I know that using CalDAV and pulling your google calendars in to the native Calendar app, items in your google calendar will appear in the Forecast perspective. I’m wondering if there is a way that OmniFocus 2 (Pro, if that matters) can push items having a date/time TO a google calendar? I’m asking because I’m primarily on Android and there isn’t a native app on that platform and the only real option is kind of sub-par. I’d like to be able to pull up my calendar on my phone and see there the things I’ve added to OmniFocus which are dated.
So tasks don’t have a due date (and time)? They shouldn’t? If that’s the case, why am I allowed to enter one. If I’m allowed to enter a time, is there really any reason not to be able to push to the calendar (which has shared properties – date and time – as your tasks)?
Just because tasks and appointments share certain properties like a date and time, that doesn’t mean you can and should treat them alike.
What would be the apropriate place to put a tasks due date? The starttime or the endtime of an appointment? You can record a duration to a task in omnifocus. Would this be used to calculate the starttime / endtime (depending on which one you set from the due date)?
I have lots of appointments in my calendar where I don’t have to act on before. It would completely clutter my view if the tasks I DO have to act on look exactly the same.
I found a solution that uses Workflow in iOS to access the “due” calendar feed provided by omnisync. You do have to run it manually, but that also allows you to pick those you want to include (as above, not all of my tasks are as useful in my event calendar, but some are - especially those that I collaborate with others, hence my usecase in wanting to sync to Google Calendar).
I will try to report back with screengrabs and whatnot. But let it not be said that it can’t be done!
@CatOne@vloris
So many people want better calendar integration options, yet the response is often a comment or lecture about how calendars and OF necessarily/must serve different purposes. These lectures and comments are premised on a view of what calendars must be for everyone and what OF must be for everyone. But people use calendars in all sorts of ways, and OF has lots of customization options. Why not add additional customization options for those who want to integrate OF better with a calendar? You don’t have to use it if goes against your view of what a calendar is really for. But there’s no need to suggest to people that they’re not thinking about calendars or OF correctly. People use these things in different ways. Some people function well with tasks on their calendar. Some don’t. OF could easily support both types of people, but it chooses not to do so.
Contexts are not relevant to me as someone who primarily works at a desk, and owns a laptop and a phone. @email, @phone, etc are all available to me everywhere. With the exceptions of people and specific places, I don’t really use contexts in the old David Allen sense.
I do still want to get things done.
I have found the most effective way to ensure something gets done is to schedule it on my calendar.
My workflow now is to look for any next actions that do NOT have a context. At that point I either do them, defer them, assign them to someone else, or put them on the calendar. I then give them a context of On Calendar.
This is very effective in helping me to prioritize, see how booked up I am, and ultimately get things done.
Having a way to integrate my scheduled tasks with e.g. Google Calendar would be awesome. The task would show up on my calendar when I am planning there, and it would show as scheduled and when for in OF.
I’ve been doing this process manually for about 2 years (copying the link to the task from OF, creating an event in gCal, and pasting the OF link into the calendar event notes). Works quite well. I do wish it could be more seamlessly integrated.
Calendar integration is essential for me. If I don’t have a task on my calendar, I generally will not do it. In order to plan and fulfill my expectations across the week it is important for me to have a global view that also includes the time it takes to perform them. Not having that as an option is a serious drawback to my use of OmniFocus.
I can only support the postings that both MKV and irryanquinn have made, and urge the omni team to include this in their next release.
Pretty sure you cannot sync to a Google calendar.
I tried to paste my own omnigroup URL into my Google Calendar but it says an error occurred. Maybe it would work using a “WebDAV” with different settings from the omnigroup ones.
Backing up @MKV’s point, would also like to see a “bilateral” interaction with my calendar app (or integrate a full calendar view inside Omnifocus) as I like to plan my day in my calendar + possibility to assign task to a day rather than a specific time. Two things we can do on Trello thanks to Trellius.
Omnifocus team.
I’m in an industry that both forecasts and schedules tasks. It’s referred to as Workforce Management or Workforce Optimization.
I love Omnifocus because I can easily just add the task to a searchable list, or get as granular as I want with when, where, recurrence, etc.
We should be able to see forecasted tasks optionally.
We should also have a workflow that appends our time of completion of the task in Omnifocus with whichever calendar service is used.
At least the later assists with time accounting and schedule compliance.
Saying that Tasks and “Appointments” should be handled differently is accurate. But the reality is, Tasks should have a MORE ROBUST feature set than a calendar, not less.
Consider this if you want me or any of us who upgraded to Omnifocus 2 to consider supporting your business going forward.
This feature was taken out of v3.0 for now. If you really want to see it sooner, email ofpreview@omnigroup.com to upvote this feature.
I think @rosemaryjayne hinted that she will write up a blog post regarding an automation solution that would imitate this feature. Look for an announcement at the Automators Discourse forums.
@rosemaryjayne created a Keyboard Maestro macro that allows you to post tasks from OmniFocus to your calendar. Read all abut it in this link and send her some chocolate 😉
