[Eric Schoenfeld]

Pardon the extreme newbie question. I can't get an answer from the manual or web site or googling.

How do I get a list of 30 or so to-do items (one line each, separated by returns), currently in Word, into Omnifocus? I can't seem to find a way to paste them into my inbox without having the all show up as one single action. Same if I use the services menu....they all get clotted together.

[whpalmer4]

Just move your mouse :-)

Seriously, if you click on the dot at the left side of an action before pasting, you'll get separate rows for each line. If you are editing the action before pasting, you'll get multiple lines in the one row (as you've seen).

[Eric Schoenfeld]

Ah, thanks!!

There are lots of tiny fussy things like that in OF. I'm trying to persevere through learning them all, but it's a barrier. Of course, for users of the program, such things quickly become second nature, and scarcely spoken of (or cataloged)...which makes it that much harder for newbies to get up to speed.

[curt.clifton]

This bit doesn't seem fussy to me. What would you prefer the behavior be? Keep in mind that some people want to paste multiple lines into a single action.

[whpalmer4]

It also doesn't seem fussy to me, perhaps because OmniOutliner works in exactly the same fashion, so far as I can see.

It's logical, I think. When you are editing a row, if you paste something, you'll get the whole thing (in your case, several lines) pasted into that row, right where you pasted it. If you are outside a row, you get separate rows pasted in at that spot.

[Eric Schoenfeld]

Hmm. Let me try to clarify.

I didn't say that there's anything illogical. I just said it wasn't easy to figure out on an intuitive basis (hence my needing to post).

And I didn't mean that the developers built in some sort of fussiness. Just that to me, a newbie, trying to figure out all these little details (lack of which can completely impede one's use of the program) is a fussy process.

And, finally, I'm not saying it should work some other way. I'm just saying that there are lots of things about OF that work in a very specific way, that those basic specifics aren't centrally cataloged anywhere (that I could find, anyway), and those of us just getting into it can feel some serious frustration.

Of course, there's also the possibility that it's totally easy and intuitive and I'm just a complete moron, but I've been computing since 1988 and generally have found myself above average, rather than below, in my ability to get up to speed with different apps - and, as a shareware/software buff, I've used thousands of 'em.

[whpalmer4]

I'm not sure I could point you at any place in the documentation where this particular bit of behavior is described -- I think I determined it empirically. A sense of adventure and a willingness to imagine yourself in the UI designer's shoes and think "this doesn't appear to work as I expect, how might it have been done differently, and why?" is useful. Also, when you have specific things that you found difficult or impossible to find in the documentation, by all means use Help->Send Feedback to convey that information to Omni. In my experience, they are eager to do what they can to make it easier for people to discover the behavior, which leads to fewer "easy" questions like this for them to deal with, allowing them to be more responsive with the "hard" questions where something isn't working as intended.

It often seems like there's practically 24x7 (volunteer) coverage on the forums, as well, so don't be shy about asking. I think many of us are here because we think it is great software and we want to help others take advantage of it to the degree we do!

[Eric Schoenfeld]

Thanks!