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Is there a way to create a custom keyboard shortcut to set the current item to be due as Today? I've recently switched from Things and the 'T' keyboard shortcut was invaluable.

I've read that custom keyboard shortcuts can be created via System Preferences, but I'm not quite sure how to go about doing this.

While we're here, the same goes for due dates. Is there a way to assign a hotkey for cycling through today, tomorrow, next day, etc for an item's due date?
 
Start date and due dates will accept inputs like "tod", "now", and "+1h" (one hour from now), but there isn't a dedicated shortcut for 'make due today'. If you'd like to see a shortcut like that added, email the support ninjas and they can vote for that change on your behalf.

Another approach some folks take is to flag items they want to do today, then set up a perspective that shows anything that's due soon or has the flag set. (You can flag items with the mouse or from the keyboard.)

A "due soon or flagged" perspective can be set up with these steps:
View -> Context Mode
View -> Sidebar Filter -> Remaining
View -> Status Filter -> Due or Flagged

(You can choose whichever options work best for you in the "Grouping" and "Sorting" submenus.)

Once you have the window showing the results you want to see in the future, you can save the settings for easy access in the future with
Perspectives -> Save window as -> New Perspective

You can then name the perspective in the window that appears. (If you like, you can also set up a custom keyboard shortcut that takes you straight to it.)

Does that help?

Last edited by Brian; 2010-03-11 at 03:15 PM.. Reason: forgot m meant month, not minute. switched to hour.
 
I forgot to mention that "+1h" isn't the only input that date cells will accept. If you want something to be due two days from now, you can enter "+2d"

h = hours
d = days
w = weeks
y = years

Last edited by Brian; 2010-03-11 at 03:16 PM.. Reason: "due dates" --> "date cells"
 
Isn't it an even shorter shortcut to leave of the PLUS sign? When I enter simply 2d, OF expands that to today-plus-two, and that seems to work for all the other shortcuts you gave.
 
thanks :)
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by NightLion View Post
Is there a way to create a custom keyboard shortcut to set the current item to be due as Today? I've recently switched from Things and the 'T' keyboard shortcut was invaluable.
absolutely agree. i love omnifocus for its flexibility. however, it's essential (for me at least) to be able to quickly zoom in on what actions i want/need to do today, and in what order. things is excellent in that regard, and the omission of a dedicated "today" assignment shortcut, plus the ability to reorder "today" items is a bummer.

it's not enough to be able to put today's date in the due date field, because there's no way (that i can see at least), of just showing items that are due today and no other day. it's not about when an action is due, it's being able to subselect a group of actions that one wants to get done today, from any of the millions of actions available. next actions isn't enough either, because it shows all next actions from every project, not just the ones one wants to do today.

the ability to reorder the today list gives some project management dependency functionality to the list, and means that there is one less thing to keep remembering - namely, what order things need to be done in.

we want today! the ninjas have been alerted...

Last edited by elektroglide; 2010-03-14 at 04:01 AM..
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by elektroglide View Post
absolutely agree. i love omnifocus for its flexibility. however, it's essential (for me at least) to be able to quickly zoom in on what actions i want/need to do today, and in what order. things is excellent in that regard, and the omission of a dedicated "today" assignment shortcut, plus the ability to reorder "today" items is a bummer.

it's not enough to be able to put today's date in the due date field, because there's no way (that i can see at least), of just showing items that are due today and no other day. it's not about when an action is due, it's being able to subselect a group of actions that one wants to get done today, from any of the millions of actions available. next actions isn't enough either, because it shows all next actions from every project, not just the ones one wants to do today.

the ability to reorder the today list gives some project management dependency functionality to the list, and means that there is one less thing to keep remembering - namely, what order things need to be done in.

we want today! the ninjas have been alerted...
There are ways to do this in OF except manually sorting the list. Now as for me, I would trade off that feature for my ability to sort things in many different ways (the feature Things can provide in a limited fashion).

If you set the start time to 12 am and default due time to 11:59 pm, and set the due soon to 24 hours, then you can practically get the Today function by using the perspective set up. If you use Flag as the manual "Today" function offered in Things, then you can duplicate that as well.

So, I have a Today's perspective that shows me what's due today and I can add to the list by flagging any important items I want. So, this is the same "Today" view I would get in Things. The only thing you don't get is manual sorting, but I can quickly figure out what I need to work next depending on the situation I'm in that particular day, and I would trade that over many different ways I can sort the list.

OF offers so many more powerful features than Things, and if you learn how to use the perspectives, you can not only duplicate what you get in Things but much more.
 
krshee pretty much nails it. I've been back and forth between Things and OmniFocus a few times just to get a feel for how the different apps work, and I actually keep coming back to OF. The "Today" concept in Things is most easily replicated, IMHO, by using flags as long as you're not tied into using them for something else.

The forthcoming 1.8 version (currently available as a sneaky peek) makes this even more flexible, since you can create a filter based on a cross-section of flagged status and due status. Save that as a perspective and you're good to go.

You also have the flexibility to build your perspectives to display the information however you want -- you don't get manual sort orders, but you can easily sort by any other column and filter or group by context or project.

In my case, I have a "Today" view that simply displays all tasks that are available and flagged or due within a flat, ungrouped context view, sorted by due date, on the assumption that tasks coming due take priority over "whenever" type tasks. From there i can drill down into specific contexts to filter that list or click on column headings if I need to change the sort order (which I rarely do in that view).

I also have a secondary perspective called "Hotlist" that uses the same settings as "Today" but opens in a secondary window with all sidebars and toolbars hidden, making it a perfect floating quick-reference to-do list that I can leave up on my screen.

The "Focus" features in OmniFocus are also worth a look, as they allow you to filter your list even further down to only specific projects or folders (think "Areas of Responsibility" in Things terminology). For instance, I keep all of my Work projects and Personal projects in separate folders, and then maintain a "Home" perspective that I use on weekends to focus my tasks on only those in my "Personal" life, flagged or not. No sense keeping things in my mind on a Saturday that can't be done until Monday anyway. :)
 
 


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