How should "set omnifocus focus filter while in [focus mode]" be used in Shortcuts?

OmniFocus
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I’m confused about how to use this action in Shortcuts. The current wording makes it seem like the shortcut will run automatically, but I know that’s not how it works.

From what I understand, the filtering could be manually set as a Focus Filter in the Settings app or through an automation in Shortcuts. However, if I have to set it manually for a specific focus, why does it mention “while in [focus mode]” as a condition?

Edit: clarifying I’m asking about Shortcuts.

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  1. Open System Settings > Focus on your Mac.
  2. Create a new Focus Filter and name it something like “OmniFocus—My Filter.”
  3. Configure the filter to your preference, ensuring to click “Add Filter” and select the OmniFocus application.
  4. Select the top-level OmniFocus folders you want in this filter.

Now, when you activate this new Focus Filter on your Mac, OmniFocus will only show the folders you’ve selected. This automates the “Focus Mode” in OmniFocus, similar to manually selecting folders and choosing “Focus Mode” in the View menu.

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Thanks for your reply @Minus.app.
What you describe, though, is not in Shortcuts. Now I see I failed to be clear about that in my original post. Those steps are what I mentioned as what could be done without Shortcuts.

My question is regarding the Shortcuts action Set OmniFocus Focus Filter while in [focus mode].

Thursday, 06 Jun 2024 09:34:12
Thursday, 06 Jun 2024 09:34:121126×2250 136 KB

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“Focus Mode” is the name of a Focus Filter on your device. In your latest example, “Do Not Disturb” is the name of the Focus Filter. Click the circle icon to reveal your options for selecting which OmniFocus folders will be a part of your Focus Filter.

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I don’t think we intentionally added that as a visible action for the Shortcuts app, it looks like the system added it automatically when we added support to the app for device focus settings.

Experimenting a bit, it looks like this is a way to automatically reconfigure the device focus settings that you would normally configure manually through the Settings app.

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@kcase does that mean the action is not supposed to be used directly in Shortcuts, i.e. it’s something internal to OF?

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That action isn’t used internally by OmniFocus; it’s provided by the system so the user can programmatically reconfigure their Focus settings using Shortcuts. (For example, let’s say you had two different clients and you alternate which client your Work focus displays based on the day of the week. You could have a shortcut which automatically changes your Work focus between those two options based on the date.)

Hope this helps!

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