bottom of the entire project list. From there, I'd typically use another applescript from this forum to move the project to the very top of the project list and then manually place it into the active projects folder I keep near the top of the list.

So the fact that your script allows the user to choose a folder is a nice improvement. But at least for me, it would be amazing if I could choose to have it placed at the top of that folder.

Best,

KS

But
 
I made a modification to Curt's script at one point that offered the option of top or bottom for the insertion point of the new project. It was a compile-time option, not run-time. One thing I wanted to do but was unable to suss out was to have the growl notification of the new project creation be a clickable notification (like the due soon, due now, start now, etc. notifications OmniFocus will send) so that clicking on it would take you to the project so you could move it or snag a link to put in some document. Never did figure out the secret to success with that.

@pxldot: what don't you like about the dropped folder full of templates approach? Or is it something else you don't like? Haven't had a chance to try out the script, but it's on the list of things to tinker with in OmniFocus :-)
 
@kingsinger: I like the idea (I prefer the new instances at the top as well). It's now a compile-time option in the most recent version (download it from the http://pxldot.com/projects, look near the top of the script).

@whpalmer: I may do the Growl thing in the future. Two things for the dropped folder. Out of sight, out of mind, so I think Dropped folders, which aren't often seen, makes it easier to forget about the projects and for the system to fall into disrepair. I also think it's non-canonical in OmniFocus: Dropped status indicates that you had initially planned to do it, and decided against it. On Hold means that you plan on doing it at some point. I simply think the nature of templates makes them better suited as On Hold. No need to get too theoretical, I suppose, but that's my opinion :)
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by pxldot View Post
Two things for the dropped folder. Out of sight, out of mind, so I think Dropped folders, which aren't often seen, makes it easier to forget about the projects and for the system to fall into disrepair.
They are only out of sight when you set the view preferences not to show them. By that same argument anything that isn't a next action is at risk if you like a Next Action view, or anything that isn't available if you like to use the Available view.
Quote:
I also think it's non-canonical in OmniFocus: Dropped status indicates that you had initially planned to do it, and decided against it. On Hold means that you plan on doing it at some point. I simply think the nature of templates makes them better suited as On Hold. No need to get too theoretical, I suppose, but that's my opinion :)
Non-canonical? Here's a quote from Ken in 2007:

OmniFocus does have a notion of project status: a project can be active, on hold, completed, or dropped, and you can filter the project list using these states. You can also set start dates on projects and actions (giving you a "scheduled" state), and you can create different top-level folders for projects and use those to create your own arbitrary groupings of folders (such as a someday/maybe list, which might be a bunch of projects in an inactive folder).

 
Quote:
Originally Posted by pxldot View Post
@kingsinger: I like the idea (I prefer the new instances at the top as well). It's now a compile-time option in the most recent version (download it from the http://pxldot.com/projects, look near the top of the script).

@whpalmer: I may do the Growl thing in the future. Two things for the dropped folder. Out of sight, out of mind, so I think Dropped folders, which aren't often seen, makes it easier to forget about the projects and for the system to fall into disrepair. I also think it's non-canonical in OmniFocus: Dropped status indicates that you had initially planned to do it, and decided against it. On Hold means that you plan on doing it at some point. I simply think the nature of templates makes them better suited as On Hold. No need to get too theoretical, I suppose, but that's my opinion :)
But the whole point of having a template script is to create new projects. Your script finds the templates and presents a list of them to you. So I don't need to see those in the project sidebar. The only time I use them is when I need to create a particular project that relates to one of the templates I've created (e.g., New Matter--W/Fee Deposit). The rest of the time, if these template projects are in an active folder, they're just irrelevant noise that's getting mixed in with the signal of the projects that are truly active. If I have contexts assigned to certain tasks in the template, they get intermingled in with the real tasks (this is particularly a problem if you are filtering on remaining tasks, which a I do a fair amount, because a lot of my projects don't always flow in perfect sequential order, so I need to see the entire overview to check things off).

Obviously, "Dropped" has a certain meaning within OF, as it relates to GTD. On the other and, if we simply abstract it out to what it does, "Dropped" simply means don't show these items unless I explicitly filter on everything or on "Dropped."

