Overall, how are you liking OmniFocus 2 relative to OmniFocus 1?

[savantier]

@Gary

What I don’t love:

Notes. They still feel like they’re just slapped on the app to me. I realize many people use Evernote etc. for reference info, but most of my reference files are just notes. I didn’t enjoy using notes in OF 1, and I still don’t in OF 2. Not even sure how I’d like to see the notes feature implemented, but I know I’m not a fan of the current way.

Hm.

I quite like the current implementation of notes, actually (and the past version as well).

Some tasks need to be embellished on, hence the requirement of notes. And others might hold certain data (e.g. Links) whereas a full .rtf/.pages document stored in DEVONthink would be unnecessary.

[Zusamna]

I’ve been wrestling with OmniFocus 1 since I purchased it for MacPro and iPad. I am determined to stop trying new project managers and master this software. Now that the Beta 2 has come out, it’s all making sense. I will definitely purchase OmniFocus 2 when it’s available!

[wheazel]

Yes. It is definitely an improvement. I switched immediately to the new interface. It’s quite a personal preference of mine to feel more comfortable with integrated one-window interfaces than with the “old” flying palettes. This is, what in my opinion, an update to a newer version should be. Improved and modernized interface, kept good things working, adding a feature like the “forecast”. I am very impressed, and it is amazing and fun to work with this really nice peace of software. I did not have any problems yet, working with it for the second day.
One little thing that might be changed is, that every time when I start Omnifocus 2, and I switch to the Projects perspective, all the folders containing my projects are expanded. So I have to collapse them to keep focused on my actual Projects. It would be nice to keep them the state at closing the app, so when I reopen it, I find the folders the way I left them.
As a heavy inbox user, I couldn’t find an elegant way to move the items from the inbox into the projects via drag and drop. Am I missing something? In the Inbox perspective, I tried to hold the item over the projects tab, in hope it would open the projects view, so I could drop the item to the right project, but that didn’t work. How do you handle this?
Nevertheless, I’m all around happy with it and I prefer OF2 if I had to choose. Real good work, people!!!

[Gary]

Well, I think you hit on why I find notes lacking. Yes, notes is fine for ‘certain data’, but not for much else. I don’t expect it to be evernote, but wish it felt better to write in. I use notation velocity for my support notes, and they’re often only a paragraph or two. Would love to simply use OF, but it simply doesn’t feel right for me to use it that way (I’m sure others DO use it more extensively, I wish I was one of them). But with the way OF has always implemented notes, I have no doubt they see the feature more as you do, and less as I wish. But it’s a minor quibble.

[wilsonng]

I think OmniFocus 2 is better used as a project/task manager. It’s not necessarily useful as a place to store reference files or notes. I’d use Evernote, Yojimbo, Circus Ponies Notebook, or Devonthink for things like PDFs, reference text files, and spreadsheets. I wouldn’t want to bloat my OmniFocus database with too many reference files.

In any case, I just put a bunch of stuff in Evernote. Sometimes, I’ll put a file in my Dropbox folder, copy the link to that file and put it in the notes section of a task.

OmniFocus’ notes field is perfect for just a small snippet of information such as a simple phone number, a comment, or some other descriptive text. It wouldn’t be useful to use it for an entire chapter in a book.

[savantier]

Continuing the discussion from Overall, how are you liking OmniFocus 2 relative to OmniFocus 1?:

@Gary

Well, I think you hit on why I find notes lacking. Yes, notes is fine for ‘certain data’, but not for much else. I don’t expect it to be evernote, but wish it felt better to write in. I use notation velocity for my support notes, and they’re often only a paragraph or two. Would love to simply use OF, but it simply doesn’t feel right for me to use it that way (I’m sure others DO use it more extensively, I wish I was one of them). But with the way OF has always implemented notes, I have no doubt they see the feature more as you do, and less as I wish. But it’s a minor quibble.

---

Continuing the discussion from Overall, how are you liking OmniFocus 2 relative to OmniFocus 1?:

@wilsonng

I think OmniFocus 2 is better used as a project/task manager. It’s not necessarily useful as a place to store reference files or notes. I’d use Evernote, Yojimbo, Circus Ponies Notebook, or Devonthink for things like PDFs, reference text files, and spreadsheets. I wouldn’t want to bloat my OmniFocus database with too many reference files.

