Sequential tasks not showing as available

OmniFocus OmniFocus for Mac
#1

I’ve been using OmniFocus for years and I get the concept of sequential vs parallel tasks, and have used them successfully before. I’m tempted to say this is a bug in version 2.7.1, but I’ve thought that before and been wrong:

I set up a project with sequential tasks, all due on the same day and all set as “due again” in “1 day.”
If I check off the first task as done, it goes to the next day in my current view. But the second task in the sequence does not become available for today. Here are my view settings:

  • Don’t use project hierarchy
  • Group by Due
  • Sort by Due
  • Custom Columns (nearly all are checked)
  • Filter by status: Due and Flagged
  • Filter by availability: Available
  • Filter by duration: Any
  • Filter Contexts: All Contexts

What am I missing? It’s got to be something obvious.
(Still using El Capitan, by the way, not Sierra.)

#2

Hey there @fishcymbal! So, if I understand you right, you’ve got a project that looks kind of like this:

  • Project (sequential)
    • Task A (due today, due again 1 day)
    • Task B (due today, due again 1 day)

If you check off Task A in this setup, you’ll wind up with this structure:

  • Project (sequential)
    • Task A (due tomorrow, due again 1 day)
    • Task B (due today, due again 1 day)

Now you’ve got a conundrum. Task A might be available (depending on its defer settings), and is due tomorrow, so it shows up in the next day grouping as you’ve seen. But Task B isn’t available, because the repeated Task A is still before it in the sequential project.

The way I handle sequential projects like this is to move the due date and repeat settings up to the project itself, so you have a structure like this:

  • Project (sequential, due today, due again 1 day)
    • Task A (inherits due date, no repeat)
    • Task B (inherits due date, no repeat)

In this structure, you can check off Task A and it’ll be gone out of your view altogether, allowing Task B to become available. Then, after you check off Task B and complete the project, the entire project will repeat with a due date one day further out, duplicating A and B along the way. You’ll wind up with Task A in tomorrow’s view, ready for you to take on in a day.

Hope that helps!

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