Having Trouble Creating a Daily Routine

OmniFocus
#1

Hi All,

I’m struggling to create a recurring morning task list. For whatever reason I can’t seem to get the recurrence and sequence working as expected. Most recently I’ve tried setting the following on the project itself:

  • set defer date to early morning (say 5am)
  • set project type to to sequential
  • set due date to 5am (did this so it would show up in a flagged or due perspective
  • set recurrence to weekdays

So the tasks in the project inherit the defer and due dates but not the recurrence. And regardless the tasks are nowhere to be found come 5am. Hoping someone has some insight or examples on how to do this efficiently and in a way that actually achieves the desired result.
TIA
Mark

#2

As I continue to play around with it I an coming up with a few more questions. Here is what I have done:

  • created sequential project
  • no due or deferred or recurrence set at project level
  • all tasks in project set with deferred 5am
    , due 5am and recurring weekdays
  • I set view to remaining and I see the list of tasks in sequential order
  • I change view to available and I see only the first task in the list. As expected.
  • I complete the first task and expect to see the next task pop up. But it doesn’t. I’m left with nothing.

Super confused by this behaviour. What am I missing?

#3

Seems I’m having an ongoing dialogue with myself. Here’s my next duh whaaa?? Moment. Sequential project. 10 tasks. Should I be able to skip tasks 1-3 and complete task? Or any other in non-sequential order for that matter?

#4

You should set your protect as recurring on weekdays and set the start and due dates per task. If you you make the tasks recurring, they will auto-generate on completing and block the next task, which is what is happening now.

You start with:

  • Task 1 (due today)
  • Task 2 (due today)
  • Task 3 (due today)

If you complete task 1, you’ll get:

  • Task 1 (deferred to tomorrow, due tomorrow)
  • Task 2 (due today)
  • Task 3 (due today)

If instead you set the project as recurring, all tasks will be regenerated only when the whole project has been completed.

3 Likes
#5

Brilliant. That totally makes sense. I think what threw me off was I tried setting recurrence on the project but didn’t see it show up on the tasks. Defer and due did though. Will set it up and report back. Much thanks!

1 Like
#7

Ok so I think I got it setup and it appears to be behaving correctly. Couple of things I’ve noticed:

  • once the project regenerates the due and deferred times become 4:59am whereas originally they are 5am. Seems a but odd
  • on my iphone I can see all deferred items in forecast view despite show deferred being disabled.
#8

msalam - I have found myself in PRECISELY the same situation as you were last year. Did you figure it out? Have you got it working?I’d be so grateful for your insight. Thank you!