The Omni Group
These forums are now read-only. Please visit our new forums to participate in discussion. A new account will be required to post in the new forums. For more info on the switch, see this post. Thank you!

Go Back   The Omni Group Forums > OmniFocus > OmniFocus 1 for Mac
FAQ Members List Calendar Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read

 
Actions listed as 'No context' but I can't find them Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
This is causing me to pull my hair out a little...

All my actions have to have contexts and projects, and I have a number of contexts defined. However, when looking in the context view OF reports 4 actions without context. When I click on the no context line I see nothing, even when I set the view options to Complete or Remaining.

I'm sure there's something simple I'm missing, can anyone help?

EDIT: here's 2 screenshots of the line and the view settings:

http://img.skitch.com/20090901-pe87m...tsuaj8xgci.jpg

http://img.skitch.com/20090901-gwmhy...r84kg8kxax.jpg

Last edited by labete; 2009-09-01 at 01:00 PM..
 
The only thing I can think of is maybe you have set focus on particular projects? I would try hitting View -> Show all projects.
 
Thanks Lucas. I tried this, but no joy...
 
I would guess you put some projects on hold, and they are not visible on the projects side. I would switch over to projects mode and make sure that "all projects" is selected in the projects filter. I didn't think that that would still make them show up in the no context group, but I could be mistaken about that. There's only a handful of places for actions to hide, really.
 
Go to View > Planning Mode. Create a new project and name it ProjectA. Do not assign a default context to the project. Create a task in that project and name it Task1. Do not assign a context to the task. Go to View > Context Mode. Be sure the View Bar settings match those in your first image. Does the count badge for No Context increase by one? Are you able to see Task1 in No Context?

Last edited by kaijin; 2009-09-05 at 07:55 AM.. Reason: Added information about View Bar
 
Hi Kaijin,

I've done this and I am able to see Task1 in No Context. The count has increased to 5 and Task1 is the only task that is visible.
 
I believe this is related to dropped contexts. To reproduce:

-- EDIT: Note: Do not assign due dates for the projects and tasks. Due Soon or Past Due badge counts override the total items badge count. --
  1. In project mode, create ProjectA and Project B (assign no context).
  2. Create Task1 and Task2 in ProjectA (assign no context).
  3. Switch to context mode. The No Context badge count should increase by two (n+2, where n is your No Context count before these steps) and the tasks should appear in No Context.
  4. Create ContextAlpha.
  5. Create Task3 and Task4 in ContextAlpha. Assign Task3 and Task4 to ProjectB.
  6. Switch to project mode and select ProjectB. Task3 and Task4 are in ProjectB, as expected.
  7. Switch to context mode and drop ContextAlpha.
  8. The No Context badge count increases by 2 (for a total of n+4), but only Task1 and Task2 are visible in No Context.
  9. Switch to project mode and select ProjectB. Task3 and Task4 are still listed and assigned to ContextAlpha.
To check if this is the cause of your issue, go to context mode and select “All Projects” under “Context Filter” in the View Bar. Do you have any dropped contexts? Are there any tasks in those contexts? If so, make the contexts active; or assign the tasks to an active context/no context; or delete the tasks. The No Context count badge should decrease to match the items actually displayed in No Context.

There seems to be a discrepancy in how OF defines tasks in a dropped context, or at least the way OF handles such tasks can be confusing.
  • When you drop a context that contains tasks, OF preserves those tasks—and lists the dropped context—in their assigned projects.
  • When viewing those projects there is no visual indicator that a task's context has been dropped—the dropped context is still listed in the context column and inspector in the same manner as active contexts. (Note: Other tasks cannot be assigned to the dropped context—it does not appear in the drop down list in the context column, nor the inspector).
  • OF defines tasks of dropped contexts as having no context since the No Context badge count increases.
  • OF also defines these tasks as having a context, since the tasks aren't displayed in No Context and the dropped context is listed by the task in project mode.
I am unsure if this behavior is intended—an effort to balance the visibility of tasks assigned to dropped contexts—or if this is a bug. If you'd like OF to handle the No Context badge count in a different manner; or would like a some sort of visual cue** that indicates a dropped context in the context column, e.g., dropped context listed in italics in context column; or would like tasks in dropped contexts to be handled the same way as tasks in a deleted context*, please use Help > Send Feedback…

*Tasks assigned to a context that has been deleted will also remain in their projects but be assigned no context.

-- EDIT: **There is a cue, actually. Tasks assigned to dropped contexts are correctly defined as not available. --

Last edited by kaijin; 2009-09-06 at 04:57 PM.. Reason: Added information about due date. Added correction about visual cue.
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by kaijin View Post
To check if this is the cause of your issue, go to context mode and select “All Projects” under “Context Filter” in the View Bar. Do you have any dropped contexts? Are there any tasks in those contexts? If so, make the contexts active; or assign the tasks to an active context/no context; or delete the tasks. The No Context count badge should decrease to match the items actually displayed in No Context.
This solved it! Thank you so much Kaijin!

Quote:
There seems to be a discrepancy in how OF defines tasks in a dropped context, or at least the way OF handles such tasks can be confusing.
  • When you drop a context that contains tasks, OF preserves those tasks—and lists the dropped context—in their assigned projects.
  • When viewing those projects there is no visual indicator that a task's context has been dropped—the dropped context is still listed in the context column and inspector in the same manner as active contexts. (Note: Other tasks cannot be assigned to the dropped context—it does not appear in the drop down list in the context column, nor the inspector).
  • OF defines tasks of dropped contexts as having no context since the No Context badge count increases.
  • OF also defines these tasks as having a context, since the tasks aren't displayed in No Context and the dropped context is listed by the task in project mode.
I am unsure if this behavior is intended—an effort to balance the visibility of tasks assigned to dropped contexts—or if this is a bug. If you'd like OF to handle the No Context badge count in a different manner; or would like a some sort of visual cue** that indicates a dropped context in the context column, e.g., dropped context listed in italics in context column; or would like tasks in dropped contexts to be handled the same way as tasks in a deleted context*, please use Help > Send Feedback…

*Tasks assigned to a context that has been deleted will also remain in their projects but be assigned no context.

-- EDIT: **There is a cue, actually. Tasks assigned to dropped contexts are correctly defined as not available. --
This is confusing behaviour. I'd much prefer for tasks assigned to contexts that are then dropped to have their context field blank. I'll submit feedback about this as you mention.
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by labete View Post
This is confusing behaviour. I'd much prefer for tasks assigned to contexts that are then dropped to have their context field blank.
I'd argue that the correct behavior is not to list those actions with dropped contexts in the "No Contexts" bin, nor to show them with a blank context field (which would suggest they have no context, when in fact they do!)
 
I think it would be useful to have some kind of flag that you have orphaned actions, after dropping a context. This would not need to be the No Contexts bin, but if the count is positive, it should tell me what the actions are.

What would you think would be the best way for OF to handle these orphaned actions?
 
 


Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Can't find parent action group for overdue actions rippo OmniFocus for iPhone 2 2011-02-06 02:36 PM
Find all undated actions peterk OmniFocus 1 for Mac 9 2010-10-11 06:41 AM
tasks listed day by day, like on the iphone? InAccuFacts OmniFocus 1 for Mac 6 2010-02-14 04:56 AM
Can I find actions with no dates? daiglebox Applying OmniFocus 7 2009-01-06 03:00 PM
Find Projects without Next Actions steve OmniFocus 1 for Mac 21 2007-11-28 07:25 PM


All times are GMT -8. The time now is 02:57 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.