Same here. I don’t regret I went back to Things. I’ve been an avid OmniFocus user for years but its sync service is abysmal IMO. And I still don’t like the UI / UX of OmniFocus 2 for Mac.
Things 2.5 isn’t as powerful and flexible as OmniFocus 2 but it has some nice features that I miss in OF.
@mat_rhein and other “returners”: We need to talk!
I’ve got something to confess…
After using Things 2.5 again for about a month - and loving and praising it here and on the CC forums - I secretly paddled back to the good old steamship last night and climbed back on board of OmniFocus 2.
Why?
For the next year I’ll have new business opportunities that require different workflows. I definitely need a task manager with calendar integration. In OF’s forecast view I am able to see all appointments I have. And the other way around, in the calendar app, I’m able to see any OF tasks. That’s a feature I really miss in Things 2.5.
While I settled back on OF 2 I noticed that Omni apparently improved the sync service for my region or account (I don’t know how they manage that). Fact is, I now have a much better OmniSync and OmniPresence experience than ever.
I appologize if I am boring you guys with my “switching forth-and-back” reports here and elsewhere. But perhaps some of you have similar stories to share.
[This is a cross-posting w/ CC Forums]
I agree and am very pleasantly surprised that something has been done to the syncing. It is still not Things or Todoist speed - but it’s really not too bad considering that the servers are in Seattle. So, I agree with you, Thomas. (I am just North of you in Denmark).
And by the way: Your profile just made me discover your blog. Looking forward to reading through it!
@OmniGroup: Thanks for improving the syncing!!
@maxjensen: Thanks for sharing and the nice words. Hope you’ll find GeekOut.de useful. Unfortunately, it’s German only. I’d like to go international but my English isn’t good enough. Hope I’ll find someone for English proof-reading and co-writing soon.
@OmniGroup: I don’t know what you’ve done but for me, located in Berlin, Germany, OmniSync is significant faster now and much more reliable. THANKS!
Background sync and Today widget are still lagging, though.
Hi Thomas,
German only is good. Then I get a chance to practice my German. My German skills have become quite rusty :(¨ So I am really enjoying it as it is!
Hi Thomas,
that’s good news! I’m located in Berlin too so should I ever get rid of my WebDAV service hopefully OmniSync will be useful again! :)
PS: Nice blog, will check it out!
Marco
I’m sorry to rain on anyone’s parade here, but I think you all might just be experiencing the effects of reduced load on Omni’s servers and on the Internet as well.
To my knowledge, Omni hasn’t changed much about the sync infrastructure lately. So please do not be surprised if in the coming weeks, as people resume their syncing habits, performance of the Omni Sync Server returns to its pre-holiday levels.
Good point and quite likely! I’ll stay with my WebDAV solution anyway…it’s super-fast (sync < 1-2 secs) and I have control over my data.
Yeah, maybe it’s just a low-season effect. Today sync has been slow again for me.
And yes, I know how to run an own private WebDAV server, but I’m not sure I really want to. Just for OF sync? Hmm… I’d prefer to keep on using OmniSync.
But it’s not only the sync that’s kinda weird sometimes. The OF clients also acting pretty wonky from time to time since their latest updates.
I’ve to admit I am not overly happy with OmniFocus in its current state. Hope we’ll see some major updates soon. Otherwise I’ve got to switch to a different service (no names here - haha - and no, not back to Things this time around ;-)
OmniFolks, please pull me back on board and put the Fix4AllBugs canon in place!
Hm, OmniFocus is such a great app. I wish I’d be able to use it as advertised.
For me it’s getting even worse now. Not only that the sync is slow, the iOS clients aren’t syncing at all – at least not automatically. I have to push the sync button every time I launch the apps and every time I edit something.
The iPad app freezes on launch because of sync errors. Mac version is doing pretty well. iPhone app feels a bit wonky, but okay. No auto-sync though.
Sorry for complaining but I’m tired of this.
Maybe it’s time to switch again.
Have you archived older completed tasks? That will reduce the size of your sync database and make syncing much faster. If you also attach large files to the notes section, it will dramatically increase sync times. I often use Dropbox links for my files instead.
I’ve found archiving to be a great tool. I archive all completed tasks that are over 30 days. I’ve found that I really only need to refer to old completed tasks within the past 30 days. You can probably get away with 60 days. Maybe you can take a look at your habits. Do you ever really refer to anything older than 30 or 60 days? If I have a client that is asking me about something that is older than 30 days, I tell him that I will check my records when I return to the office (or return to my MacBook). There is really no need to look like Superman and have everything in your iPhone or iPad. It’s as insane as the client who berates you for not returning an e-mail within 2 minutes. I set my boundaries where I don’t answer e-mails after 5 pm local time. They’ll discover your patterns and work with you in the future if you set your boundaries.
Example: On the first of the month, I just go to File > Move old data to archive and choose a date in the past (about 30 days). For example, on January 1, 2015, I moved completed and dropped items from before: [December 1, 2014]. On February 1, 2015, I will move tasks/projects that were completed or dropped before January 1, 2015.
I don’t know if I have to click the sync button every time I edit something. I usually hit sync when I know I’m done doing a bunch of edits. If you really are wanting the faster sync, you may as well just set up your private WebDAV server as you suggested previously. I don’t think your WebDAV server will cripple your Mac down to a screeching halt, will it?
The nice thing about OmniFocus is that you can set up your own WebDAV server. At least you control your data. I can’t say the same about Things Cloud. Your private date is stored on Things’ cloud server.
