On OF3 for Mac, there is an option in the menu bar Organize > Sort Once… > By Date Added. But it will only sort from oldest to newest.
The sort perspective does not have a way to choose between descending or ascending.
I would create a new project called “Older Inbox” and set the project status to “On Hold.” In the preferences window, I’ll set the Inbox to cleanup if a project is assigned. Then I go to my full inbox and select all the inbox items. I’ll assign the Project field to “Older Inbox”.
Now I have a fresh empty inbox where I can capture new items.
Every day, I’ll spend 5-10 minutes in the morning going through my “Older Inbox” and start organizing them. Some items become a project. Others might just go to the appropriate list or project (Household Chores, Errands List, Kid’s birthday party, Christmas shopping list).
When I’m waiting in line at the grocery store, bank, or drive through at the restaurant, I’ll clear out 2-5 Older Inbox items. Just keep chipping away at the Older Inbox as well as the new inbox items.
If there is something from 5 years that’s still in the inbox, it’s time to consider whether we’re really gonna get to it. I do have a “Maybe” list that has a bunch of ideas that I’m considering. I have the review cycle for my “Maybe” lists set to once every 3 months and it’ll pop up in the Review perspective on the appropriate date. A lot of the older items are at the top of the list. I can carefully consider whether I should just delete it or delegate it to someone else who has the time/skills to do it.
Curation/Review is the glue that keeps our system clean. If our task manager (it doesn’t matter if it’s OmniFocus or Todoist or any of the other apps out there) is a junkyard full of items, we won’t trust it because it’s too cluttered.
Now that the capturing part of your productivity system has been mastered, it’s time to adopt the habit of Review/Curation/Organizing.
I don’t clear everything in my inbox to inbox zero. But I do take time to chip away at it every day.
