Changing due date in Forecast mode causes focus to jump

Until recently, when I changed the due date of a task in Forecast mode to a date in the future, that task would disappear from the screen. Actually, that task would be moved to its new date, which wasn’t currently being displayed.

Now when I change the due date of a task, I am taken away from the current day’s tasks and to the list of tasks for the new due date. This is awkward, as once I’ve changed the due date on a task I want to keep working with today’s tasks.

I’m not sure if this is a bug, a new feature, or something to do with a setting I’ve inadvertently changed in OmniFocus, but it would be good to know how to get OmniFocus to revert to its previous behaviour!

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Same thing here, it’s really slowing down my workflow. Pressing +1week on something sends me way down the page and I have to scroll back up to “Today”

Need a way to turn this feature off please.

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Agree.

@SupportHumans, could you file a bug report on this please?

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If this is a bug (or a weird feature) then it seems it’s still there in the 2.7.1 update. I am guessing that it was introduced with the 2.7 update.

I’ve been told it’s a “feature” It also affects how scrolling happens when you review items using a custom perspective. The focus stays on the thing you just set to mark reviewed and you are shoved down to the bottom of the list. It’s a totally broken workflow for me as well. Please file a bug report, the more people that complain the more likely it is that we’ll get the old behavior back or else at least an option to keep the old behavior.

I’ve got to admit I like it. I like to confirm changes I make and this is a welcome new feature (I suppose a switch in settings to toggle it on or off would be good, but I would personally keep this feature).

  • Perhaps also a quick return to the original view could be implemented
    would speed up the workflow for you?

We made a bug fix for 2.7 that many customers asked for. That fix was mentioned in the release notes for OmniFocus 2.7 on Mac https://www.omnigroup.com/releasenotes/omnifocus
“Scrolling — Fixed some problems with scrolling long lists in response to various user actions.” We were trying to fix a bug that many users reported to us and our intention was to make OmniFocus more consistent and useful.

We have heard that this change is a problem for some users who rely on it not scrolling. We’ve also heard messages of relief that this is fixed.

If you would like to add your opinion officially to those who need the view to avoid scrolling, please send us an email at omnifocus@omnigroup.com.

Here is the email I just sent:

I am one who finds the new scrolling workflow problematic.

In forecast view I might have an 5-20 actions due on a day. Sometimes I don’t get to it all. Whether I press +1day or +1week, having to scroll up every time back to Today’s actions is really annoying.

I see some users saying they like to “confirm” the changes but that makes no sense to me. If I change the title or the due date, I trust that it’s done. I don’t need or want to see it in the forecast a week from now. I’ll see it again in a week. That’s the whole GTD philosophy.

Please at least include a toggle to turn it off/on for those who want both.

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Same for me, this is really annoying and slowing down my workflow. Pressing +1 week or +1 month sending me down to the new date, then having to scroll back up to “Today” is not good. Please add a feature so this is configurable i.e. you can switch it off it is not part of your workflow.

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Please add my vote @SupportHumans ;-)

Thanks for getting back to us, @lanettetest. I’ll drop you an email in a second.

I’m sure some people like this new approach, but for my purposes I find it extremely disruptive. As per @ryedarrow’s comments, when I tell OmniFocus to change the due date of a task I just assume that the change will be made. If I need the change confirmed, I can open the inspection column and see the change there even if the task I am editing has disappeared from the screen.

So, yes, I’d definitely like to have the option of switching this new feature on or off.

I never saw this problem happen, and after testing it out, the reason is that I tend to set the due date in the date field in the main part of the window. When I set a new due date there, the display does not scroll, the item disappears from view (down / up to new due date), and the selected item becomes the next one in the list. When I use the due date picker in the inspector, that’s when I run into the scrolling problem.

So there’s a workaround, but it may not suit somebody’s way of working. And it’s odd that it works differently depending on where I make the edit.

I alway use the inspector, because I have to look at other stuff coming up and that is the fastest way to adjust a date when I need to see a calendar. And the workaround that doesn’t help for the issue that is related to the same problem when I do reviewing using a custom perspective. I have to do it that way because we lost the ability to decide what categories of projects we wanted to review in 2.0. The review button doesn’t give us the entire list of items to review in date order any more.

What is the most frustrating for me is that instead fo moving forward with more options and better workflows each new version of OF seems to be taking things away from us that we had before,

Whether I change the due date of a task list or in the inspector the focus of the task list jumps to the new due date, so I’m not sure how this workaround is supposed to work.

To clarify my earlier comments: the point for me is that if you change the due date in the task list, the task used to disappear from view – but with the inspector open the details for that task are still displayed. So it was possible to get confirmation that a task had had its due date changed before the 2.7 update; you just need to have the inspector open.

It seems to me that once I’ve changed the due date on a task, you’re done with it for the moment and the next thing that you’ll want to do is start working on another task with a due date of today.

I created a forum account just to comment on this. The focus jumping/scrolling to the date entered, as others have mentioned, really disrupts my workflow. I am sending support an email, but am posting here to bring attention to this issue. I live in Forecast view and this “fix” really lessens the quality of my day :(

Thank you for sharing your feedback and for emailing support. We are officially tracking how many people this change is impacting based on support calls and email. Sorry for the interruption and inconvenience.

The best workaround we can recommend for now is to select the smallest scope possible while working in Forecast view (so for example, click today instead of viewing all days at once in Forecast). I understand that doesn’t stop the scrolling. We really intended to make things better and didn’t mean to cause interruption for other workflows. Sorry about lessening the quality of your day, which really is the last thing we want to do.

@lanettetest Could you possibly give us some clarity on what benefit the new scrolling method has for others?

I can’t understand why someone would want to jump forward a week or a month ahead in forecast view?

As I understand it, they need to see how many items are due that day after assigning due dates so that their schedule is achievable when trying to plan how to accomplish tasks. The use case is they assign a due date, but we did not show the new location in Forecast view. This past behavior meant it wasn’t obvious how many tasks were due on each day and they felt the lack of updating led to uncertainty about what the due date was after they had changed it.

While I don’t know how technically difficult it would be, I’d love to see the option to allow either behavior so that those who need to see the update could turn on the ability to scroll if needed after changing a due date. Some people have asked us just to put it back how it was before, but it would be ideal if we could offer an option since there are people who feel strongly about it behaving both ways. I don’t know what solutions will be considered, but suggestions emailed to support will be kept and are shared with the development team.

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@lanettetest Thank you for the clarification.

I guess that makes sense. However, isn’t that what the calendar on the left is for? Showing me the entire month and how many actions are due on each day?

I must be the odd one here? I like this feature as I can quickly confirm the task went where I want it to be, then make sure the newly moved task doesn’t cause conflict with other actions. (I had often checked manually when I moved a task in case it threw up conflicts). My only gripe with this feature, is that the view should be able to return as quickly to the original starting position as it leaves it!
Please don’t remove this feature, but refine it. Make it switchable for those who dislike it. Make it possible to return in a snap to the starting view.