I’d recommend this script instead. Some of Curt Clifton’s have been deprecated with OF1. Chris Suave built upon it and gives you the ability to flag tasks operated on by the script, the ability to select either start or due for the selected task, and provides helpful dialogs that walk you through. I am sure you could speed things up by removing some of the dialogs if you have a default path that you want the script to follow.
To accomplish what you desire I simply select a task and choose the DUE path and enter a time today like 3p.
(*
LATER.SCPT
By Chris Sauve of [pxldot](http://pxldot.com).
See README for details.
*)
property usesFlagsForScheduling : true -- true or false, true flags any tasks that the script runs on
property methodForScheduling : "Start" -- Options are "Start" or "Due"
property useGrowlForAlerts : false -- true or false
property promptForUserOptions : true -- will change after first run
property timesUsedSinceError : 0
-- Get the selection FIRST and then exit if nothing is selected.
tell application "OmniFocus"
tell content of first document window of front document
set tasksSelected to value of (selected trees where (class of its value is not item) and (class of its value is not folder))
if length of tasksSelected is 0 then
display alert "You didn't select any OmniFocus tasks."
return
end if
end tell
end tell
if promptForUserOptions then
display dialog ¬
"Would you like to automatically flag the tasks on which you run this script?" buttons {"No, Don't Flag", "Yes, Use Flags"} default button 1
set decisionOnFlags to button returned of result
if decisionOnFlags is "No, Don't Flag" then set usesFlagsForScheduling to false
display dialog "Would you like to use Due or Start dates for scheduling?" buttons {"Due", "Start"} default button 2
set methodForScheduling to button returned of result
end if
try
set inputDialog to "To when would you like to defer this task?"
if timesUsedSinceError = 0 then set inputDialog to (inputDialog & " Note: you can use relative days (i.e., \"1w 4d 2pm\"), absolute dates (i.e., \"Jan 19 14:00\") or weekdays (i.e., \"Sat 5pm\"), just as in OmniFocus.")
display dialog ¬
inputDialog default answer "1d 12am"
set timeDeferred to text returned of result
on error errorText number errorNumber
if errorNumber is -128 then
return
end if
end try
-- Escape to manually choose start and due dates, regardless of the default (start with the input with that word)
set escapeToStart to (timeDeferred starts with "start")
set escapeToDue to (timeDeferred starts with "due")
set escapeToBoth to (timeDeferred contains "start") and (timeDeferred contains "due")
set startFirst to true
if escapeToBoth then
set startFirst to (offset of "start" in timeDeferred) < (offset of "due" in timeDeferred)
set my text item delimiters to {"start ", "start", "due ", "due"}
set adjustedInput to every text item of timeDeferred
set fixedInput to {}
repeat with i from 1 to (length of adjustedInput)
if not ((item i of adjustedInput is "") or (item i of adjustedInput is in " ")) then
set the end of fixedInput to item i of adjustedInput
end if
end repeat
if length of fixedInput is not 2 then return
set desiredDate1 to getDate(item 1 of fixedInput)
set desiredDate2 to getDate(item 2 of fixedInput)
if (desiredDate2 is -1) or (desiredDate1 is -1) then return
else
set desiredDate1 to getDate(timeDeferred)
if desiredDate1 is -1 then return
end if
-- Do the actual work of setting the date and the flag, if necessary
tell application "OmniFocus"
repeat with i from 1 to (length of tasksSelected)
tell item i of tasksSelected
if escapeToBoth then
if startFirst then
set defer date of it to desiredDate1
set due date of it to desiredDate2
else
set due date of it to desiredDate1
set defer date of it to desiredDate2
end if
else if ((methodForScheduling is "Start") and not escapeToDue) or escapeToStart then
set defer date of it to desiredDate1
else
set due date of it to desiredDate1
end if
if usesFlagsForScheduling then set its flagged to true
end tell
end repeat
end tell
--//////// Understanding the date and time given in plain english ////////--
on englishTime(dateDesired)
if dateDesired is "0" then return 0
set monthFound to 0
set weekdayFound to 0
-- Solves an issue with the treatment of leading zeros for the minutes (i.e., 12:01am)
set minuteLeadingZero to false
-- Figures out if the user excluded any of the components
set timeMissing to false
set daysMissing to false
set weeksMissing to false
-- Sets up the delimiters for different items
set timeDelimiters to {"am", "pm", "a", "p", ":"}
set dayDelimiters to {"days", "day", "d"}
