Inside OmniFocus

The inimitable Sven Fechner updates his older Perspectives post due to a lot of change in OmniFocus.

Yesterday (June 12th, 2017) we released OmniFocus v2.10 for Mac. There are two new features that are worth mentioning: URL Scheme support, matching what you already use in OmniFocus for iOS to automate different things, jump to Perspectives or views, and even implement templating, and the inclusion of Inbox in the Projects tab.

You can read all about URL Schemes on Inside OmniFocus. It’s easy to get a simple bookmarklet going and complements AppleScript quite well.

We’re also happy to include the Inbox in the Projects sidebar—you’ll find it at the very top (you can enable it in OmniFocus Preferences->Organization) of the list and makes for converting Inbox items into projects very easy.

This release also includes minor bug fixes and improvements—our bread and butter.

We’ve just posted Johnny Chadda’s excellent introduction to Perspectives. Johnny covers what he uses to stay close to Getting Things Done® methodology, plus a few more examples and a bit of guidance that might be useful to new and current users alike.

Take a look, and get to know Johnny!

The quite-complete GTD workflow of Rachel Andrew. Process your email first thing each day.

Along with iOS 8, OmniFocus 2 for iPad launched last week. We’ve dropped the price to just $29.99 for new folks, and the Pro upgrade—$19.99—is free for customers that have purchased OmniFocus 1 for iPad. Unlock it after purchasing OmniFocus 2 for iPad.

Check it out!

David just updated his OmniFocus Video Field Guide to v1.1—a great update featuring a brand new section on automation. (Automation was introduced in OmniFocus for iOS v2.14. Inside OmniFocus has a bit of a primer on it, too.)

The new version includes several updates for new features that have been added to OmniFocus since version 1.0 shipped. There's also an additional 40 minutes of content on OmniFocus Automation.

Alexander Kucheryuk, an OmniFocus user with a fairly strict GTD-centric workflow, posted a few scripts that might be useful for other OmniFocus + OmniOutliner folks. Essentially they provide a quick export for a few different scenarios: reviewing all projects, and reviewing a list of projects with due dates.

The first of his scripts, OmniFocus Projects, exports the entire list of projects (including those marked On Hold) to OmniOutliner. Plus, ‘“Project status” will be shown as stalled if no more actions are left in the project.’

The second script, OmniFocus Deadlines, exports a list of projects to OmniOutliner that includes the amount of days left until it becomes due.

Sure, Joe Buhlig wrote a whole book on OmniFocus, but you can soak in a bit of knowledge with his OmniFocus Setup & Workflow post.

But think about his book, too. It’s good.

This bookmarklet by Alex Popescu adds a link back to the original email as well as a link to search for the subject of the message. Just add that one-liner to your favorites bar and clip a bit better from Gmail’s web interface.

And it works on non-Gmail pages, too.

Organizing browser tabs into organizational apps like OmniFocus or OmniOutliner. By Justin Lancey at veritrope.com.

Yesterday we released OmniFocus 2.14—and we’re really, really excited about what’s inside! Which means we’ve a few more updates for Inside OmniFocus, too.

First, check out the latest additions to URL Schemes. It’s a great reference for each of the new actions and parameters that were just implemented. In the future we hope to showcase workflows that others have built.

This makes it easy to create templates or customize data entry with beloved apps like Workflow, Drafts, and Editorial, depending on your preference.

And in the same vein is a big update to our Zapier page! They’ve added some really great features like filtering and Multi-Step zaps—even custom scripting—to make connecting apps to OmniFocus even easier. (And thanks to the folks at Zapier for helping explain it all!)

Example automatons

• sebnoumea stores all of his templates in OmniFocus, then runs this Workflow to fill-in placeholders (and add the tasks back to OmniFocus.)

• maddenwalker updated his OmniFocus-to-Fantastical workflow to incorporate our recent additions—even time estimates—to better plan out your day.

• @zemackdaddy put together a pretty simple Drafts action … that even integrates with his Siri setup. (And Apple Watch!)

What are you working on? We’d love to feature them here, so let us know!

Alexander recently shared OmniFocus Projects and OmniFocus Deadlines with us.

This new script, OmniFocus Defer, allows you to defer tasks, intelligently:

• It respects the interval of the action, especially if it repeats only on certain days
• Working late (i.e. after 12am) and need to defer a task? The script will defer the task for today instead of tomorrow.

Thanks, Alexander!

