[DataGazetteer]

Does anyone have any good options for accessing OmniFocus data when the desktop with the OmniFocus application is unavailable. I push a copy of the OmniFocus database to a server using WebDAV, so I know the data is safely stored. I'm thinking, though, of the times when my Mac would be unavailable for extended periods of time (e.g., it has to be sent to the repair depot) and I see my productivity drop through the floor because my project and next action lists are tied up in a file format that requires the OmniFocus application. Even read-only access would be fine.

Has this problem occurred to anyone else? Or is everyone assuming that their Macs will never be out-of-commission for ong periods of time?

[Toadling]

Before OmniFocus 1.0 was released, there was talk of Omni Group building a web interface to the app. That feature was shelved early on but private users picked it up and continued (maybe it even became open source -- not sure). You can probably find more information on it in the OmniFocus Extras forum.

And recently, hints of a new web interface developed by Omni Group have surfaced again.

But until a web app version becomes available (if it ever does), your only real options are to either get an extra Mac or an iPhone/iPod touch.

-Dennis

[whpalmer4]

You don't have another Mac on which you can run OmniFocus while the other one is in the shop? Isn't your productivity doomed anyhow? :-)

I don't think there's a particularly good way to do this that doesn't involve running a copy of OmniFocus. However, if that's not an option, you could export your OmniFocus data to either HTML or PDF format by using the File->Export and File->Print commands respectively after getting a view of all of the data you'll want to be able to see (notes, start/due date columns, etc.). There is an important caveat here if you make use of repeating actions or projects, which is that the future actions only get inserted in the database when you check off the current one, so that reminder to file your timesheet every Friday afternoon will only appear once! Doing the Print route will get you something that looks most similar to what you see in your usual routine, but the export to HTML route might be better if you want to put this data up on the web to access it. When you get your computer back, you'll have lots of fun ticking off everything you did while it was on vacation.

If you can arrange to have access to another Mac, you could set up the OmniFocus sync to disk option to put a copy of your database on a portable drive of some sort (put a copy of OmniFocus there, too!) Then you can make changes to your database while the computer is in the repair shop, and when it returns, plugging in the portable drive and having OmniFocus sync will update your regular database.