OmniFocus 3 - Top feature requests

OmniFocus
#12

I could really use a “remind date”. I often have projects where I know they will take a certain amount of time, but I can’t start them today/now. But they only appear on OF radar like 2 days before they are due. This has resulted in some panic filled days. :-) in a perfect world I’d be reviewing all the projects more often, but …

I’d also like the ability to pause items not just projects - like a “waiting for…” option. For example if a task I have can’t be completed until I get client approval, I can’t close the task, because it’s not done but I don’t want it constantly appearing in my "available tasks: list because I’m waiting for a response first. And I can’t pause the whole project because I am working on other tasks.

2 Likes
#13

I would like it for a very similar purpose. Waiting is the contextual equivalent to defer for dates, but like we both agree sometimes we’d like a little more heads up. I’ve put in a request for this a while back and I’ve gone more in depth with others here.

Also, I can assign a “waiting” context to individual tasks. I’m not sure if it came by default or if I added it at some point. If it isn’t there, add a context called “waiting” and make the status “on hold”. That way you can assign it to individual tasks and not a project (I say individual tasks because it would be much easier to assign a project with an “on hold” status than list it and all its contents with a “waiting” context).

The only additional suggesting I would have if you decide to add this context would be to get in the habit of regularly changing your views. I’ve often wondered why projects appeared “stalled” with no remaining tasks and spinning my head before realizing there isn’t anything I can really do.

#14

I use Flagged as my daily to-do focus list. I wish I could manually reorder the tasks in that list, separate from the project hierarchy.

1 Like
#15

Agreed. The two biggest uses for flags I’ve seen are to indicate priority and to establish tasks the user wants to get done. I’m part of the latter, but being able to reorder the flagged list would serve both purposes (allowing you to see tasks you really want to get done, and tasks you kinda want to get done).

#16

Multiple contexts for each item! Just add a table in the design between the table for items (tasks/actions/projects) and the context table.

2 Likes
#17

A Web Interface (thrashed to death here: OmniFocus Web Access)

I’ve been using OF for years and most of the employers I’ve worked for won’t let me connect my Mac/iPad to their network or give me the option of a MacOS work machine. Yes I could use OF on my iPad with a mobile contract but embedding links to employer internal sites/servers is fundamental to the way I work so I’ve had to use other products online products like Todoist.

3rd parties are stepping in to fill the void.

This is money that Omni are leaving on the table, but it would be expensive to hire for, develop and operate such a service and they have to do the maths and take the risk on whether the service revenue would leave them in the black.

4 Likes
#18

Based on this question Ken made several months ago… I’m pretty sure OF3 main new feature will be collaboration.

#19

Using OF for iOS since 2010, I’ve got workarounds for every OF limitation. These improvements would help me most, in this order:

(1) Integration with iOS eMail.
eMail is still the poor man’s interface for and from everything. Right now I have to forward an eMail to the Omni Sync Server (and revisit it in my Inbox and having to do with horrible formatting) or print it to pdf and use a workflow (yes, that separate iOS app) to create a new action (and loose embedded links and have to click and pinch and type for some 10 seconds each).
The quick&easy solution would be to append tags to the eMail forwarded to the Sync Server. These tell OF which project / context to save the new action to when ingesting the eMail. And do something about the formatting of HTML email, please.

(2) When ingesting a ToDo from the iOS Reminders app, support the tagging as described above.
Currently I create reminders in Outlook on my office PC, this is synced to iOS reminders, this is grabbed by OF. But I have to revisit that in the OF Inbox on iOS. Compare feature request (1).
Additional remark: This process can work without using the (public) Omni Sync Server because you can transfer through a VPN. Good for company confidential stuff.
The other way round (OF to company confidential) I do via a workflow (yes, again that iOS app): I create an appointment in my company calender on iOS with all the details. Subject “Let’s talk about this”, if for others, or ‘Block time for this’, if for me alone.

(3) When ‘sharing’ an item into OF on iOS: truly filter the projects list to select the correct project (and context) while I type.
Do I need to explain? Just try the iOS share sheet when you’ve got more than a few projects. I always have to settle for saving the new action to the Inbox and have to revisit it there.

(4) Basic collaboration for family offices.
Not for big teams. Yet. In my big company environment I have got more “collaborative software” that’s more or less obligatory to use than I can enumerate without looking it up.
But for families and small offices this would be a unique selling point because they are free to choose their GTD software.
For my setup of OF a quick&easy solution would be an additional attribute for each action, an additional, second context. The difference to the usual context would be a ‘private’ setting for each leaf / branch that could be set by any member and would hide these projects and actions from non-members. Create a few built-in perspectives (‘mine’, ‘not yet assigned’, ‘checked off lately by the others’) and allow full custom perspectives. Voila. People who think they cant live without multiple tags will be happier, too.

