I couldn’t agree more, this is actually a deal-breaker for me. I’ve migrated from Things and I use search ALL THE TIME, and always for searching for this that I’m not currently viewing (hence the searching).
OF2 is quite expensive, so I’m not into the idea of a clunky workaround to have basic functionality like “search” working.
I’m finding defer doesn’t really work that way in OF2. If you pass the defer date without doing it, poof the deferred item disappears, falls off, and hangs out lurking only in your project directory. It may look active but it won’t show up anywhere.
I’ve tried using defer until. I like that it hangs at the bottom of the list so it’s useful to mimic prioritization such as in the manner you describe. However, I find it too easy to lose things that fell behind the iron curtain of the forecast screen. In fact, I’m spending tonight searching for items which got lost because of this.
It seems to me that nobody on the OF team is engaging with this subject. Can anyone suggest why they don’t want to discuss this issue?
Lack of time is a big part of it - we participate on the forums as we’re able, but it has to take a back seat to our other duties. I’m on the support team, for example - we’re still digging out from the spike in email that comes from a product launch. I have enough time to look a couple of topics a day right now.
Discourse put this thread in my Unread list today, so here I am. Being on the support team, I’m best positioned to suggest things like making a Search All perspective that auto-opens in a new window, then assigning a keyboard shortcut. But there are other questions I’m not going to be as able to answer.
We’re happy to help, but if you want a guaranteed answer from a particular product team, email is the way to go.
In Evernote, Command-F searches within the currently open note, and Command-Option-F searches all notes in the database
Omnifocus could do something similar perhaps.
So, I don’t know if this is obvious to those here, but it wasn’t obvious to me. Turns out you can click on the “Projects” icon to clear your selection (of any projects), displaying all projects and actions (unless you have a filter for just remaining actions, for example). From there, you can search across your content.
Yeah , I fear it is, although it is worth mentioning once more ;-)… the posters in this thread mainly expect global search to be available from the little central search field instantly…
Clicking on the Projects icon does NOT clear your selection of projects IF (1) you click on it from a different perspective AND (2) the last time you were in the Projects perspective, you had a specific folder or project/list selected. Instead, when you click the Projects icon, you’re switched back to your prior view.
You must then click a second time to clear the selection of projects. Or Edit --> Deselect All. This has taken me weeks of frustration to figure out.
I’m continually caught out by the confusing serach behavior, especially since there is no visual feedback in the search field to tell me where the heck the search will actually search. (Yes, a highlighted project should let me know that I’m now limiting my search, but that doesn’t work for me. I don’t see it. And often, the highlighted item has scrolled out of the window’s viewport.)
While we’re talking about searching all content, why doesn’t command-F bring the insertion point to the search field? Instead it brings up a dialog box I can’t ever see myself needing. Is there a way to move the cursor up there? Or is it just another click to add to the long line of clicks necessary to search for the action item I just put in the wrong place?
All, I realize I am being repetitive, so please forgive me for that. But I just don’t find this to be a big deal at all. Creating the “All” layer is not a clumsy workaround, it is leveraging the way that the software is built today in a way that does not break any other aspect of my workflow. The search is basically instantaneous and I get precisely what I want. The only gap from my perspective is that it does not return completed tasks in my results set (and for that, I go to “Completed” in the sidebar and search from there). Other than that, I find the use of the “All” folder to be effective and responsive.
The search box has always frustrated me. I’m conditioned from Spotlight to think the search box is always a global search across my entire OF database. Yet it’s always a search of the currently selected project.
And with OF2, there is no view that gives you everything e.g. inbox and all projects at the same time.
if you want to search globally, you have to toggle between perspectives and then use the searchbox.
Am I missing something?
Thanks,
Felix
From my experience, you can use the Contexts or Projects perspective and then deselect all contexts/projects by clicking on the grey area above or below the contexts/projects items. OmniFocus will then show all items in a grouped (by context or project respectively) list which you can then use as an overall list to perform your global search.
Not a very user-friendly way, though (and much nicer on mobile devices where you can select the scope of your search easily at the top bar). This has been bugging me for a while, too. I’d appreciate it if you took the time to e-mail to the ninjas about this (support@omnigroup.com) and keep us updated here, maybe there’s something we’re missing.
It’s frustrating that you are able to do that on the iPhone, but not on the Mac.
Anyway, on my side, I rely on Keyboard Maestro for that and so, when I hit ⌘+F, it simulates the other keys needed to achieve what I want, as per this screenshot.
Instead, you can also double-click on the Projects of Contexts perspective tabs in the sidebar. The first click activates the perspective and the second will deselect any projects/contexts currently selected.
That’s what I do too, but it sure feels very strange and confining that this is the easiest way to get at something that’s the default behavior in nearly every other modern app.
Thank you! That is genius.
For most situations, I prefer ⌘O the quick open window. to find folders, projects, actions.
I agree, the behaviour here is wacky - that search isn’t global always confuses me when I expect search results but don’t get them. @steve thank you for the ⌘O! I was not familiar with this and I love it.
Cheers,
ScottyJ
I create a perspective called “All” which has all items in it (instead of available, remaining, completed, etc. like the built in perspectives have). When I really want to find something, I use the “All” perspective and then do the search against that.
The new ⌘+O is great indeed, but doesn not work for tasks :-(
@ediventurin I have just realized this. I am going to email Omni right away, and request that tasks be included in the ⌘+O search. That would make Quick Open a global search, and the search box a contextual search.
