Just to make sure I’m understanding, do you think these hierarchical issues are addressed by the capabilities of the Mac app because its outline is more flexible? I’m hopeful that bringing those capabilities to iPad and iPhone (as noted in the roadmap) will address this issue.
The capabilities of custom perspectives have been evolving over time. The initial implementation in version 1.x simply let you record the settings from your current view, which included some filter settings such as only showing items based on their “due soon” or “flagged” state. The next big leap for custom perspectives was in version 3, when we converted each of those filtering options into independent rules that could be combined using set logic primitives (union, intersection, and complement). This flexibility opened the door to much more tailored perspectives made through those rule combinations—but the rule primitives themselves were largely untouched, with our primary goal being to ensure that we had one-to-one coverage of everything which was possible in the previous perspectives (but knowing that these primitives could now be combined in much more flexible ways).
So that’s why things are as they are now—but as we look ahead to new types of perspectives, we most certainly do want to add support for richer time-based primitives, both relative (“due within the next [n] days”) and absolute (“due before [deadline date]”) and applicable to all time-based fields (e.g. “completed this month” or “added this month” or “deferred until next week”). I will note that this will require some fundamental database architecture changes to support these new date-based queries that weren’t possible before.
We’ve invested a lot of effort implementing automation capabilities so that customers can go beyond the built-in feature set when their particular needs drive them to do so. There’s a lot of utility there, and I’m glad we’ve shipped that support. But we also enjoy extending our built-in features in ways that give our customers more flexibility and power while also making it easier for them to tailor the app to meet their needs—such as the richer time-based perspective rules described above.
I do think that the outline view on the Mac makes some of this easier to manage, because instead of having dozens of different projects (which is what I have to use now), I can use nested action groups and it’s much easier to make entire classes of activities effectively disappear from view when necessary. What would really help is if there’s a way to optionally propagate changes made to a parent item to all children. I could see either something like a cmd- or option- click on the OK button that indicates that the change should be propagated (which I suppose could be implemented the same way on an iPad with a Smart Keyboard, or perhaps a two-finger press on Done) or a field in the inspector that controls said behavior.
… and talking about keyboard shortcuts, could we please have a possibility to turn off, or at least change, the keyboard shortcut space for completing a task? I have multiple times only the last few days completed tasks by mistake, as I have continued to type after that Omnifocus for some reason have left the editing mode (something that now seems to happen much more often than before). When I’m aware of this happening, I can quickly undo it, but it has also happened that I much later realized that an important task wasn’t there, and finally found it marked as completed (which I certainly hadn’t done consciously).
By the way, a different shortcut for deleting a task isn’t a replacement for a trash bin to me. Even when I delete tasks deliberately, I sometimes realize that I shouldn’t have. If I’m lucky and patient enough to find the right backup, I might find it there. If I deleted the task before it reached a backup, or before the latest notes in it did, I won’t find what I need in any backup file. A trash bin, something that is common in other task managers, would feel much safer, and would also be more convenient.
Dear @kcase, thank you very much for giving attention to the issue of accidentially deleting tasks on a dual screen setup!
The suggested way is totally fine for me for now:
“So, rather than adding a trash, perhaps a better solution would be to add an option to confirm deletes with some sort of prompt? Or perhaps to rebind the delete action to Command-Delete rather than a bare Delete keystroke, so it’s harder to accidentally invoke?”
I just want this etxra step of security before deleting. So a “command-delete” with a prompt to delete would be so great and would solve all my dual/triple screen deleting problems once and for all. I am noit lying that I directly (yes I quit omnifocus) everytime after using in order to prevent the mistake.
If this option comes my Omnfocus can be on all the time, thus I would even use it more. If you look to the forum this demand for this option has been demanded for more than 5 years now.
If the prompt to delete AND the command-delete comes, I dont really need the trash bin anymore. Thank you very much for paying attention to your long time users and the forum.
I hope it can be realized once and for all and I can feel more safe using this great software.
My preference would be command-delete to delete a task plus a trash bin. These address different use cases for me. I can see others preferring a delete confirmation prompt. From a UI perspective I would implement all three, and give users a choice via preferences.
For me command-delete solves the accidental delete issue. However, there are times when I delete an action or project, and then change my mind in the days or week after. A trash system would solve that issue.
Implementing all three options via preferences as additional function (command-delete; prompt; trash bin) would be a dream. And I would activate all three if I would have the option.
Why? Because my Ideas are so crucially important to me.
Regarding the debate about accidental deletions, adding a trashbin, and/or changing the keyboard binding of the delete key…
Personally, I would like the ability to right-click and “Lock” any container object in OmniFocus. I have a top-level structure that doesn’t change much. Accidentally deleting or spacebar’ing something to completion can have major consequences in my system.
The ability to make a container object non-deletable would adequately solve my problem. Thank you.
How about a built in system for dealing with tasks that are dependent on an action by an external entity, like a reply to an email or waiting for more information. It seems many people have had to engineer their own solutions for this, but from what I’ve seen it’s taking current capabilities and shoving square pegs into round holes (like creating a task that is not a task but indicates you are waiting on something)
I’ve been an OF user for several years now, I love the product. I keep seeing new tools that fall short in terms of complexity usually. However, I also noticed that I keep looking for a viable alternative.
I’ve realized that this is primarily because while OF is powerful, it requires so many external integrations (which, in my experience use the term “integration” very loosely) to surround what I need to actually do with my tasks. This is a huge user burden for me and probably the main reason why I generally don’t recommend OF to other users. It’s too much work.
For instance: part of my daily review is to assign task durations to the items I’ve chosen for that day before time blocking. There is not built in time estimate based off of these durations. It’s so simple, it hardly seems worth complaining about. I have seen plugins and user built programs to do this. But why should I have to source this part of my workflow elsewhere? This lack of function feels like an incomplete thought on the part of the design team.
To continue the example - my time blocking requires two additional programs (right now Fantastical and Focus for time tracking) to place my items on a calendar and then to track my work on them. Why does this have to be another program at all? And if it must, then perhaps really improve how well these programs play together?
The “integration” between Omnifocus and these programs is a link back to the action (mildly useful) and the duration of the activity. Not only do I have to drag these items to two separate programs (I haven’t found or built an automation solution for this), but there is no reciprocity when it comes to task completion. Or comparing duration and time spent. Or linking “due” or task dates when a task gets moved around on my calendar. (OF used to have better calendar integration which was at least automatic even if it was one way).
I find myself longingly browsing TickTick’s website which promises all in one integration of calendar/timer and task list (the key components of most folks’s productivity system).
IMO, OF does much of what it does really really well, but it seems like the vision has to include solid expansions (or integrations) to ensure that the product continues to meet the needs of, and simplify the lives of its users.
