[Matt Stevens]

If you have system-wide backups running the infinite number of backup files created by OmniFocus can be a little annoying. Here's how to disable them:

1. In Preferences, uncheck the "Also back up when quitting" option
2. Quit OmniFocus
3. Launch Terminal
4. Enter defaults write com.omnigroup.OmniFocus AutomaticBackupMinutes -int 525600000

Backups will now occur once a millennia.

You can also set the backup path to /tmp:

defaults write com.omnigroup.OmniFocus AutomaticBackupFolder /tmp

Files written to /tmp will eventually be deleted by the system so if OmniFocus does create backups for some reason you won't have to do anything to get rid of them.

[CatOne]

Originally Posted by Matt Stevens

If you have system-wide backups running the infinite number of backup files created by OmniFocus can be a little annoying. Here's how to disable them:

1. In Preferences, uncheck the "Also back up when quitting" option
2. Quit OmniFocus
3. Launch Terminal
4. Enter defaults write com.omnigroup.OmniFocus AutomaticBackupMinutes -int 525600000

Backups will now occur once a millennia.

You can also set the backup path to /tmp:

defaults write com.omnigroup.OmniFocus AutomaticBackupFolder /tmp

Files written to /tmp will eventually be deleted by the system so if OmniFocus does create backups for some reason you won't have to do anything to get rid of them.

Given Time Machine backups will typically back up the OmniFocus database while it's open, and that's not always the most reliable, I'll go on the record and say I don't recommend setting this to "once a millennium." With the size of these files, there's little harm to creating a folder called "backups" and culling it every couple months.

It would be nice if OF would just hold a rolling # of backups (configurable as 5, 10, or 25 or something), and be done with it, but totally turning this off and relying only on Time Machine is a little dangerous IMO, if you value the data :-)

[whpalmer4]

The OmniFocus database isn't really open and in a state of flux except for those brief instants when a change is being written, or the database is being compacted. The backup problem isn't anything like it is with certain mail programs that throw everything in a giant opaque database. An OmniFocus database is just a directory full of files that can be safely read except at the moment they are written.

That said, I have it write a backup file twice a day, plus on quit. If Time Machine happens to preserve some intermediate versions, so much the better. Disk is cheap, the files are small, and the days are too short to needlessly spend them trying to rescue data that could have been backed up, but wasn't.