set weekDelimiters to {"weeks", "week", "w"}
set monthDelimiters to {"Jan", "Feb", "Mar", "Apr", "May", "Jun", "Jul", "Aug", "Sep", "Oct", "Nov", "Dec"}
set weekdayDelimiters to {"Sun", "Mon", "Tue", "Wed", "Thu", "Fri", "Sat"}
set specialRelativeDayDelimiters to {"Today", "Tomorrow", "at"}
set otherDelimiters to {" ", "th", "st", "rd", "nd", "start", "due", "both"}
set inThe to "unknown"
set howManyNumbersInputted to 0
set numList to {}
-- See if they included AM/PM
if isNumberIdentifier("a", dateDesired) then set inThe to "AM"
if isNumberIdentifier("p", dateDesired) then set inThe to "PM"
-- See if they gave an absolute date formatted in YY.MM.DD or some other similar format
set my text item delimiters to specialRelativeDayDelimiters & otherDelimiters & timeDelimiters
set checkInput to every text item of dateDesired
set checkInputCleaned to {}
repeat with i from 1 to (length of checkInput)
if item i of checkInput is not "" then
set the end of checkInputCleaned to item i of checkInput
end if
end repeat
set theDateCheck to item 1 of checkInputCleaned
if (theDateCheck contains ".") or (theDateCheck contains "-") or (theDateCheck contains "/") then
set todaysDate to (current date)
set time of todaysDate to 0
set targetDate to my understandAbsoluteDate(theDateCheck)
if targetDate = -1 then return -1
set my text item delimiters to ""
if length of checkInputCleaned is 1 then
return (targetDate - todaysDate) as number
else
set theTime to items 2 thru -1 of checkInputCleaned
set numList to {}
set timeStoreLocation to length of theTime
repeat while timeStoreLocation > 0
try
-- If the minutes have a leading zero, just combine them with the hours
if (numList = {}) and ((item timeStoreLocation of theTime) starts with "0") then
set the end of numList to ((item (timeStoreLocation - 1) of theTime) & (item timeStoreLocation of theTime)) as number
set minuteLeadingZero to true
set timeStoreLocation to timeStoreLocation - 2
else
-- Otherwise, get the numbers only
set tempNum to (item timeStoreLocation of theTime) as number
if tempNum ≠ 0 then set the end of numList to tempNum
set timeStoreLocation to timeStoreLocation - 1
end if
end try
end repeat
set theTime to figureOutTheTime(numList, false, true, true, minuteLeadingZero)
set theTime to understandTheTime(theTime, inThe, false)
return (targetDate + theTime - todaysDate) as number
end if
end if
-- See if they gave an absolute date, a relative one, or a day of the week
repeat with i from 1 to (length of monthDelimiters)
if dateDesired contains (item i of monthDelimiters) then
set monthFound to i
exit repeat
end if
if i ≤ (length of weekdayDelimiters) then
if dateDesired contains (item i of weekdayDelimiters) then
set weekdayFound to i
end if
end if
end repeat
-- Getting rid of all the bits I could imagine being around the numbers
set text item delimiters to (specialRelativeDayDelimiters & monthDelimiters & weekDelimiters & dayDelimiters & timeDelimiters & otherDelimiters)
set inputList to every text item of dateDesired
-- Resetting delimiters
set text item delimiters to {""}
repeat with i from 1 to (length of inputList)
if item i of inputList is "-" and (character 1 of item (i + 1) of inputList is in "123456789") then
set item (i + 1) of inputList to item i of inputList & item (i + 1) of inputList
end if
end repeat
-- Count how many numbers were given
repeat with i from 1 to (length of inputList)
if (item i of inputList) is not "" then
try
set tempItem to (item i of inputList) as integer
if class of tempItem is integer then set howManyNumbersInputted to howManyNumbersInputted + 1
end try
end if
set tempItem to ""
end repeat
-- Get the numbers of the input — start from the back to get the minutes first
set timeStoreLocation to length of inputList
repeat while timeStoreLocation > 0
try
-- If the minutes have a leading zero, just combine them with the hours
if (numList = {}) and ((item timeStoreLocation of inputList) starts with "0") then
set the end of numList to ((item (timeStoreLocation - 1) of inputList) & (item timeStoreLocation of inputList)) as number
set minuteLeadingZero to true
set timeStoreLocation to timeStoreLocation - 2
else
-- Otherwise, get the numbers only
try
set tempNum to (item timeStoreLocation of inputList) as number
if tempNum ≠ 0 then set the end of numList to tempNum
end try
set timeStoreLocation to timeStoreLocation - 1
end if
end try
end repeat
-- Reverse it so the order is from biggest to smallest time increment
set numList to reverse of numList
if (monthFound is 0) and (weekdayFound is 0) then
-- If the user gave a relative date...
