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Focusing on Contexts Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
Hi there,

I like that I can double-click a Project or folder to "focus" on it. What I'm unable to do is focus on just the Contexts associated with that Project: when I switch from Project view to Context view, I see all the actions, not just those within my current Focus.

Is there a way to see only the actions that are relevant to the focused project?

Thanks.
 
Do you mean manually choosing appropriate contexts, or having the empty contexts automatically drop away?
 
If I Focus on a single project then switch to Context view, I get all of the Actions associated with that project and all of my single (project-less) Next Actions.

Are you wanting to see only the Actions associated with that project?
 
I don't mind having all Contexts showing in my Focused list, but I don't want to see the Actions for Projects that I'm not focused on.

For example, I have a Context "Calls". I have a Project "Get house repainted", and another "Brew my own beer". Both projects have a Calls action: "Call painter to get estimate" and "Call Jim to get bock recipe".

If I'm focusing on the "Get house painted" project, I don't want to see the "Call Jim..." action (as thinking about beer is rather distracting for me).

(In an ideal world, I would only see Contexts that have relevant actions, but this is true regardless of the Focus part. I believe this ideal world has already been requested as a feature.)
 
jasong,

I'm guessing that you are not actually "focusing" on the project. The Focus button appears on the toolbar. Just selecting a project in the project sidebar does not focus on it; it merely displays it. You need to select the project in the sidebar and then click the Focus button. (You can also double click the project.) Once you've Focused on a project, then only its actions (and apparently non-project singletons?) will show in context view.
__________________
Cheers,

Curt
 
Ahhhh!

I was focusing on the project (double-click on project/folder to open new window or choose View > Focus on selected project).

Your last comment "and apparently non-project singletons?" is in fact the issue: all the actions showing up that aren't part of my Focused project have no project associated with them.

I didn't even notice that until now.

I consider that an oversight; do you? If I'm focusing on Project Foo, I should only see actions associated with Project Foo; OF is almost right but includes "actions" that have no project.

Thanks!

Jason.
 
Ahhhh for me, too!

Focus in Project view + switch to Context view is a different way of approaching my desire to have a client (folder) focus in Context view -- see client-specific Context view for earlier discussion.

However, I'll need to keep my wits about me when creating a focused Context view because it would be easy to hide OmniFocus and return later, not realizing the Context view has been focused. In Project view, the left pane clearly shows the focused folders/projects. In Context view, only the "Show All" toolbar button explicitly distinguishes a focused Context view from a full Context view.

In addition, a focused Context view does not identify how it has been focused. One must return to the Project view to see that.

[submitted as formal feedback]

Last edited by Ward; 2007-07-11 at 07:13 PM.. Reason: fix typos
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ward
Ahhhh for me, too!

Focus in Project view + switch to Context view is a different way of approaching my desire to have a client (folder) focus in Context view -- see client-specific Context view for earlier discussion.

However, I'll need to keep my wits about me when creating a focused Context view because it would be easy to hide OmniFocus and return later, not realizing the Context view has been focused. In Project view, the left pane clearly shows the focused folders/projects. In Context view, only the "Show All" toolbar button explicitly distinguishes a focused Context view from a full Context view.

In addition, a focused Context view does not identify how it has been focused. One must return to the Project view to see that.

[submitted as formal feedback]
If you are saying...
while viewing the context view...
there should be some indication of what is being focused on in the project view...
I concur.
Maybe even just a modification of the window title.
Something like...
OmniFocus • Projects • Client A
when focused on Client A folder/project

Or when focused on Inbox...
OmniFocus • Inbox

Back to your client dilemma...
I have been there my friend, I know your pain.

Anyone who is an independent contractor
who has multiple clients
who are billed separately
is in the same dilemma.

I shoot/edit weddings on the side...
and have been in the dilemna of shooting/editing 8 different weddings
at once.
I need to be able to easily seperate the client I am working for.
This helps with billing and tracking hours.
In the context view,
I need to know the project the action relates to.

In my old system.
I got around this by having a string in every action
that I could easily search & replace for.
Something like
@weddingproject Call Coordinator for directions
Then I had an applescript that would find all occurrences of
@weddingproject
and replace it with...
Jones Wedding - Call Coordinator for Directions

I haven't had the chance to try out OF with multiple clients or projects... yet...

Have you experimented with possibly nesting the contexts?

client A context
-calls
-computer

client B context
-calls
-computer

Tagging might be another alternative.
If you put the name of your client in the note field
then when you search for your client
you could filter the list to only see
the list of client being search for.

This would be too much manual labor to type in
you would need an applescript
or automator action
that would go through the items
and automatically add or remove a tag from the note.

I'm hoping Omni builds in some sort of tagging field
that would allow you to tag multiple items at once

Maybe we should start another thread for this. :-)
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ward
Ahhhh for me, too!

Focus in Project view + switch to Context view is a different way of approaching my desire to have a client (folder) focus in Context view -- see client-specific Context view for earlier discussion.

However, I'll need to keep my wits about me when creating a focused Context view because it would be easy to hide OmniFocus and return later, not realizing the Context view has been focused. In Project view, the left pane clearly shows the focused folders/projects. In Context view, only the "Show All" toolbar button explicitly distinguishes a focused Context view from a full Context view.

In addition, a focused Context view does not identify how it has been focused. One must return to the Project view to see that.

[submitted as formal feedback]
It gets even sweeter. Omni has mentioned that, eventually, the focus state will be saved in perspectives.

I agree that some feedback in context view as to the current focus state is needed.
 
 


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