How to Create Repeating Task Monthly on Specific Day [added in OmniFocus 3]

[MarkSealey]

Thanks, Steve - I stand corrected.

Maybe - since, I agree, this would be so useful (2Do, the app from which I switched to OF, can do it as well) - someone at Omni could explain how the schema of OF’s database is getting in the way?

OF is far and away the best, though, IMHO :-)

[steve28]

Mark, I agree… I love the way OF is structured and I want to use it (and have been since 2013 or so). But when you see some of the stuff that’s in the competition, there are some critical areas that (IMHO) should be addressed.

Also, I use OmniGraffle Pro and Omniplan Pro… I’m a big fan of these guys!

[skillet]

someone at Omni could explain how the schema of OF’s database is getting in the way?

Please, I would love to hear this as well.

There are some things that were extremely helpful from OmniFocus 1 on the mac that are still missing from 2 like sort by columns and save perspective as and having the current perspective you are in show up as checked among other things but I’ll stick more to this repeating date thing. I would love to hear more from someone at OmniGroup why this is taking so darn long to implement.

All the rational around just keeping one perspective and no tags also seems a bit bizzar to me as well, I don’t really need overlapping contexts or tags but why not give the people the tags. This seems to be a constant and steady request brought up by hundreds of people. Again I am perfectly fine without, I often wish development wasn’t so slow and so many resources given to all the other apps because OmniFocus is all I use. I might one day use OmniPlan if there were OmniFocus integration but that is also still missing but I digress.

[kcase]

I just posted our roadmap for 2017, which includes this feature:

Looking Back, Looking Ahead—2017 Edition

Last year we laid the groundwork for finally changing some of those, when we switched to a new, extensible file format and added encryption. This year, we’re going to make some fundamental improvements to the data OmniFocus keeps track of. Based on your feedback, the database changes currently at the top of our list are:

• Faster syncing of databases with large attachments (so people who use lots of large attachments no longer have their sync times get longer and longer)
• Support for multiple tags on tasks and projects (rather than just a single context)
• More flexible repeats and notifications (such as “third Thursday of the month” and “keep reminding me every ten minutes until I check this off”)

[skillet]

This is wonderful Ken, I am super excited about those updates! Thank you for the post.

[Jan_H]

@kcase, will this more flexible solution also find its way into the Review feature?

[johnreredd]

Any hint as to when in 2017 this feature will rolled out?

[OogieM]

Finally!
so now sometime in 2017 we will finally get a feature that Palm OS had back in 1997!

I really have no idea why it’s so hard since the problem was originally solved decades ago, even before the Palm system.

[srg684]

More flexible repeats and notifications (such as “third Thursday of the month” and “keep reminding me every ten minutes until I check this off”)

I have just emailed through a request to omnifocus@omnigroup.com and asked for an ETA of when this feature will be rolled out. Hope to hear back soon.

[kcase]

I have just emailed through a request to omnifocus@omnigroup.com and asked for an ETA of when this feature will be rolled out.

I’m afraid our support team can only point you back at my roadmap. I can share a bit more, but please bear in mind (as always) that our plans can and do change as circumstances change. (WWDC17 is right around the corner!)

So, with that caveat in mind: we’ve already finished the first item on that roadmap (faster syncing of databases with large attachments). Another long-requested feature (the ability to see the Inbox when viewing Projects on Mac) is expected very soon (in v2.10), as are free downloads (with trials) for the App Store on Mac and iOS. Many of the remaining items (multiple tags, flexible repeats, and multi-pane batch editing on iOS) involve related UI work that is likely to go into TestFlight in the second half of the year and to ship near to the end of the year.

[Jan_H]

@kcase, thanks for sharing the preliminary plans – looking forward to the long awaited features! Will flexible repeats also mean flexible reviews?

[kcase]

Will flexible repeats also mean flexible reviews?

Not necessarily, I’m afraid: that’s a separate feature. I’ll make sure our team knows you’d like that too.

[Jan_H]

Not necessarily, I’m afraid: that’s a separate feature. I’ll make sure our team knows you’d like that too.

Ah, that’s a pity. It would be equally useful to have more flexible dates in the review feature. It’s very limiting for example not to be able to set reviews to the first or last day of the week or month. Thanks for informing the team.

[kcase]

This feature will be coming one quarter later than originally planned. Sorry for the delay!

Omni Roadmap 2017 — Q4 Update

For those who might not have seen this on our blog… Each January we like to reflect on the past year’s accomplishments and to share a roadmap of our plans for the coming year. Our 2017 roadmap talked about switching to free downloads for all our products; shipping OmniOutliner 5 for Mac; and introducing OmniGraffle 3 and OmniOutliner 3 for iOS with slide-in information panes and powerful JavaScript automation. This year’s roadmap also talked about our plans for OmniFocus. About how its new sy…

[bbech]

Seeing that this feature won’t be out until the beginning of next year. Quick question, I’m curious if the database works like this? I just set up a task to give my dogs their monthly heartworm medicine on the 1Jan. If I have the task repeat every 1 month will it know that it will be 1Jan, 1Feb, 1Mar, etc or is one month in the repeat just every 30 days which would cause this system to screw up after February?

[kcase]

If I have the task repeat every 1 month will it know that it will be 1Jan, 1Feb, 1Mar, etc or is one month in the repeat just every 30 days which would cause this system to screw up after February?

If you tell it to start on the first and repeat every month, it will repeat on the first of every month.

(There’s a separate repeat setting for repeating every 30 days: that one would land on different days of the month.)

[awoodsbutler]

Does anybody know if this feature was added?

[dave]

Yep, this is a feature of OmniFocus 3 for Mac and iOS. When an item is set to repeat monthly you can customize with “Days in Month” (ie 1st and 15th) or “Days of Week” (ie first Tuesday).