Deferred, weekly repeated actions in a sequential project block other actions

OmniFocus OmniFocus for Mac
#1

Hi there,

I think I’m having some kind of issue in my very own logic, so hopefully you can help me solve it.

I’m doing cooking classes right now and I want to make a project that lists the following things which I need to do one by another, so that should be a sequential list. I have to do this every week, over and over again. The list reads as follows, I added the day I have to do this in brackets:

  1. Write recipe (every monday)
  2. Write grocery list (every monday)
  3. Buy groceries (every monday)
  4. Buy vegetables at local farmer (every tuesday)
  5. Collect equipment (every wednesday)
  6. Copy recipe (every thursday)

All of these are set on repeat every week. The project itself is not having a due date.

Now, I have tried three things:

  1. Set all actions on a due date, according to their day.
    The result I get from this is once I check “Write recipe” the “Write recipe” from next week is already showing up, but “Write grocery list” is not showing up as an available action.

  2. Set all actions on a defer date.
    The result however is the same.

  3. Set a defer and a due date.
    Again, the same result.

And now, here I am, wondering what my mistake is. All I want to do is to repeat the project every week with the given actions being due on different days, working through them one by another.

Thanks a lot for any help! :)

#2

You should set the project to repeat upon completion, one week later. The actions need not repeat. This will retain the days and times when those actions are deferred and/or due. I hope that helps!

2 Likes
#3

Thanks for your advice, this actually did help! Sometimes things can be so easy… :)
Just one small side note, though: Will this become an issue of some kind for Omnifocus to repeat every project over and over again, e.g. when searching for an item?

Another thing that just came to my mind: Let’s say I already know what I am cooking on every date, so I am writing a small note on “write recipe” which says something like “This week: Stew”. Next week, I will cook lasagna. This obviously gets repeated every week over and over again, so there will be “This week: Stew.” again.
If I wanted to avoid this, I would have to make a new project for every week, simply not repeating them?

Thanks again!

#4

I’m pleased it helped. Fortunately I accept payment in lasagne😉

Searching shouldn’t be a problem, as completed items are not included, I believe. I have projects that repeat and then get whisked off when move old items to the archive.

When the project is repeated, it’s repeated in its current state, which is to say, yes, any action titles, notes or the project title, even if edited from the original, would be kept in place.

I can think of two ways to handle that. The first would be to create an initial action that tells you to set up the project, editing any incorrect information. This could also be part of your weekly review.

Another option would be to set up a template project, set on hold, and copy it and set it up every week (including the defer and due dates). That’s a bit more tedious, but you can automate it with a script like this one by Curt Clifton.