For some reason I’m unable to make a task repeat. For example I want to create a task that repeats every day for one week.
EG: Get out of bed @6:30 every morning. This repeats each day for (say) 7 days and appears in the task list for each day when I’m in Forecast view. At present although set to repeat each day until 02/01/26 the task only appears once and is then in the ‘past’ list in Forecast view, it doesn’t carry forward
Sounds simple but I can’t get it to work. I should add that I’m running as user and not in an admin account.
Mac Mini M2 Pro, MacOS Sequoia 15.7.3. Omnifocus 4.8.6 (185.4.0)
The repeat function does not allow you to duplicate tasks so that they are displayed in advance on all desired days.
🌟 However, there is a simple solution. Enter the task to be duplicated in the inbox. Copy this task with CTRL+C, then go to the preview, select the first day on which the task series should start, and then insert the task with CTRL+V. Insert it for each subsequent date in the same way with CTRL+V, and your problem is solved.
OmniFocus doesn’t work like a calendar which would show all instances of a repeated appointment in advance. The next repeating task is only created when the existing one is completed.
It’s also important to repeat EITHER the task, or the project, but not both.
It’s only when you complete the task/project that repeats that the next iteration is created.
It’s only when you complete the task/project that repeats that the next iteration is created.
When I think about it that makes perfect sense. In the example I quoted you can’t do the next instance until you have done the first one. IE You either get up or you don’t. You only do the next one when you have done the first.
You’re correct, I’m thinking of it as a calendar rather than a GTD tool.
That is one way of doing it, and thank you for the reply. As @ Geoffairey says below, you can only do the next instance when you have completed the first ,so the next instance should appear when an instance has been marked as completed.
Yeah when you consider “repeating items” are more like items which would have formerly gone into a tickler, suspense, or bring forward physical file, it makes a lot more sense. I toss pretty much everything like this into a project called “Tickler”. The repeat options in OF are very robust which allows pretty much anything you need, tho some users will happily find edge cases that prove this wrong!
And you are correct to consider the GTD underpinnings of OF even if they are more historic than current, that really there is no need to see far into the future. And items which traditionally landed into a tickler weren’t must dos per se. Such items would be associated at a minimum with calendar entry.
