[Mojombo]

Here are the badges that show up in my Menu and in my Dock. Huh??

Obviously it's only counting the overdue ones in the overall total. But why??

And what the heck is that grey number next to "No Context"? I go to the "No Context" selection under contexts (which also has a grey badge reading "4"), and I can't see anything there.

Wha huh?

[whpalmer4]

Originally Posted by Mojombo

Obviously it's only counting the overdue ones in the overall total. But why??

What it does is show the count of the highest "class" of actions. So, if there are any overdue items, it shows the count of overdue items (in red). If there are no overdue items, it shows the count of due soon items (in orange), if there are any, otherwise it shows the count of items (in grey, Inbox and No Context bins only). If you don't have any overdue or due soon items, the menu bar count will be a 0 (in green) and there won't be a number on the dock icon.

On the iPhone/iPod app, the count shown by the dock icon can be configured to be the sum of any or all of the count of due soon, overdue, and flagged items. If you'd like to see this feature on the Mac app, use Help->Send Feedback to send in your request.

And what the heck is that grey number next to "No Context"? I go to the "No Context" selection under contexts (which also has a grey badge reading "4"), and I can't see anything there.

That means you've got 4 items with no context assigned, and they aren't visible with your current view settings (for example, you are showing available actions, and they are in sequential projects where they are not the next action).

[Mojombo]

Thanks for your prompt and informative reply.

If indeed it does act like you say, the preference pane is quite misleading. It reads "Show Due Soon and Overdue actions:" followed by checkboxes for sidebar, dock, and menu.

To me, "Due Soon and Overdue actions" implies that I'll see the total of the Due Soon and Overdue actions.

It does not imply "show me the total Due Soon actions or total Overdue actions, depending on which is bigger."

I've taken your suggestion to send feedback. Thanks again.

[whpalmer4]

Originally Posted by Mojombo

If indeed it does act like you say,

It does, and you can easily demonstrate this to yourself.

the preference pane is quite misleading. It reads "Show Due Soon and Overdue actions:" followed by checkboxes for sidebar, dock, and menu.

To me, "Due Soon and Overdue actions" implies that I'll see the total of the Due Soon and Overdue actions.

It's rare that there's enough space to fully document what an option does right next to the checkbox that controls it. This is not one of those cases. Another reasonable interpretation is that you would see separate counters for due soon and overdue actions, but again that isn't what was implemented. I don't know about you, but I don't want to see a sum of two different things, because 19 overdue actions and 1 due soon action is a completely different kettle of fish than 1 overdue action and 19 due soon actions, and just showing me a 20 doesn't give me any clue as to where in that spectrum the truth is.

It does not imply "show me the total Due Soon actions or total Overdue actions, depending on which is bigger."

It is indeed good that it doesn't imply that, because that's not what it does. It shows the count of the actions with the highest urgency, if you will. It only shows a count of due soon actions if there aren't any overdue actions.

[Mojombo]

Originally Posted by whpalmer4

19 overdue actions and 1 due soon action is a completely different kettle of fish than 1 overdue action and 19 due soon actions

If that's true for you, and the present badging system makes sense to you and works well, I guess it's all good.

For me, those kettles are darn similar. The distinction is not one I need the badge to make. I simply want the dock badge to = total program badges.

Oh well, I submitted feedback, no point in fussing over it further. Thanks.

[whpalmer4]

I understand how it functions, how it came about, and where it might lead me astray. I don't think it is ideal, but it is what we've got at the moment. The iPhone app's badge display does work the way you request if you configure it accordingly, and allows me to work in a way that suits me as well -- I turn off the display of overdue items (I usually am quite aware of them!) and have it show me the due soon count. Once inside the application, it shows all three counts on a per-project or per-context basis.