[ldunsworth]

I'll start out by saying I'm a new Omnifocus user. In a project, I'm trying to sort by due date. However, when I select View->Sorting->Due, it doesn't sort anything in the window...am I doing something wrong?

[whpalmer4]

There are two different varieties of sorting available in OmniFocus. One just rearranges the view, the other rearranges the data. Sorting with the view bar controls or the view menu does the former, and if you have two windows open in OmniFocus, only the one in which you change the settings changes. It sounds like you might wish to actually rearrange your data, which changes the order in which OmniFocus will present the actions to you if you are doing them one at a time, and will change the contents of all windows. To sort in this fashion, make a group selection of the items you wish to sort in the outline view, then use Edit->Sort->(sort key) to make the sort happen.

There's an additional wrinkle that I might as well tell you about while I've got your attention. The view sorting works on entire projects when you are in the project view, but on individual actions when you are in the context view. This allows you to show your projects listed by alphabetical order, or when the projects are due, but if you want to look at a list of individual actions and see what absolutely needs to get done first out of all of your tasks, you don't have to scroll through the entire list of projects trying to ascertain what has the earliest due date.

Between the two, I think most new users get confused at least a few times!

[ldunsworth]

Sorry; still a little confused. I'm in outline view with all projects, folders, etc. listed on the left. On the right are the individual tasks of my Single Action List that I have selected. Many of the tasks have due dates associated with them. I selected all of the tasks, selected View->Sort->Due and the "Due" column shows with an arrow point up. However, when I click the column it doesn't change the order of ANY of the tasks...

[whpalmer4]

You're in Project mode if you have a list of projects and folders on the left. That will only sort based on the properties of the containing projects, not the individual actions. If you had three projects in view, each project having a different due date, it would rearrange the view to show the project with the earliest due date first, and the project with the latest due date last. It won't alter the display of the order of the tasks inside the projects.

However, if you select the contents of that project of yours and use the Edit->Sort function I mentioned, it will permanently rearrange them into the specified order, just as if you had individually dragged them around. Note that this changes the order of the actions in the project, and you probably don't want to do it if you have a sequential project.

If you select the single action list in the sidebar and hit the Focus button in the toolbar, then switch to context mode via View->Context Mode (do not push the button labeled "Contexts" in your toolbar!) you will see only the tasks from that project you focused on, and if you change the view options here, it will sort the view on an action by action basis. Click on the Show All button (which has replaced the Focus button) to get back to seeing everything rather than just what was focused upon.