Includes both source files and retina PNGs.

Icons & Coffee just released a brand new set of icons designed specifically for OmniFocus 2. Silvia designed a set for OmniFocus 1 a few years ago that fit in really well and were very popular.

These new icons are great. Check ‘em out in the Perspective Tabs, too.

Check out a preview. On sale for $9.99.

Tony Green explains his folder hierarchy and project layout—all based on different areas of focus.

We’ve just added two new workflows on Inside OmniFocus.

High school junior Beatrix Klebe uses OmniFocus to keep projects from school, work, and their robotics team on track.

Polina Burkart pairs OmniFocus and her prioritized contexts with Focus, Flags, and an 80/20 rule.

Enjoy perusing the new workflows!

David Sparks releases yet another great product, and we’re thrilled this one is about OmniFocus. It covers everything. Everything.

Side note: we sponsor David & Katie Floyd’s podcast, Mac Power Users. And for good reason.

Gabe elaborates quite a bit on how he’s using OmniFocus now after some recent changes:

• the majority of his task entry happens in the Drafts app on iOS, and the paste URL scheme action
• using DEVONthink links for reference material
• creating new, temporary perspectives as he needs them

…and much more. Read on!

We have a lot of customers that use Zapier to create workflows and connect apps directly into their OmniFocus Inbox. They’ve honored us with an incredibly detailed guide that works in quite a bit of Zapier, too.

“Zapier's OmniFocus integrations let you watch 500+ apps for new projects, documents, notes, and more, and then turn those items into new tasks in OmniFocus. Here are some great integrations to help you get started.”

Give it a read!

We link to Airmail in the email guide on Inside OmniFocus, but you don’t need a beta version to get OmniFocus 2 support anymore. It’s also just $1.99.

The folks over at TextExpander (Smile) put together a great post mixing TextExpander, OmniFocus, and GTD® methodology.

This is also a casual reminder that OmniFocus for iOS supports TextExpander automatically (without the handy keyboard, even)—if you have TextExpander on your iPhone or iPad, a brand new option will show up in Settings allowing you to import your snippets.

@zettt put together a script that adds a handful of projects for the next several days, primarily for smaller tasks. Great for single actions that are only relevant a certain day.

Just in time for the holidays! (Actually, Helmut wrote this much earlier in the year.)

Helmut adapted a script from Ben Waldie that acts as a “return from vacation” deferment. He recommends keeping the return date a few days after your vacation ends—you’re gonna have emails to wade through.

We recently linked to the Work Smart blog by Helmut, but here’s his latest: recreating the “Later” button found in OmniFocus for iOS. Simply put, run the script on any number of actions to take away the sometimes-shockingly complex decision of when you’re going to see the actions again—it’s random.

The button isn’t for everyone, but if you’re processing a chunk of actions that don’t necessarily need a set start date, you’ll finish faster.

Check out our AppleScript page for information on where to install scripts.

The man behind the wonderful Evernote Essentials ebook talks OmniFocus 2 and his most common views. Check out Waiting.

Colter Reed writes a little about Forecast View in OmniFocus 2.

Matt Henderson struggled with contexts as defined in typical GTD® examples. He settles on just two: Active and Maybe. “Simple and efficient.”

Zapier, a service focused on setting up crazy amounts of automation between different apps, recently added support for Mail Drop, part of Omni Sync Server.

There’s a totally free tier to use, or you can upgrade to Pro features after a trial period.

Anything from “pack an umbrella for today” to “Follow up with Max Geekery re: Salesforce lead” straight to your Inbox.

Colter adds a bit of his Franklin planner to OmniFocus.

Our friend David Sparks worked on a brand new set of video tutorials for Lynda.com. As always, each course is laced with great ideas and explanations—well worth the price of admission.

Prefer learning with video? A few new things worth linking to:

First up is Learn OmniFocus. Tim Stringer started the site up right when OmniFocus 2 for Mac launched, but already has quite a few articles, video tutorials, and soon, live classes—all ready to go. (You can check out a lot of content for free, but access to all is behind a paid membership.)

And then there’s the Screencast Academy’s “Masterclass”. “OmniFocus 2 for Mac” is a 22-video course on nearly every aspect of the app. Even an intro-to-GTD® at the start.

It’s a new place where we link to worthwhile info, workflows, hacks, or news about OmniFocus 2 for Mac, iPhone, and iPad. You can subscribe to Collected here, or just visit regularly.

This is where we say goodbye.