In any case, I just put a bunch of stuff in Evernote. Sometimes, I’ll put a file in my Dropbox folder, copy the link to that file and put it in the notes section of a task.

OmniFocus’ notes field is perfect for just a small snippet of information such as a simple phone number, a comment, or some other descriptive text. It wouldn’t be useful to use it for an entire chapter in a book.

Agreed.

I think the current spartan form is good enough. It’s for those notes that you don’t necessarily want to store in a .rtf in DEVONthink, but stuff that you don’t want to stow away in a Stickies or the Notes.app.

[pcb]

I have used all 3 OmniFocus platforms for some time. I switched to OF2 on my iPhone as soon as it came out and was frankly not a fan. With the release of OF2 for Mac however that has changed. Although I have only been part of the test for a couple days now one unanticipated side benefit has been that I now better understand what was trying to be accomplished with the revised UI on on both platforms. Overall I am a fan. The look is much easier on the eyes, the larger and better organized Inspector is great, the Forecast view is hands down a hit, While I was skeptical about the checkboxes on the right I am now also a convert for the reason that they are less visually interfering that when on the left. I am better able to focus on the task verbiage without the checkbox staring me in the face.

[KathyI]

I’ve been using OF 2 for about 3 weeks.

Likes:

1. forecast view
2. easy access to inspector
3. unified sidebar on the left

Dislikes:

1. Data density: If a list of actions fits on one screen, I have more energy to dive into the list and I am more likely to feel I am making progress. This is happens less often in OF 2, compared to OF 1.
2. No symbol for deferred projects: The little clock symbol (from OF 1) has disappeared for active projects that have been deferred to a later date. Thus, when I scan the sidebar in OF 2, there is no visible distinction between projects I’m currently working on and one-time projects that I have deferred to a future date (e.g., Prepare Report for XYZ). Also, for repeating projects that I set to “mark as complete when completing last action” (e.g., Pay Monthly Bills), I will never be able to tell from the sidebar that the project has been completed and is therefore deferred until the next time it repeats. [Note: Using an “Available” perspective is not a solution because I don’t want all of my unavailable actions to disappear. And it won’t work to place a deferred project “on hold” to visibly distinguish it on the list, because I would need to remember (when) to reactivate it.]

Overall, I like OF 2. I’m sure I could adapt to the decreased data density. But the disappearance of the symbol for deferred projects is a deal-breaker for me – it reduces my ability to trust my system and it wastes my time. I have reported this issue to ofpreview@omnigroup.com. For now, I am switching back to OF 1 and hoping that the little clock will be resurrected sometime soon after the 2.0 release.

Please return the clock from the chopping block!

[wilsonng]

@KathyI

Dislikes:

Data density: If a list of actions fits on one screen, I have more energy to dive into the list and I am more likely to feel I am making progress. This is happens less often in OF 2, compared to OF 1.

wow… I guess I see things differently. When I see an endless list of tasks on my screen, I feel lost, overwhelmed, and hopeless. I have to use a perspective that focuses on “due or flagged”. It makes my day less overwhelming and I can focus on the more important tasks (due or flagged). Then I feel like I’m making progress because I know that large tasks have to be broken down into digestible, bite-sized chunks in order to make progress.

[KathyI]

I agree with everything you’ve said. . . .I think I did not explain my concern clearly. If I have 10-12 bite-size tasks in my “Today” perspective, they will fit easily on one screen in OF 1 and I can think clearly about how to proceed. (I might flag some of those items to focus on, etc.) In OF 2, I may need to scroll down to see all 10-12 tasks, which will make it difficult to see the whole picture and might feel frustrating/overwhelming.

