Templates for Omnifocus

OmniFocus OmniFocus for Mac
#1

Omnifocus “keep life and work in balance, stay on top of projects and goals, accomplish them faster, and play a little bit more.” and “focus on what you can do now” !
So Omnigroup, it’s really time to develop an easy way for templates on projects.
Just ad a project with al his tasks, note’s, context’s, etc. and ’ SAVE AS TEMPLATE’ for use in the future.
I’m sure i’m not the only one who really wants this.
(All the work-a-round Apple script solutions are not customer friendly and easy to use)

Focus on what you can do now !
(You’re own words…)

2 Likes
#2

I can see how templates would be useful. That being said, as I see it, there is a workaround that provides similar functionality and isn’t terribly onerous and does not require apple script.

  • In your Projects perspective, create a new folder called “templates”.

  • Proceed to create a Project in that folder that has the actions you
    need as part of a specific project template (e.g., some regularly
    occurring set of tasks associated with a repeated project like some
    monthly report, or a list of things you need to pack in your bag for a conference trip, or whatever the case is).

  • Create any other “template” projects that you anticipate needing for other regularly occurring projects you encounter in your work.

  • When it comes time to start one of these recurring projects, open your Templates folder, select the project template that suits the upcoming project, and

    1. copy it from the Templates folder and paste it into the appropriate folder and rename it OR
    1. Duplicate it and drag it out of the templates folder to the appropriate folder and rename it

No applescript needed. While this isn’t as elegant as a natively supported template system, it isn’t challenging or time consuming (the time consuming part is creating the templates in the first place and native template support does not eliminate that task!). Does this workaround not work for you? Or am I missing some important information a bout your needs?

8 Likes
#3

I also set the status of the template projects to “on hold” so that they don’t appear in any of my perspectives that shows available tasks. When I duplicate a template project, I change the status of the newly duplicated project to “active.”

5 Likes
#4

Thank you !
Two useful contributes.
As a novice Omnifocus user i’d never thought of this ‘working around’.
Though, i 'm still in favor for Omnifocus build-in-templates.

#5

Glad you were able to find a workable solution. Indeed even the best workarounds aren’t as nice as true native support for templates.

#6

Hello All!

We’ve got an open feature request on file for adding a native templates feature. If you email us at omnifocus@omnigroup.com we’d be happy to add your voice to the discussion!

4 Likes
#7

I’ll send an email as you request (to omnifocus@omnigroup.com)…

…but PLEASE add me to the list of those asking (pleading!) for true NATIVE TEMPLATE functionality within Omnifocus.

The lack of it has often sent me elsewhere when what I REALLY wanted to do was use my everyday tool…Omnifocus.

That said, I do appreciate the simple workaround offered by scottisloud and wilsonng above.

Thanks!

1 Like
#8

Note that there is also an Applescript that aids in the creation of templates, including support for variables: Chris Sauve’s Templates.Scpt

#9

2 yrs later it looks it is not on the top list. I will write to to help: the ‘template’ project and then duplicate workaround is quite simple, but then, since almost all the functionality is already there, it wouldn’t be so time consuming to add this functionality.

#10

This is the method I use too. The only drawback I see is that the Templates folder shows up in your Review section, but it really is not a big deal.

Having said this, a template function would be nice.

@jmpval I don’t mean to sound rude, but unless you are a developer, please don’t write things like “it wouldn’t be so time consuming to add this functionality”. I read this stuff so much on the internetz and most of the time folks have absolutely no idea what they are talking about.

Also, implementing a feature and implementing it well are two very different things from a dev perspective.

#11

I build templates in TaskPaper format in a text file, with text placeholders for variables, then use Find and Replace for the variables, then paste in to OF. That way, my templates aren’t in OF, and only actions are.

Just sharing in case others find this a useful approach, too.

ScottyJ

#12

I keep my templates in Keyboard Maestro as simple text snippets that I can access from a macro palette. I’ve written a bit more about how I did it over on my blog - https://accordingtoandrea.com/2016/09/21/omnifocus-project-templates-with-keyboard-maestro/

But I’m also willing to answer any questions if need be.

1 Like
#13

@kcase, are native project templates still going to be added to OmniFocus in the near future? OF3?

#14

Please add native templates with variables - I don’t want to copy taskpaper to a text-editor, modifiy plain-text and then copy-back to OmniFocus.

thx,
Gernot Starke

#15

Here’s how I use templates. A built in solution would be welcome, but on iOS this addresses my own needs perfectly fine. FWIW:

#16

Is anything built-in planned for OmniFocus? - I really love the repository of templates in Todoist, so much so I’m considering switching, it would be amazing to have templates and a template repository in OmniFocus: https://todoist.com/templates/

#17

As OmniAutomation was on the roadmap for OmniFocus last year I presume that when we get it we will be able to use it to manage templates too, after all - that would be a nice and simple script. It could even handle variables!

#18

This post is a few years old now, and I’m wondering if anyone knows if there have been any new developments on any built-in templates for OmniFocus?

Thanks!

#19

Well, I still use shortcuts on iOS for this, but I’ve upgraded it:

1 Like
#20

Thanks so much for sharing this. Unfortunately, I’m unable to download it via MacOS or iOS – both platforms say the file is missing. Are you sure it’s still on the site?

Thanks again!