View attachment as icon in notes

OmniFocus
#1

Hi all,

Hope I am just missing something as a new user here. When I attached a Word document to the notes on an action recently it appeared as the Word icon and not as the full document; however, when I am attaching a PDF it seems to show the entire document as an image instead of an icon.

Is there a way to set all attachments to be seen as an icon only and not as a large document in the notes?

Thanks for the help, sorry if this is a redundant topic.

~CDM

5 Likes
#2

Hi CDM, welcome to the forums!

Embedded image attachments like PDFs do indeed render a preview in the OmniFocus 2 for Mac Note field. While it isn’t currently possible to display a thumbnail icon for these types of attachments as you describe, I’ve passed your suggestion along to the team as a new feature request. Thanks for letting us know that’d be helpful for your workflow!

For now though, you can show and hide the Note field when working in the main outline, so you don’t always have to look at the preview. To collapse a note, click the Note icon in the action row, or use the keyboard shortcut Option-Command-Apostrophe. This will toggle between showing and hiding the note for your currently-selected task. You’ll also have access to bulk show/hide options from Menu Bar ▸ View.

Alternatively, if you’ll only need to access this attachment from one particular device, you could add this PDF as a linked (rather than embedded) attachment. Linked attachments will use a thumbnail instead of a preview. Try going to Edit ▸ Attach File, then click Options in the window that appears and select the “Create a link to the file” option. This attachment type creates an alias that points to a file location on your computer, so you can open the file by double-clicking the thumbnail. Linked files like this aren’t contained in the OmniFocus database though, so if you sync with other devices that type of attachment won’t be accessible anywhere else.

In either case, even when the note is collapsed, you’ll be able to tell that this row contains a note/attachment by its darkened Note icon. I hope this helps!

1 Like
#3

Thanks for your quick reply, I’ll do as you suggest and hope that the feature is added in the future.

Great app, I’m sure it’ll only get better!

~CDM

1 Like
#4

I just came here to up vote CDM’s suggestion; I was looking for a “show attachment as icon” option in OmniFocus 2 for Mac just this evening. In the meantime, thanks for explaining the related functionality we currently have!

Best,
Andrew

#5

suggest you write an email to omnifocus@omnigroup.com: that’s the only official way to have your feature (or support) requests considered ;-)

#6

Hi, +1 this suggestion. Also sent email to omnifocus@omnigroup.com. Thanks!

cc: @aaron

1 Like
#7

Thanks, Aaron for the help. That’s also my problem. Appreciate your explanation regarding this.