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Feat. Req: Sync iCal Calendars to Projects [Req. Exists: email Support to vote for.] Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
I'm not sure if this feature request contradicts a GTD principle or not.

It would be helpful to me to be able to assign a calendar in iCal to a project.
 
If I'm understanding your request properly, you'll want to look at this thread over in the main OmniFocus forum.

We currently sync actions to the Mac OS X to-do database, which is visible in iCal; if you need help setting that up, contact the support ninjas and they'll be happy to help!
 
I read the thread you directed to, but while that would be helpful, what would be immediately helpful is to sync iCal calendars with Projects and not Contexts. To me, it makes no sense to link calendars (which in my world specify different responsibilities like Work, Home, etc.) to Contexts (which are groupings to carry out actions like phone calls, go online, errands, etc.)
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by dfooter View Post
I read the thread you directed to, but while that would be helpful, what would be immediately helpful is to sync iCal calendars with Projects and not Contexts. To me, it makes no sense to link calendars (which in my world specify different responsibilities like Work, Home, etc.) to Contexts (which are groupings to carry out actions like phone calls, go online, errands, etc.)
It won't be immediately helpful, because even assuming you could convince Omni of the wisdom of the change (doubtful, IMO), they aren't going to drop everything else to make this change, so you won't see it for a while. The iCal sync stuff had its genesis in a desire to get OF data to mobile devices such as the iPhone before there was any other viable approach, and appears to have been aligned with the OF philosophy of working out of context view, not planning view.

In any case, your best bet for getting Omni to add or change a feature to your liking is to use Help->Send Feedback so that the request gets into their development database.
 
A little more explanation: for anything to be synced to iCal, it has to be mapped to a calendar. You can't sync an item without specifying which calendar to put it in.

Rather than force folks to constantly fiddle with the ical syncing every time they created a project, we associated the calendars with Contexts, which generally have a longer lifespan. That way, once you have things set up, you don't have to mess with it as much.

My suggestion would be to create new calendars and sync the contexts with them, rather than trying to shoehorn them into your existing calendars.

That said, if folks would still like to see the mapping changed in some future version of the app, you'll want to send that email to the support ninjas; I know it exists in the database.

Last edited by Brian; 2009-04-29 at 04:06 PM.. Reason: add email link
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Brian View Post
Rather than force folks to constantly fiddle with the ical syncing every time they created a project, we associated the calendars with Contexts, which generally have a longer lifespan. That way, once you have things set up, you don't have to mess with it as much.
I don't sync OF to iCal and I doubt that I would if it were possible to sync according to projects instead of contexts. But I do understand dfooter's observation that OF currently syncs contexts to iCal calendars that, for many people, are set up to be areas of responsibility.

What I would see as having more utility would be to sync OF folders to iCal calendars. Many users set up OF folders as areas of responsibility that mirror 1-1 with the users' iCal calendars. My top level folders are just as static as my contexts, so lifespan is not an issue. Users could then sync tasks in a 'Work' folder in OF to a 'Work' calendar in iCal and share that calendar with events and OF tasks with others. Things has the ability to do this with a custom configuration and it is nicely implemented. As is, sharing a calendar that is linked to an OF context just doesn't have near the same utility.
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Greg Jones View Post
What I would see as having more utility would be to sync OF folders to iCal calendars. Many users set up OF folders as areas of responsibility that mirror 1-1 with the users' iCal calendars. My top level folders are just as static as my contexts, so lifespan is not an issue. Users could then sync tasks in a 'Work' folder in OF to a 'Work' calendar in iCal and share that calendar with events and OF tasks with others. Things has the ability to do this with a custom configuration and it is nicely implemented. As is, sharing a calendar that is linked to an OF context just doesn't have near the same utility.
I like Greg's idea a lot. It's a nice compromise.

I've been agitating for awhile to map projects (not contexts) to iCal calendars. I keep a calendar for teaching, which tracks everything from going to the library to gather materials to supplement a lecture, to managing a student blog online, to meeting with students for office hours, etc. Many contexts, but only one project.

But I can also see that projects come and go; contexts are more stable.

Hence the beauty of Greg's suggestion. I do, in fact, keep OF Project/Planning folders for different categories of projects. In fact, I intentionally named them to correspond with my calendars in iCal. What Greg is suggesting rocks my world.

I just subscribed to OF alerts on my iPhones iCal app. It was a compromise (all OF events show up, not under the calendar's I like, but under a subscription calendar. I was willing to deal with this workaround until OF could come up with something better. But I find that I can't subscribe to these OF alerts on my two Macs (or can I). At any rate, I'm only getting alerts on the iPhone, which is better than nothing. I guess. But definitely what I want to have. Greg's suggestion is what I want to have.
 
I'm definitely in support of this feature as well. (I sent an email request too). The reason I want it, though, is actually to coordinate projects I have going in BENTO, of all things. Bento allows you to assign iCal tasks to specific forms. Bento has features that OmniPlan doesn't, so it's the best option for me.

Cross-application use is something to think about. iCal synching is pervasive throughout most third-party applications. I'm not saying that Omni should accommodate their competitors, of course, but to realize that their customers are thinking how to use their applications in different ways. Some standardization is key.
 
I can see how syncing folders to calendars would be handy; created an item in the dev database that covers the idea. Folks that would like to see this happen should email the support ninjas and vote for the change. Thanks all!
 
 


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