tell dateDesired
set daysMissing to not my isNumberIdentifier("d", it)
set weeksMissing to not my isNumberIdentifier("w", it)
if (howManyNumbersInputted - ((not daysMissing) as integer) - ((not weeksMissing) as integer)) = 0 then set timeMissing to true
end tell
-- Figure out how many weeks
if not weeksMissing then
set weeksDeferred to item 1 of numList
else
set weeksDeferred to 0
end if
-- Figure out how many days
if not daysMissing then
set daysDeferred to howManyDays(numList, weeksMissing)
else
if dateDesired contains "Tomorrow" then
-- Special case where they put "tomorrow"
set daysDeferred to 1
else
-- If they exclude it entirely or put "Today"
set daysDeferred to 0
end if
end if
-- Figure out the time
set timeDeferredTemp to figureOutTheTime(numList, timeMissing, daysMissing, weeksMissing, minuteLeadingZero)
-- Understand the meaning of the time component
set timeDeferred to understandTheTime(timeDeferredTemp, inThe, timeMissing)
-- Creating the time deferred based on minutes and hours calculated
if timeDeferred ≥ 0 then
set totalTimeDeferred to timeDeferred + daysDeferred * days + weeksDeferred * weeks
else
set totalTimeDeferred to timeDeferred
end if
-- end of relative date-only code
else if (weekdayFound > 0) and (monthFound is 0) then
if length of numList < 1 then set timeMissing to true
-- Same as if the day and the week were missing on a relative date
set timeDeferredTemp to figureOutTheTime(numList, timeMissing, true, true, minuteLeadingZero)
set timeDeferred to understandTheTime(timeDeferredTemp, inThe, timeMissing)
set daysDeferred to daysFromTodayToWeekday(weekdayFound)
if timeDeferred ≥ 0 then
set totalTimeDeferred to daysDeferred * days + timeDeferred
else
set totalTimeDeferred to timeDeferred
end if
else
-- If the user gave an absolute date...
if length of numList < 2 then set timeMissing to true
-- Same as if the day were there but week wasn't on a relative date
set timeDeferredTemp to figureOutTheTime(numList, timeMissing, false, true, minuteLeadingZero)
set timeDeferred to understandTheTime(timeDeferredTemp, inThe, timeMissing)
set timeFromTodayUntilDesired to figuringTimeToDesiredDay(monthFound, (item 1 of numList))
if timeDeferred ≥ 0 then
set totalTimeDeferred to timeFromTodayUntilDesired + timeDeferred
else
set totalTimeDeferred to timeDeferred
end if
end if
return totalTimeDeferred
end englishTime
on isNumberIdentifier(possibleIdentifier, containerString)
set numberIdentifier to true
set identifierIsInContainer to false
set positionOfLastIdentifier to 0
set charList to every character of containerString
repeat with i from 1 to (length of charList)
if (item i of charList) = possibleIdentifier then
set identifierIsInContainer to true
set positionOfLastIdentifier to i
end if
end repeat
if (positionOfLastIdentifier is 0) or (positionOfLastIdentifier is 1) then
set numberIdentifier to false
else
set characterBefore to character (positionOfLastIdentifier - 1) of containerString
set numBefore to 0
try
set numBefore to characterBefore as integer
end try
if (characterBefore is not " ") and (class of numBefore is not integer) then set numberIdentifier to false
end if
return numberIdentifier
end isNumberIdentifier
on howManyDays(numList, weeksMissing)
if not weeksMissing then
set daysDeferred to item 2 of numList
else
set daysDeferred to item 1 of numList
end if
return daysDeferred
end howManyDays
on figureOutTheTime(numList, timeMissing, daysMissing, weeksMissing, minuteLeadingZero)
if not timeMissing then
if minuteLeadingZero then
set timeDeferredTemp to item -1 of numList
else
set text item delimiters to ""
set timeDeferredTemp to ((items -1 thru (1 + ((not daysMissing) as integer) + ¬
((not weeksMissing) as integer)) of numList) as text) as integer
end if
else
set timeDeferredTemp to 0
end if
return timeDeferredTemp
end figureOutTheTime
to understandTheTime(timeDeferredTemp, inThe, timeMissing)
if timeMissing then
set timeDeferred to 0
else
if timeDeferredTemp > 2400 then
-- If the time is greater than the 24 hour clock...
display alert "Please try again: the time you entered was not a valid time of day."
set timeDeferred to -1
else if timeDeferredTemp = 2400 then
-- If the time is equal to 2400...
