I have just now tested OF4, and can confirm that if I enter just ‘00:00’ in a test action’s ‘defer’ field, the action appears as ‘available’ today. This tells me that OF4 is interpreting 00:00 as ‘beginning of day nn’, which is exactly as I would expect.
Given that I’ve had a few years of being quite comfortable with T3 ‘when’ dates being only available down to ‘day’ level, I’m quite happy if relevant T3 to-dos transfer to OF4 as actions with ‘defer’ of 00:00. In the rare cases in the future where I might want a more granular ‘defer’ (IE: down to hour or minute level), I can then set it as needed.
No joy - the Shortcut is failing with a ‘…required app is missing’ message. From Shortcuts, clicking ‘View in App Store’, the missing app was ‘Logger for Shortcuts’. I figured that if the problematic step was just a logger, I could delete the step without negative impact, so I did so.
And, after approving some permissions as I run it, it now works!
The result I’m seeing in OF4 inbox is an ‘Action Group’, which I can easily convert to a project and move to appropriate folder. So far, I’ve tested only with a handful of simple test projects, but titles, tags, defer and due dates are all appearring correctly.
OF4 has no direct equivalent of T3’s project ‘headings’, so I didn’t expect them to import correctly. In OF4 I can workaround that issue quite easily by creating action groups.
The only glitch I have found so far is in text handling within project and task notes: double carriage returns are being converted to one carriage return. Where I have spaced paragraphs in notes by simply typing two returns, they are appearing as one return. Cosmetic problem only.
@albyrne
Thanks, just for the last implementation I had to build some workarounds.
Sorry for missing the logger action. It was 23:30 at my time and I got tired already. Wanted to send you something. Just removed the logger entries and just use them where required. Then there are much fewer to miss.
Regarding empty rows in notes. I think this is due to the TaskPaper import of OF4. My first impression is: A workaround should be possible.
I‘m a GTD purist as well. But a projects delegated list (tagged projects) could come in handy. Therefore, the Things 3 to OF4 Shortcut supports tags on projects as well. With a workaround, so that they just get set to the project, but not to the actions of the project.
Just noticed some thing. When I was on Things 3 I had too many projects (who hasn‘t?). Therefore, I set some of the project‘s when date to someday (is it someday in English? it would be the most bottom date selection in when date selector).
Do you use when set to someday for projects? This could be mapped to projects with state on hold.
When the Apple Shortcut is mature, I‘ll probably post it in the forums as a separate post as well that it can be found more easily.
BTW: Where do you live again? Paradise? Sounds like it. Just when I was hiking in the black forest I saw two crows, yesterday. But that‘s probably not the same as snorkelling with Dolphins.
@albyrne
Regarding dates/times. OF has default times you can set for defer/due (see settings Dates & Times). Things 3 just has a date for when/deadline, but no time. If I remember correctly you can make OF notify you at that time.
Let me add that in the Apple Shortcuts import options.
Yes, like, I suspect, many users, I keep a T3 ‘Area’ of template projects, all set to ‘Someday’. I simply duplicate as needed. I’ve already done exactly as you suggest - created a corresponding OF4 folder, and filled it with the same template projects, set to ‘On hold’. Mapping T3 ‘Someday’ to OF4 ‘On hold’ in your shortcut would be perfect.
@albyrne It was a busy week. I plan working on Someday projects.
For this I need your help. Things 3 items (projects and tasks) set to When date „Someday“. On my device its value is „Irgendwann“ independent of whether my Things 3 is set to German or English.
Please, take this simple Apple Shortcut Shortcuts . Start Things 3, create a task and set its When date to „Someday“ and select it. Then run the shortcut and tell me what string it outputs. Please do the same with a project.
The string that tells me it’s set to someday is language dependent. But I‘m unable to get the value of an English device.
Looking into the future. Shouldn‘t we set all migrated ‚Someday‘ single actions to a certain ‚someday‘ Tag? I could ask for its actual name in the users environment during Apple Shortcut import.
Good morning again. Please accept my apologies for delayed response. I have been offline, and away from technology for several days.
I agree that your idea to set incoming migrated T3 ‘Someday’ actions to a specific (user-defined) OF4 tag makes sense, ensuring an easy criteria to locate the actions. But I note that some users (me included) may wish to not permanently introduce an extra OF4 tag for this purpose. As I have mentioned previously, I aim to keep my use of tags strictly to GTD ‘contexts’.
In my usage case (see screenshot) I would simply move incoming migrated T3 ‘Someday’ actions from the OF4 inbox to the relevant OF4 ‘Someday’ project.
Found a good approach. The identifier for Someday projects is language dependent. But the Apple Shortcut can create such a project, get the identifier and delete the created project again. Unfortunately, deletion requires a user confirmation. Would this be OK?
Yes, I’m very confident that prudent user will be quite happy with a user confirmation, as part of the process of transitioning T3 ‘Someday’ projects to OF4 ‘On hold’.
I’m cautious, so unlikely to attempt to simultaneously transition many T3 ‘Someday’ projects to OF4 ‘On hold’, but would such a process require multiple confirmations?
It is not possible to know all the identifiers (like „Someday“, „Irgendwann“, …) Things 3 uses internally to identify Someday projects. By creating a single project with Someday I can read from it and determine the language dependent identifiert. So you would have to do this once per Shortcut execution.
@millerstevew I failed with my last modifications, then planned to work on it again with a new iPad. With my 7 year old iPad the performance during development is really an issue for me. Things 3, Shortcuts, Logger and OmniFocus 4 at the same time are difficult.
Give me till Sunday evening. I‘ll give it another try. I‘m now on a trip to someplace and am going to check where I‘ve left off.
I’m sure this may help someone in the future, so please if you have time go ahead. I ended up doing a mostly manual import and using your previous shortcuts to get what I need accomplished last night. I can’t believe how much work you put into this!
Just found the issue. When I create a OF project with deadline and move tasks with deadline below that project. OF puts the deadline of the project to all the tasks moved below it. WTF. This behaviour is like the tags a behaviour. Doesn‘t do anyone a benefit.
To close this open loop. @albyrne@millerstevew
Here‘s the final version. It has a fix for empty lines in notes, creates real projects from Things 3 projects in a new „Things 3 Migration“ folder, translates Someday Things 3 projects to projects with status on hold. Import Things 3 Items 1.8.3 published
Version history:
1.0: Tasks
1.1: TaskPaper processing in OmniFocus 4
1.1.1: Date issue fix
1.5: Single project support (no tags, no actions assigned)
1.6: Project actions to project
1.6.1: Ignore finished tasks in projects
1.7: Project tags
1.7.1: Deleted Logger activity logger
1.7.2: Fix empty note lines get deleted
1.8: Someday project handling (on hold)
1.8.1: Added someday identifier location
1.8.2: Limitation: Project deadlines get propagated to all of its embedded actions
1.8.3: Mark the project as on hold if Things 3 project is set to someday.
Thank you again @Logan. I have been continuing to work from T3 for daily use, while maintaining an OF4 database for testing purposes, and working through MacSparky’s ‘Omnifocus 4 Field Guide’. With this final version of your shortcut, I’m confident that a transition from T3 to OF4 should be very smooth.
Your work on this shortcut has been very significant. The user community owes you a large debt!
