[Leila]

Hi. I'm wondering if there are any tips people have for using the time of day field for the "due" field.

I see it is possible to enter time of day in on the quick entry screen when the calendar is open. But - how can you open the calendar without using the mouse? It seems kind of strange to have to use the mouse on the quick entry screen - so I hope there is a shortcut. I prefer quick entry to the inspector and would rather use the inspector only when I have a recurring task, for example.

Also, when I do have to use the inspector, is there a way to make the cursor jump right to the "start" or "due" fields?

In the inspector, I did try typing in "7/23 7a" and it did correctly put in 7:00 am as the time on July 23rd, so that part is good. I was just hoping there are other options like entering time on the quick entry without having to use the mouse.

Thank-you,
Leila

[Ken Case]

Originally Posted by Leila

I did try typing in "7/23 7a" and it did correctly put in 7:00 am as the time on July 23rd, so that part is good. I was just hoping there are other options like entering time on the quick entry.

Quick Entry also accepts entries like "7/23 7a" (or "next thu 5pm") within its start and due date columns; the time won't be displayed there, but it does get saved.

You can turn on the date columns in Quick Entry by clicking on the little gear button in the bottom left corner.

[Leila]

Hi. Thanks so much for the quick reply. (For the record, I think while you were posting your msg, I was in the process of changing my original post.)

Anyway, I have 2 questions for you.

1) I'm on a Mac. I don't see the "little gear button" in the bottom left corner that you wrote about. Could you be a little more specific?

I am able to make the date columns appear by using a 2-finger click on the column header and checking the fields I want to show.

2) I tried typing in what you quoted: "next thru 5pm" and what happened is that it gave me a date of 12/31/00. Then I tried leaving out the word "thru" and the date change to 7/1. It did put the 5pm there - but I'm perplexed by the 12/31/00 and 7/1 dates.

I do appreciate you telling me that if I type in the time on the quick entry that it will keep it even if I don't see it show up. (however, I'd really like to be able to display this field some day)

Thanks so much.
Leila

[whpalmer4]

Originally Posted by Leila

1) I'm on a Mac. I don't see the "little gear button" in the bottom left corner that you wrote about. Could you be a little more specific?

It's at the bottom left corner of the OmniFocus quick entry window.

2) I tried typing in what you quoted: "next thru 5pm" and what happened is that it gave me a date of 12/31/00. Then I tried leaving out the word "thru" and the date change to 7/1. It did put the 5pm there - but I'm perplexed by the 12/31/00 and 7/1 dates.

Actually, Ken wrote "next thu 5pm" as in "next Thursday 5pm" not "next thru 5pm". I think you'll find you get more sensible results with "thu" :-)

[Brian]

Here's a screenshot of the button in question. Appears just to the left of the "You have X inbox items" text:

[Leila]

You've all been so helpful. I see a mistake that I made in my posts. I was using the phrase "quick entry" when what I really meant was the "grid" that is used for entry - the main screen. I was trying to refer to the area that is NOT using the Inspector for entering projects, contexts, and dates. Mea culpa.

Now I've opened the real quick entry window and I do see the gear button that Ken and Brian wrote about. I love that window. It will be very useful, and I love that other fields can be displayed there if desired.

And to whpalmer4, thanks for seeing my mistake of typing "thru" instead of "thu". That probably stems from the 1980's when I used to be a COBOL programmer and we used the word "THRU" all the time. Sorry.

[whpalmer4]

Originally Posted by Leila

And to whpalmer4, thanks for seeing my mistake of typing "thru" instead of "thu". That probably stems from the 1980's when I used to be a COBOL programmer and we used the word "THRU" all the time. Sorry.

Yep, I have a similar problem. My past life as a DEC-20 programmer keeps me from being able to reliably type "movie" the first time instead of "movei" (a very common instruction!) even though it's probably been 20 years since I last deliberately typed more than one of them!