Sorry if this has been discussed ad nauseam somewhere, but this is the only place I can find any discussion about it.
I’d really like the ability to create a child task for a specific task within a custom perspective. Let me explain why.
I use custom perspectives to sort (usually by tags combined) to get work done, especially when the tasks are short management style items that take longer than 2 minutes but less than a pomodoro.
A LOT of the time I’ll get to a task that I can’t do right now because of something else I need to do or wait on. If I could create a child task with the appropriate tags, then the new child task would be the “next available” task and the perspective would resort or filter appropriately.
Currently, I need to go to the correct project to make this change and then return to my custom perspective. I can’t use quick entry because the object in question is a task instead of a project. The fastest workaround I’ve found so far is to use command O, type in the project name containing the object in question, make sure the open in new tab box is checked, and fix it there. This at least keeps me from losing my place and sort of keeps my work flow (purposefully space) going.
Before submitting a real feature request… Am I just missing something? To be clear, I’m not saying this is broken or a bug. It just doesn’t fit my current workflow very well and you people usually respond in 10 minutes with an answer that works perfectly. :)
I don’t think you’re missing anything, but I have two possible options that you might consider (that mostly work for me):
I have an Omni Automation script that adds a task before or after the current task in a project (it’s not perfect, and doesn’t add tags or anything fancy, but does work for me sometimes): https://github.com/ksalzke/insert-task-omnifocus-plugin
I also have a Keyboard Maestro macro with a keyboard shortcut attached which ‘clicks’ ‘File -> New Tab’ then ‘View -> Show In Projects’. (You could achieve the same thing in Omni Automation, I think, but this is quicker. This is similar to what you’re doing but has the small advantages of (a) not needing to type in the project name and (b) having the task you’ve started from selected automatically.
You can’t stop using Keyboard Maestro if you start… It’s great for all kinds of shortcuts, in all kinds of applications, and even simply to start or switch to a specific application. I use it all the time.
Insofar as ramp up work with both options: the script above is ready to go if you want to use it, it’s just a download, no scripting required. :-)
And the Keyboard Maestro macro is very simple - just two “Select or Show a Menu Item” actions but I’m happy to share/screenshot it if that’s helpful. And yes, Keyboard Maestro is fabulous. :-)