set timeDeferred to days
else if timeDeferredTemp ≥ 100 then
-- if they entered the time as a full hour:minute pair (with or without AM/PM and with or without the colon)
set minutesDeferred to (((characters -2 thru -1 of (timeDeferredTemp as text)) as text) as integer)
set hoursDeferred to (((characters 1 thru -3 of (timeDeferredTemp as text)) as text) as integer)
-- Figuring out the minutes and hours in the time given (minutes are last two numbers)
if inThe = "PM" then
-- For any number specifically designated as PM
set timeDeferred to ((hoursDeferred + 12) * hours + minutesDeferred * minutes)
else if hoursDeferred = 12 and inThe = "AM" then
-- For 12:00AM exactly
set timeDeferred to minutesDeferred * minutes
else
-- For times in the AM (implicit or explicit) and explicit times in the PM (i.e., 16:00)
set timeDeferred to (hoursDeferred * hours + minutesDeferred * minutes)
end if
else if timeDeferredTemp > 24 then
-- If they entered the time as a single number above 24
display alert "Please try again: the time you entered was not a valid time of day."
set timeDeferred to -1
else if timeDeferredTemp ≤ 24 then
-- If the entered the time as a single number (with or without AM/PM)
if timeDeferredTemp = 24 then
-- If they entered 24 hours exactly (treat as a full extra delay)
set timeDeferred to days
else if (timeDeferredTemp = 12) and (inThe ≠ "AM") then
-- If they entered "12" (treat it as 12PM)
set timeDeferred to 12 * hours
else if (timeDeferredTemp ≥ 12) or (inThe ≠ "PM") then
-- For implicit and explicit AM entries and for implicit PM entries
set timeDeferred to timeDeferredTemp * hours
else
-- For explicit PM entries
set timeDeferred to (timeDeferredTemp + 12) * hours
end if
end if
end if
return timeDeferred
end understandTheTime
to figuringTimeToDesiredDay(monthDesired, dayDesired)
set todaysDate to (current date)
set time of todaysDate to 0
-- Creating an intial date object
copy todaysDate to exactDesiredDate
set (day of exactDesiredDate) to dayDesired
set (month of exactDesiredDate) to monthDesired
if exactDesiredDate < (current date) then
set (year of exactDesiredDate) to ((year of todaysDate) + 1)
end if
return (exactDesiredDate - todaysDate)
end figuringTimeToDesiredDay
on daysFromTodayToWeekday(weekdayDesired)
set currentWeekday to (weekday of (current date)) as integer
if currentWeekday = weekdayDesired then
set daysDeferred to 0
else if currentWeekday < weekdayDesired then
set daysDeferred to weekdayDesired - currentWeekday
else
set daysDeferred to 7 + weekdayDesired - currentWeekday
end if
return daysDeferred
end daysFromTodayToWeekday
on understandAbsoluteDate(theText)
set theDate to (current date)
set the day of theDate to 1
set the month of theDate to 2
set theDate to (theDate - 1 * days)
set theDate to short date string of theDate
set text item delimiters to {".", "-", "/", "–", "—", "|", "\\"}
set theDate to every text item of theDate
set thePositions to {theDay:0, theMonth:0, theYear:0}
-- Checks the positions of the date components based on January 31 of this year
repeat with i from 1 to (length of theDate)
tell item i of theDate
if it is in "01" then
set (theMonth in thePositions) to i
else if it is in "31" then
set (theDay in thePositions) to i
else
set (theYear in thePositions) to i
end if
end tell
end repeat
set theText to every text item of theText
set targetDate to (current date)
set time of targetDate to 0
if (length of theText is not 2) and (length of theText is not 3) then
-- If they don't input at 2-3 numbers, return the error
return -1
else
if length of theText is 3 then
-- If the input has three numbers
set the year of targetDate to solveTheYear((item (theYear of thePositions) of theText) as number)
else
-- If the input has two numbers (left out the year)
set thePositions to adjustPositionsForNoYear(thePositions)
end if
set the month of targetDate to (item (theMonth of thePositions) of theText) as number
set the day of targetDate to (item (theDay of thePositions) of theText) as number
if targetDate is less than (current date) then
set the year of targetDate to (the year of (current date)) + 1
end if
end if
return targetDate
end understandAbsoluteDate
to adjustPositionsForNoYear(thePositions)
if (theYear in thePositions) is 1 then
set (theMonth in thePositions) to (theMonth in thePositions) - 1
set (theDay in thePositions) to (theDay in thePositions) - 1
else if yearPosition is 2 then
if (theDay in thePositions) < (theMonth in thePositions) then
set (theMonth in thePositions) to (theMonth in thePositions) - 1
else
set (theDay in thePositions) to (theDay in thePositions) - 1
end if
end if
return thePositions
end adjustPositionsForNoYear
to solveTheYear(num)
if num ≥ 1000 then
return num
else
return (2000 + num)
end if
end solveTheYear
to getDate(theInput)
-- Setting the desired date based on input
set desiredDate to (current date)
set time of desiredDate to 0
set secondsDeferred to englishTime(theInput)
if secondsDeferred = -1 then
set timesUsedSinceError to 0
return -1
else
set timesUsedSinceError to timesUsedSinceError + 1
end if
return desiredDate + secondsDeferred
end getDate
