Hello!
I’m searching for a way to import an OPML-file (generated by MindMap) into OmniFocus - everything on Mac, not iOS.
All I’ve found is a way over OmniOutliner (and hints to some scripts from Rob Trew that led me to 404s :-(((… his stuff on GitHub doesn’t include any OPML-importer into OF).
Is this the status quo? The firsts demands for it date from 2008!
Regards,
Vlad
There might be better ways to do it, but I can confirm that it works to open an OPML-file in Omnioutliner, make a duplicate and save that file as an Omnioutliner file, and import the Omnioutliner file to Omnifocus. The imported tasks will be found in your Inbox. If you don’t have Omnioutliner (which is highly recommendable for lots of tasks), you may download the demo for this operation.
Hi, Jan!
Thanks so much for confirming the method via OmniOutliner (and saving as an OmniOutliner-file is actually better than CMD-C & CMD-V because it preserve the structure)!
It would really be the reason to buy OmniOutliner (could you give me a hint which version of it, the Standard or the Pro?) BUT my original question was: I want ONLY to import an OPML-file in OmniFocus; Do I really want such a powerhorse-app like OmniOutliner to do only this? Aren’t any AppleScript-solutions there for this?!
Is so hard to believe, the demand is there! (and even harder to believe is the fact that there is no “Import from OPML”-menu in OmniFocus, don’t you think?)
Thanks again!
Regards,
Vlad
Hi Vlad,
I thought you would like to do a one time import. Then the solution with the Omnioutliner demo would have worked fine - I think you can use the app without limitations for 30 days. If you regularly want to import OMPL-files, you might like a more convenient solution. I don’t know about Applescript-solutions, but as Omnifocus can’t read OMPL-files, I suspect scripting isn’t enough to solve the problem. If you, after all, would like to buy Omnioutliner, the standard version is great and the one I use.
Regards,
Jan
Hi, Jan!
You’re right, I wanted only for this time BUT I often use MindNode to brainstorm something that lands then in OmniFocus, so I can see me using this more than once.
Thanks for the hint to the standard version, I’ll take a deeper look then.
Regards,
Vlad
Hi @Vlad,
In case it helps, you can also copy and paste items from many other applications into OmniFocus and OmniFocus will use the line breaks to create separate actions for each line. This section of our online documentation has more info:
https://support.omnigroup.com/documentation/en/omnifocus-2-for-mac-user-manual/capture-methods
Hi, Anne!
Thanks for your reply!
Unfortunately I cannot copy & paste the individual items - they are far too many (ca. 140 right now).
I’ve also tried exporting RTF from MindNode, CMD-A & CMD-C and then CMD-V in OmniFocus. It put everything in OF but ignored the hierarchy / indentation and postponed blanks (as indentation) in the task-text… so it was unusable after all :-(
Why not simply importing from OPML in OF?
Thanks again!
Regards,
Vlad
Are you not able to select everything at once in the other app? In a long list of items you may be able to select them all, copy them, and then paste them all into OmniFocus in one move. This works in most other apps I’ve tried.
Hi, Anne!
Sorry, I wasn’t clear!
Here is the step-by-step workflow:
I wasn’t able to import the OPML-file direct in OmniFocus. That’s actually my original question.
Look what I’ve done with it:
a) I opened the RTF-file (in TextEdit)…
b) … selected everything at once in TextEdit…
c) … copied everything and…
d) … paste it in OmniFocus.
The result is not what I wanted, because all tasks are now at the same hierarchy-level and the text of the tasks was modified (blanks were inserted before the task-text according to the hierarchy: level 1 has 1 blank, level 2 has 2 blanks etc.).
I hope is clearer now.
Thanks again for your reply!
Regards,
Vlad
Sorry that’s not working. Have you tried copying and pasting directly from MindNode? If you send us an email to omnifocus@omnigroup.com I’d be happy to write up a feature request for you.
Hello again, Anne!
Unfortunately copying and pasting directly from MindNode doesn’t work either.
I’ll send then the email for a feature request.
Thanks again!
Regards,
Vlad
Slightly OT, but just wanted to thank @Vlad for raising my attention to MindNode - that is a sweet looking app, and the demo tells me it’s exactly the kind of mindmapping software I should have been using all along. Great find - thank you!
ScottyJ
Hey Scotty!
You’re welcome!
Yes indeed, MindNode fills nicely a gap for me to!
If only the direct import to OF were there!
Regards,
Vlad
I don’t disagree - I think I’ll be emailing to +1 the feature request (It would also create cool connectivity between OmniOutliner and OmniFocus).
For smaller maps, I have done the copy/paste in to OF, a find/replace on “tab” character with nothing, and then dragging items inside items to nest them. Not Ideal, but possible, certainly onerous with a big map or large set of pasted items.
Cheers,
ScottyJ
I really wish I could have this feature too. As a visual thinker, I like to start a project by mind-mapping my ideas. I use both MindNode and Curio. Both these apps will export to RTF. MindNode lets me export an OPML file. One of the problem with copying and pasting an RTF list into Omnifocus is that you lose all the hierarchy of indentations. It’s a very messy result and quite frustrating. Oh for more interoperability. Importing from an OPML file sounds like the obvious solution. Surely we should not have to purchase and be limited to OmniOutliner to do that.
You shouldn’t need to worry about exporting to RTF or OPML from Mindnode, as Mindnode can export directly to Omnifocus.