[alino]

I like almost everything except the new View button - I prefer to always know/view the filters and options I previosly selected, and have a faster way to change form available to remanning, for exemple. With OF 1 I was always in control, and I could change it with one click, and with OF 2 I need to open the button view to see the filters selected,and if i want to change something I need at least 3 clicks (open view, select new filter, close view), and worse, after I need to search/select again the project because OF2 lost the focus when I change the view

[Yann]

While i like many design aspects, right now i still prefer omnifocus 1 :
• i prefered OF1 density (having the project or context in a second line instead on the same line for me is a regression). I wish the user could decide which presentation suits his needs
• i prefer the checkbox (circle) on the left since i use a 27" screen at the office
• I liked the possibility to customize styles in OF 1 (mostly the ability to choose headers background colors & indent), it helped to get the whole view of informations
• While il like the info panel, i miss the calendar directly in the date area (was efficient for me)

Still, I love the forecast and review mode in OF2, the circle concept, the left panel with perspectives.

Feature suggestion :
• having like in iOS the possibility to set a location for some context
• Map integration (but does the Apple API allow it ?)

Sincerely

Yann

[kvdcmu]

Working with my OF1 workflow for the past couple of days, all is great. unlike some others, I prefer the extra whitespace to the density, especially once I got used to it. I’m sure I’ll uncover some small issues, but I would already have a hard time switching back. I especially like being able to reassign due dates so easily via Forecast.

[pvonk]

There’s a lot in OF 2 that I like, especially the new/improved things like the Forecast and Review. I use OF, newest versions, on iPad/iPhone (mostly iPad and I really like it!). The data density that others mention is not so much a problem for me.

However, one thing that does affect me has to do with the eye’s reaction to the GUI. It’s awfully white/bright. Lowering intensity on my MBP doesn’t seem to help (yes, it gets dimmer, but that’s the problem; everything is dimmer). The other issue is one Apple seems to have foisted on us “older” users - light gray font color on a white background. Everyone’s doing this these days. ARE THERE NO “OLDER” PROGRAMMERS working for developer shops? (And no, I don’t have vision problems.) A little grayer than jet black could be used if you want contrast between a headline and sub-text, but a light gray makes a full page look like I’m looking at a landscape that has a lot of mist.

I’ll keep looking at OF2, but now I use OF1 almost exclusively. But I do admit, the latest OF2 updates may tempt me to use it more often.

[briankc]

Fantastic upgrade. Enjoying it very much.

[Gary]

OmniFocus’ notes field is perfect for just a small snippet of information such as a simple phone number, a comment, or some other descriptive text. It wouldn’t be useful to use it for an entire chapter in a book.

Just to be clear, and maybe you were talking in general and not toward what I actually said, here’s what I actually wrote:

“I use notation velocity for my support notes, and they’re often only a paragraph or two. Would love to simply use OF, but it simply doesn’t feel right for me to use it that way”

And I specifically said I didn’t expect it to become Evernote. Nor do I expect to use notes for an entire chapter of a book. I know there’s always been an argument to make OF have evernote capabilities, but those arguments certainly weren’t made by me.

Again, notes just don’t work for me because of their design (and I admitted having no idea how I would improve them). Maybe one day they’ll click, or I’ll get use to them. But arguments about ‘bloat’ and not become ‘evernote’ have nothing to do with why I don’t find OF notes appealing.

[claw73]

A much better effort than v.1 which I always found dated, cluttered and despite all the customisations available I could never make it look clean and modern. OF2 is much closer to being clean, neat and user-friendly. Forecast feature is fantastic and way overdue. I do however have a concern that it is not entirely accurate - with repeating tasks, it is not possible to see the next repeating task if the next due is not completed, i.e. there isn’t the capability of creating copies of the task (as in Things 2) or in 2Do where all repeating tasks shows up in their Forecast feature. So you could click on a date in say, 3 weeks’ time, but not all tasks will show up if a task is repeated weekly and the task due this week is not completed.

Ditto more data density, more contrasts, a bit more colour for pop effect.

But great job OF for the great improvements.

[gtdwannabe]

I have been trying 2 now for several weeks. As I mentioned in a previous comment, love the quick open, built in inspector, and the review and forecast sections.

However, my negative view about the two line format has hardened significantly. I now come to view the two row format as a major mistake. I think it is a major step in the wrong direction, and as long as you continue to go with, I suspect that users will stick with OmniFocus 1, despite its limitations relative to OF 2 in other areas.

The way things are going, I doubt my feedback will mean much, but I do not currently intend to upgrade given the new layout. Good luck.