I think the burden of running a WebDAV (even if it is just only for OmniFocus) will save you the grief and anxiety of switching back and forth between Things and OmniFocus. I don’t want to keep switching To-Do programs. Too much friction and I already have enough to do on my plate.
Sync is maybe the core feature of all of these apps, one Thing the cultured coders got right pretty soon… There is no lack of alternatives, but huge differences in terms of features… The two potential candidates I am looking into are 2Do and THL. Especially the latter might be interesting for you, since it is very keyboard-oriented, has dedicated (now cost-free) sync and even possible calendar integration, like in the old days, do you remember?-)
The only other thing that can be done is for Omni to upgrade their servers or bandwidth. The only thing I can envision is that they just have a little Mac Mini Server running in their basement somewhere.
From Omni’s viewpoint, I can understand their setup. I used to work at a university. My supervisor asked me to change the default sync time for his e-mail client to sync up at least once a minute. After a week, our IT department shut him down because there was too much traffic where he was hitting the server every minute. They went back to his computer and reset it back to once every half hour.
Now he can always do a manual sync to get the latest e-mail. Personally, I don’t mind not having to get an e-mail every minute. But my supervisor was obsessed with “being on top of everything at every minute.”
From what I understand, OmniFocus is usually set up to sync after 1 minute of any change or upon closing the app. Otherwise it will do an auto-sync every half hour or some other interval. This will help keep the server load down. Imagine all of the OF2 customers hitting the server all at once and everything comes to a screeching halt.
I think Cultured Code probably has better bandwidth and a more powerful server to run Things Cloud.
@wilsonng: Thanks for replying.
We share the same habit: I archive my database every month (and only keep the last 30 days in the main database). And currently I don’t have any files attachments in there. That’s why I am complaining: My database is really tiny. I don’t get why my sync experience is so bad.
Running an own WebDAV server just for OmniFocus is no alternative for me.
And yes, I’m tired of switching To-do apps, too. I just want OmniFocus to run smooth, fast and reliable. For the last couple month, it didn’t and still doesn’t. A trusted system I can’t trust anymore. Sad!
Edit:
I don’t know what kind of servers the OmniFolks have running in their basement but wasn’t there a posting from Ken (2 years ago or so), stating they actually had a Mac mini and needed to upgrade their IT hardware to meet the traffic?
Guess they now have 3 PowerMac G5. ;-)
If I were Omni I’d put the entire stuff on Amazon S3 servers. They charged about 150 dollars for 3 apps – even twice from most of us in the last 5 years. I mean, there should be a satisfying sync solution – no matter where we’re located.
Even Firetask (made by Gerald Aquila, a single developer) syncs pretty well!
Anyway, it doesn’t look like there will be a solution in the near future. So why keep on playing around with an old, tired steamship when you can ride a cigarette boat?
@mat_rhein: Thanks for sharing.
I’ve tried both, 2Do and TheHitList. Pretty good, but not exactly what I’m looking for. I am testing Todoist right now. They’re constantly adding new features and some of them are really amazing.
At the end of the day, I see myself moving back to Things, though.
I’ll keep you updated (just to tell the story to its end).
I’m curious about your workflow. How often do you switch between devices? I might be at my Mac for most of the day and tend to use OF2 when I’m on the Mac. When I leave, I just go ahead and sync my Mac first and then my iPad. Then I go out on the road to do stuff and work from my iPad. I will occasionally sync when I need to. But mostly, I sync when I get back to the office. I return back to my Mac and work from there.
Do you really need to have all of your devices synced up?
I also wish for faster sync but realized that I usually only work from one device at a time and don’t switch between devices often enough to care about the sync times.
This discussion seems to go in circles…fact(s) are (IMO):
Now having said that, the way to still be able to use OF2 for me is:
-> setup webDAV server on your own, if you have a web host somewhere you might already have one to setup.
-> Change OmniFocus2 hidden settings to update/sync much more often
-> On the iOS-apps, every time you start the app: manually click on Sync. If you’re on webdav the Sync will take about 1 second with a small DB. Every time you change an item, click Sync manually after you’re done.
I tried things and other apps but each one had something I couldn’t live with. A review-mode for example that reminds me to review each project is important for me. Also I simply have too much to do, to actually keep on switching todo-apps. Think about it…at some point the time you spent to play around with all the todo-apps stuff will be way more than the time you’ll save later on. It’s a trap ;)
Also I’ve given up hope than Omni will improve things…they don’t even seem to recognize this as an issue.
@Thomas: Frohes neues Jahr to you too :)
And I AM enjoying GeekOut.de, thank you.
If you by ‘different service’ is referring to Todoist, it could be handy if you have co-authors. What I have found missing in Things, is the lack of task entry outside an Apple environment. And that’s where OmniFocus has been really helpful. But I have to say that Todoist does a better job by enabling emailing to individual projects. This is particular helpful if you’re sharing projects. The only major issue, I have found with it is with the Mac app when I’ve been offline for longer time. Then the cache is cleared and your tasks are gone until coming back online.
@OmniFocus: I have found OF even worse than before Christmas. It seems to be syncing forever +10 seconds. And I don’t want to set up a WebDAV service just for this. I am really sorry it has come to this point where I have unistalled OF for both Mac and iPhone. But it is so bad these days that it’s almost unusable. I really hope you will be able to sort out the sync issue for us at the other side of the Atlantic. It would be really nice being able to go back to OF again. But the synchronisation REALLY needs to improve first.
Thanks,
Max
