There are 20 posts filed in OmniFocus (this is page 2 of 2).
Here’s a draft Zenburn-based theme for OmniFocus. Due to some limitations of the theming engine, some of the status indicators (repeating, flagged, etc.) are displayed as grey-on-grey and are therefore somewhat difficult to read. Otherwise it’s quite usable. Download it here.
Here is an AppleScript that schedules the selected OmniFocus tasks for the coming weekend. If a weekend (as defined by you) is in progress, items will be scheduled for the current weekend.
In concept, the script really lets you to set start/due dates based on a relative weekly schedule. Simple modifications include:
Download it here
11 July 2011: as described here, I’ve switched to a Start-based workflow and updated my scripts to reflect this change. By default, these scripts now set the start dates of selected items, not due dates—though you can still switch to “Due mode”. This post has been updated to reflect these changes.
I’ve added two more scripts to my OmniFocus repertoire: Today and Tomorrow.
As one might expect, Today sets the “Action Date” of selected item(s) to the current date, and Tomorrow sets the action date to the next date. (By default, the Action date is the Start date, but you can switch to use the Due date if you prefer.)
Why might you need this? A few days of ignoring OmniFocus is enough to make any date-sorted view overwhelming. My Defer script is one method to deal with these items: defer them by a day, a week, etc. But sometimes you just need to set these items to today. Or tomorrow.
As with Defer, these scripts work with any number of selected tasks.
If you use the default “Start” mode:
If you use “Due” mode:
Putting it all together
I’ve set my keyboard shortcuts for Defer, Snooze, Today, Tomorrow, and This Weekend to ctrl-d, ctrl-z, ctrl-t, ctrl-y, and ctrl-w, respectively (using FastScripts), so shuffling tasks couldn’t be easier. Use cases:
Catching up after holiday: Select all overdue tasks, hit ctrl-t to bring them current. Then snooze or defer the ones you won’t get to today.
Planning today’s tasks: Select your tasks and ctrl-t them into the day’s queue. Planning tomorrow? Use ctrl-y instead.
Download them here
Thanks to Seth Landsman for his role in inspiring my Today script. His version is very similar but doesn’t quite match the defer logic I need.
Usage note: some items inherit due dates from their parent task or project, but don’t actually have due dates themselves. This script ignores those items.
Last Updated: 2010-06-15
Here’s an AppleScript that “snoozes” selected OmniFocus items by setting their start date to a future* value. These items will then be unavailable (and out of sight in views showing “available” items) until the snoozed start date.
Usage:
Run the script with one or more items selected in OmniFocus
Choose how long you would like to snooze the items (in # of days)
The script will then set the start date of selected items to the current date + the number of days selected in step 2. For example, snoozing with the default value of 1 day will set the tasks to begin at 12:00 AM tomorrow.
Finally, if you have Growl installed, the script will display a Growl confirmation.
I highly recommend initiating the script from a third-party launcher such as FastScripts or Quicksilver. This will prevent delays within the OmniFocus application due to Growl bugs.)
Download it here.
* This doesn’t have to be a future value. Choosing 0 as the snooze value will set the start date to midnight today; choosing -1 will set the start date to midnight yesterday.
Updated 6/15/10: minor edit to improve efficiency
The updated Defer script for OmniFocus is ready. Changes include:
Bug fixes to make the script more reliable, particularly when deferring multiple items.
The default action now defers both start and due dates.
Notifications code has been rewritten to make the script friendly for machines without Growl installed.
If you experience delays with the script, it’s almost certainly an issue with Growl, not OmniFocus. This is much less of an issue if you launch the script via a third-party utility like FastScripts, because any Growl-related delays will be absorbed by the script launcher, not OmniFocus. If you primarily invoke the Defer script from your OmniFocus toolbar, you can always disable alerts to speed things up. To do this, simply open the script in Script Editor and change property showAlert to false.
Download it here.
Leave it to the OmniGroup to help you stay productive — even when you can’t choose what to tackle next.
The OmniFocus Dashboard widget (“OmniFidget”), released today, does just that. Tell it what contexts you’re in:
And it tells you what to do:
Clicking the task title takes you to the task’s project in OmniFocus. Clicking “No” skips to the next task (but who really wants to disappoint the OmniFidget)?
Get yours here.
The long-awaited OmniFocus iPhone app is officially announced. Features to include:
Product page here.
It’s the best of all possible worlds! Now you can brainstorm in XMind and import directly into OmniFocus via Udo Gaetke’s clever AppleScript. The script creates a project from your map’s root node and actions (or subactions) from the other nodes.
Thus, this:
Becomes this:
Notes:
Although XMind isn’t scriptable, the XML file format is open; his script digs into the XML structure to pull relevant data
The script contains a property called import_folder. You’ll need to create a folder in OmniFocus with this name before running
The script contains a “rm -f” operation. This deletes a temporary XML file created by the script. You may want to peruse the script yourself before running
OmniFocus rocks. I can’t really imagine managing myself personally or professionally without this tool. Nevertheless, despite thousands of hours of development and beta testing, it has its share of quirks. Notably, in my work I have a few daily-type tasks I set to repeat every day. Unfortunately, there’s no “workday” option in the repeat choices, so every weekend I end up with a Saturday and Sunday repetition. I could either:
My Defer script allows you to defer, or ‘snooze’, selected projects or tasks by a given number of days. (Disclaimer for GTD pedants: my use of the word “defer” here is sanctioned by the New Oxford American Dictionary, not David Allen.)
Usage: Select the task(s) and/or project(s) you wish to defer. Invoke the script from the toolbar or script menu:
Enter the number of days to defer the items in the resulting dialog box and select “OK” (default is 1, so feel free to just hit Return to ‘snooze for a day’).
The script will then prompt you whether to defer both start and end dates of the items. “Due [date] only” is the default option, so again, feel free to hit return to snooze your due date only.
Finally: a Growl notification to signify your success. (If desired, you can use a standard OS alert dialog or no alert at all. See the script for details.)
19 Feb 2009: version 0.2 is now available. Release notes here. Download link is for current version.
