Repeating projects with past due dates, in Forecast displaying in the Past tile

OmniFocus
1

This is (strictly) about repeating projects with due dates.

My first work in OmniFocus for the day starts in Forecast. It’s configured to include: Items on planned date (and, although not relevant to the matter: Calendar events; “Today includes: Items tagged:” forecast). OmniFocus (automatically) includes overdue items in the Past tile. I drag all non-due items (ones with planned dates that are now in the past) from Past to Today.

Many of my (repeating) project due dates are not drop-dead, i.e., wash the deck (due 5/1), however I want the due date of repeating projects to remain the same, so that when I mark the current project as complete, the clone is carried forward with next year’s due date.

I’d like to defer some recurring projects with overdue dates, but when I use a project defer date, the project remains in the Past tile (with the projects’s actions/action groups not shown with a red circle, but the project title shown with a red circle). (I can live with defer dates in projects marked completed being carried forward, even though those dates are meaningless in cloned projects.)

I understand why projects with a past due date remain in the Past tile, even if they have a future defer date, but I’m looking for feedback on how I might modify my current methods. (Allowing a due date to be overridden by a current or future defer date, so such items would appear in the tile of the defer date would solve my problem, but it’s likely not a feature widely sought after, and might be considered illogical.)

2

I think that what you’re seeing is by design.

The built in Forecast view works from the Due Date, whatever date an action (or project) has is the date it is assigned under within the Forecast view. This makes sense as it was designed as a way to understand your drop dead commitments (hence why it shows the next 4 weeks in the calendar view on the left)

The Forecast View doesn’t take any account for defer or planned dates. You can switch those on, but I think then a task is shown on each date (i.e. it will be shown on the Due date and also the Defer Date, if you switch that feature on, the same with Planned Date) rather than switching from the Due date in the forecast view to only show the the Defer date.

I can only guess that this behaviour was chosen because the function of the Defer date is simply to hide something from view, but a Due Date (in GTD which OmniFocus was designed around and adheres to) is the drop dead date that something absolutely has to be done, so it will always show this in the forecast view.

While many people use the Forecast view as a working space for things due today, it’s name alone suggests it’s a way to see what you’ve committed to in the near future.

It’s worth noting that the Forecast view also does not take account of project or action statuses. If something’s on hold or paused, it still shows in the Forecast view on the Due date, again because Due Dates are for things which absolutely HAVE to be done by a certain date, and you wouldn’t want to miss a deadline because you didn’t have visibility of it.

You can get around this by creating your own Perspective which only shows projects and actions which are not deferred sorted by whatever you wish.

It would make sense to me that you only use Due Dates when something is drop dead due by a particular date, and instead use Planned date for when you would prefer to do something by, you can repeat by planned date.

I’d also discourage having deferred dates which are after the planned or due date of a project or action, only because it makes no sense.