I agree that ideally templates would live in their own dedicate space in OF separate from the present filtering taxonomy. But at least for me, as things stand, dropped seems like the most logical place to keep the templates (especially in the context of your script, which does such a nice job presenting all the available templates to the user when the script is actuated).

Looking forward to test driving your updated version of the scripts. Thanks for all your great work.

KS
 
I didn't mean to start a war over syntax/ interpretation :P Based on my interpretation of Dropped, I prefer to use On Hold for templates, although I understand that the way Dropped hides the folder/ projects is actually more conducive (in some ways) to a template folder. As with all things, I have my own interpretation of canon, and I operate on that (though I'm happy to make it an option for those that don't work the same way). I still think that a dropped <anything> means it is gone and not coming back, but I'm certainly not religious about it, even in my own database.

I'm also 100% in agreement that it depends largely on how you use OF. That's really the power behind the software —*everyone uses it in a way that better fits their mental model/ processes. I exclude my templates folder from most perspectives (and really focus on only available tasks, since I work so hard to create a good project structure on the front-end that allows me to ignore the unavailable tasks until they're front-and-center), but still want it in the main project list so that I am actively making sure the template projects aren't getting stale. To each their own!
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by pxldot View Post
I didn't mean to start a war over syntax/ interpretation :P Based on my interpretation of Dropped, I prefer to use On Hold for templates, although I understand that the way Dropped hides the folder/ projects is actually more conducive (in some ways) to a template folder. As with all things, I have my own interpretation of canon, and I operate on that (though I'm happy to make it an option for those that don't work the same way). I still think that a dropped <anything> means it is gone and not coming back, but I'm certainly not religious about it, even in my own database.

I'm also 100% in agreement that it depends largely on how you use OF. That's really the power behind the software —*everyone uses it in a way that better fits their mental model/ processes. I exclude my templates folder from most perspectives (and really focus on only available tasks, since I work so hard to create a good project structure on the front-end that allows me to ignore the unavailable tasks until they're front-and-center), but still want it in the main project list so that I am actively making sure the template projects aren't getting stale. To each their own!

Right on. I don't think anyone is looking to have a war either. But a lot of people read these forums looking for info and tips on how to use OF more efficiently and effectively, so I do think it's useful to see the underlying rationale behind different people's approaches to using the tool. I've been using OF since it was Kinkless GTD. But I continue to learn a lot of great stuff here.

Indeed, WHPalmer has taught me a lot about how to use OF better in the years I've been reading this forum (probably, he's the person who explained that putting the templates in dropped would get me to the behavior I was looking for). It may well be that the "on hold" category didn't even exist when I first started using dropped. I can't remember. But it seems like either "dropped" or "on hold" was added along the way. That may well have affected the decision to put the templates in dropped.

In any event, the goal should be to help people get to the result they are looking for, and I want to thank you again for your awesome contribution to that.

Best,

KS
 
Played around with this more. The new feature to place the project at the top of the folder is great. Indeed, the entire script is great. Nice improvement on Curt's script. Thanks again so much for making it.

Still a little bit confused about making the date stuff work. In particular the $date variables.

Maybe a few more concrete examples would help bring things into focus.

Have you considered doing a few screenshots of how you have a template set up with the dates, along with a couple more showing what the results look like after somebody actuates the script and walks through it (or maybe a quick screencast?)
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by kingsinger View Post
Played around with this more. The new feature to place the project at the top of the folder is great. Indeed, the entire script is great. Nice improvement on Curt's script. Thanks again so much for making it.

Still a little bit confused about making the date stuff work. In particular the $date variables.

Maybe a few more concrete examples would help bring things into focus.

Have you considered doing a few screenshots of how you have a template set up with the dates, along with a couple more showing what the results look like after somebody actuates the script and walks through it (or maybe a quick screencast?)
Funny you should mention that, Kingsinger. I'd been working on a big update (with some bugfixes that may have been affecting the due/ start date stuff) that included a new website with screenshots and a screencast. You can check everything out at http://cmsauve.com/projects/templates/
 
This is awesome and very helpful! The additions you've made look great as well. That said, for some reason I'm not seeing the embedded screencast window in Firefox.
 
 


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