(5) When creating a new project on the fly, i.e. by typing it’s name in an action: ask where to put it and inherit the context and review cycle from the parent.
Currently I have to always move it from the top level and remember to adapt context and review cycle.

(6) Show (and allow filters for) creation and modified dates for items and projects (with dates for projects being rolled up from the actions).
To see exactly when I created / updated an action is seldom necessary, but when I need it, it’s crucial.
Currently I use a shortcut by the iOS app TextExpander to enter the current date with 3 taps, but why should I need to do that?

(7) Allow Notes in folders.
For specific folders I need to follow some formal criteria because my processes and the custom perspectives I use extensively (Launcher for iOS) depend on that. Currently I note something in the name of the action, but…

Contrary to popular belief, I do not need multiple contexts, I very much simplified my context and project trees (no more group actions, extremely detailled checklists, autocomplete and auto-restarting of projects for me - I need to be able to correctly work OF even when in bed with a flu) and have moved ‘reference material’ into a cross-platform cloud solution.

Keep up the good work!

#20

I would love to see a new perspective type which would be a hybrid between hierarchical and context perspectives.

It would be similar to the context perspective but if an action has sub-actions they would be displayed hierarchically, and you would be able to collapse them to hide them when you don’t need to pay attention to the sub-actions.

I explained this idea further here

1 Like
#21

Give us loads more customization options for custom perspectives, I.e., smart folder/playlist style. The first task manager I got to know was Schoolhouse and I’ve missed the granular control over the custom views I could set up.

1 Like
#22

For Q1
– all platforms

  • Tags aka multiple contexts
  • Ability to exclude action groups from count of number of things due in badge count on Forecast perspective

– macOS

  • Perspective windows that remember their window coordinates (a feature that was lost in the “upgrade” 1 -> 2)

For Q2
– all platforms

  • Ability to put tasks on hold or dropped state (as possible now with projects)

– macOS

  • Robust archiving of entire projects (missing or broken since the dawn of time)
  • Ability to hide list of sidebar tabs (for the same reasons as mentioned above already)

– iOS

  • Ability to customize swipe actions for tasks (e.g. left swipe to put task on hold or change its context)

Otherwise, the rest is mostly icing on the cake.

–
JJW

3 Likes
#23

My top request remains - Something like Passed Deferred in Forecast view (like past Due).
Also I’d love to not see the same task in Deferred and Due sections twice. Once per day is enough.

Overall Forecast View which is my definite favorite needs even more love…

1 Like
#24

All I’ve wanted in OF for years is tags.

Kinda got fed up waiting for them and shifted to another workflow.

They’re pretty much the only feature that will tempt me back.

#25

• Bring back the clarity of the v1 iOS app’s folder icons, to make it faster to see at a glance where you are

• Get rid of (or allow us to turn off) the dots that show how many items are in a context

• Bring back the OF1 completion checkbox and flagged icons instead of the circle thing which I’ve always hated.

• Higher contrast apps generally for those of us without perfect eyesight.

1 Like
#26

• Multiple Tags / Contexts

• manually arrange tasks in context view, forecast view / basically everywhere

• deferred items should also appear in the forecast view the next day

• offlinesynch between mac and iOS via peer to peer network or bluetooth or airdrop technology, while not having Internet

#27

I’d like to see feature parity between the iOS and macOS versions. It’s not possible to set an action group to automatically complete on the iOS, which otherwise respects the setting. I’d also like to be able force a regular review date on all of my projects (e.g., Sunday no matter what). Currently, I have to select everything in OmniFocus for macOS and set it manually to make sure I don’t miss anything…

1 Like
#28

Agreed. I recently switched to doing most of my weekly reviews on iPad and although it works well enough, it would be helpful for iOS to have all the review functionality of the Mac. It’s crazy to me that once a project has been reviewed in iOS, I have no way of seeing the next review date or review frequency. This is important when, for example, a project that was on hold becomes active sooner than I thought it was and I now need to resume reviewing it weekly. I’m doing more and more work on iPad, and Omnifocus for iPad should be able to stand on its own.

Also, this is more of a background issue, but it seems to me that syncing the reviewed status of projects between numerous devices has always been a bit off. It would be great if they could finally get this sorted out.

1 Like
#29

Swipe left on the project, choose More and tap Review?

#30

Thank you. I had no idea that was an option. I still think it’d be a great improvement to have this mirror the Mac version, and simply include the Review information at the bottom of the “Info” tab of a project.

#31

What I would like to see for Omni Focus 3 are reminders. I’m new to Omni Focus and don;t know if I will keep it because it does not have decent reminders. I use the app Alarmed and it is awesome, you can set up reminders with nagging alerts that will not go away until you complete the task or snooze it. If Omni focus added this feature and it will be the best productivity app ever.