Perspective view filter by context and time

OmniFocus
#1

I am new to Omnifocus and struggling with the time. I can create a custom perspective to filter by time so I can see all my tasks that are 5 minutes, 15 minutes, 30 minutes, etc.

However, if I am in any of custom perspectives can I add the duration to the “left panel” under the tags so I can filter by context and time? As a GTD user this is kind of an important detail. Sometimes I am in my accounting software but only have 15 minutes so I want to filter by both context and time to reduce the decision making on which next action to perform…

#2

You can create a perspective that shows, for example, all available actions with a duration of 15 minutes or less.

OmniFocus Perspecitve - Max 15 Minutes
OmniFocus Perspecitve - Max 15 Minutes1010×746 52.5 KB

On the Mac, if you set Group and sort to Individuals Actions and reveal the sidebar, you can filter by a tag simply by clicking on the tag. This would allow you to, for example, view all available actions that take 15 minutes or less and are tagged with “QuickBooks”.

OmniFocus 3 for iPhone and iPad don’t support the sidebar, but sidebar support is coming in OmniFocus 4.

I hope this helps!

#3

I guess I need to just get used to thinking about things a bit different in OmniFocus. In my prior tool I would sort by my area of responsibility first so if I wanted to narrow down to business focus today I would do that and could filter by time after that. I guess in OF method I have to filter by time first and after that can select either a project or tag to further narrow it down

#4

Exactly. You could also have a perspective that filters both on the duration and the time (e.g. one that shows available actions tagged “phone” that are 15 minutes or less).

#5

Got it, thanks again! A bit backwards from what I am used to but easy enough to pick up!

1 Like
#6

You’re very welcome, @ivanjay205. I think you’ll find that it becomes second nature before too long.

#7

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