Is it possbile to view next actions, one at a time?

OmniFocus
#1

Hello everyone,

Loving Omnifocus! I’m curious to know if it’s possible to setup Omnifocus 3 so that it shows next actions one at a time. In other words, I want the following functionality:

  • Click on “Next Actions” (or something similar)
  • Click on specific tag in my next actions
  • Be shown a single next action

I can move to the next available, next action without discarding / removing the previous one. I noticed that someone asked for a “card view” in 2014 but haven’t found anything about it since.

Thanks very much for your help!!

#2

This Omni Automation plugin might be a good starting point. Download, double-click, and it’ll open in OmniFocus and install it in the proper folder.

Visit this page and download the plugin where it says “Process Inbox (Scotty Jackson)”

https://omni-automation.com/omnifocus/actions.html

If you get savvy enough, you could probably adapt it to your needs.

1 Like
#3

‘First Available’ is a filtering option in perspectives, which includes only the next action from each project (except from Single Action Lists, SAL).

Therefore you can get pretty close to the objective by creating this custom perspective:

  • First Available
  • not contained in projects which are SALs (you need to select them manually in the popup)
  • Tagged with…
  • Group and sort: Entire Projects

This will require selecting the desired tag in the perspective rule. Then you can click on any project in the sidebar to see just its next action in the outline (if it has parent actions they will be displayed too).

Alternatively, you can use the ‘Individual Actions’ option in the perspective with group by projects, click on a tag in the sidebar, and see project groups each with its single next action.

2 Likes
#4

Wonderful, thanks for the responses @MultiDim and @wilsonng. In the “View” dropdown, I notice that there’s an option to “Focus …”. Is there a way for me to focus on a single next action for a project then hit some keys (so to speak) and move to the next item in the list.

So the outcome is that, I am only viewing one next action at a time?

#5

Just to refine this if you name all SAL’s consistently you can just filter these out by using “not containing”

Example: [Single action list name]

You then filter by “not containing [“

This also helps as a visual aid when scanning projects.

You can not focus on a single task but if you sort by project in the custom perspectives and then collapse all you can just expand the first. Perspectives remember saved states.

#6

I’m that someone, and I’m still waiting.

The various suggestions never quite fit the bill, and I don’t have the coding kung-fu to make it happen myself.

The only close approximation I’ve seen is when working on an iPhone you can fill the screen with the one thing.

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2 Likes
#7

My favorite method of focus is to take 3 Post-It notes and write one task on each note. Then hide The OmniFocus app or put away my phone. Then place the 3 notes at the bottom of my computer monitor. Then I work off of those.

It’s always visible in front of me.

I’m not a fan of keeping my task manager window visible on my Mac or having my phone displaying my next task. It’s too easy to just get out of a card view and search for something else.

Using the 3 Post-It notes gives me all the focus I need.

I focus on those 3 notes. When I’m done, I take a break. Then I take out another 3 Post-It notes and choose another 3 tasks for my next time block.

#8

This is how I process my OF inbox. I use my phone to quickly assign an inbox item to the appropriate project or single actions list.

Then I use the up and down buttons at the top left of the screen to go to previous or next inbox item.