I would like it very much if the Estimated Time field for a project automatically summed the estimated times of its actions. It would also be nice if that was the default value, but the user could override it by manually entering a time (sometimes I use the project time estimate as an elapsed value instead of an "effort" value).

I did a search on this and found an applescript in the Extras forum that sort of works this way, but only on selected items - I'd like it to work automatically for all projects. If this has already been requested (or is already available and I just haven't stumbled upon it), I apologize.

I would also love to hear any workarounds that people are currently using.

(NOTE: Also submitted via email, but I wanted to know if others would find this useful)

[whpalmer4]

What happens if you've entered a total time by hand, and you change the project? Thinking about my projects and time estimates, it seems like no matter what the specified behavior (keep the manually entered time, clear the manually entered time, adjust the manually entered time by the delta of the change, take the new total time), it would be not what I wanted an appreciable fraction of the time.

That being said, I make essentially no use of estimated time in project mode, only in context mode when selecting individual actions to do. If I want a detailed estimate of a project's duration, I use OmniPlan, as there are likely to be dependencies and constraints not conveniently expressed in OmniFocus with a project complicated enough that eyeballing it isn't good enough. I do recognize, however, that buying OmniPlan isn't appropriate for everyone.

[steve]

Hi Releaux,
I have always thought this would be a good idea. I would love it contexts would calculate in the same way that an itunes playlist would calculate the amount of time in a particular playlist.

Steve