Other than "contexts" being replaced by "tags", I haven't heard too much about this app. I own everything in the OmniGroup line, with OmniOutliner and OmniGraffle used most often. For heavy duty task management, Omnifocus, Things, and ToDoist seem to be the nearly three-way tie. That makes it a pain in the butt for me, as I vacillate between all three as well as some more unique programs (DropTask and KanBanFlow). It would be really nice if one of the three would just make itself a clear choice. I spend as much time managing my tasks as I do completing them.

I've never really used contexts, but I know I'll use tags. I think they are going to be the same thing, just without the limitation of only one "context" per to-do entry.

Hopefully, nothing will upset the iOS version. OmniOutliner's latest update has a glitch on my iPad. When I enter a note on an entry, the field doesn't expand if I type past the initial entry box. I'm sure a fix is forthcoming.

In the meantime, I've done some experimenting with TaskPaper and TaskMator for cross platform outlining.

It works, but it's a little crude. TaskMator doesn't do folding, and it hides it's files. If I were going to use that pair long-term, the drill would be to keep a TaskPaper file in a Devonthink project. On the iPad, I can import that to TaskMator, mess with it, and then export it back to DevonThink.

Since DT is happy with duplicate file names, you have to delete the old copy out of DT to clean up, and for sanity's sake, it's probably a good idea to delete the copy in TaskMator when finished with it, too.

Crude. I'm looking forward to getting OmniOutliner back on the rails.

Jeffery Smith wrote:

Other than "contexts" being replaced by "tags", I haven't heard too much
about this app.

I was listening today to a podcast with Fraser Speirs, who's known for having created a precursor to OF before OF was even developed by creating some insanely complex Applescripts on top of Omnioutliner that provided GTD functionality. He discussed how GTD as initially promulgated hasn't aged well, since the original concept of contexts has eroded in a world in which people can do work anywhere with mobile devices. The fact that OF was pretty much the last major app to give up on strict adherence to to the classic GTD framework in favor of tags shows that Omni was pretty late to the game. (And OF2 had so many UI issues that they had to double back on too, suggesting that they have had a lot of internal problems deciding on what the app should be, especially compared to what customers want.)

With OF Perspectives have gotten much more powerful with OF because of tagging. Tags can have different aspects - items can be untagged, they can have active status or hold status - and with tags you can build a much more complex search.

That said, it remains considerable overkill for most people, and it retains a significant learning curve.

MacStories has a good overview of OF3:

https://www.macstories.net/reviews/omnifocus-3-review-more-approachable-and-powerful-all-at-once/

One of the main benefits (and problems) with OF is that it's so process-agnostic, and moldable to individual user workflow. People are able to customize it significantly, but that's a hurdle for those starting out, as well as those who

Other than sequential projects, it seems to me that 2Do can do most of the things OF 3 can do, plus it has a much better implementation of start dates (including my favorite which is the ability to set a start date which is X number of days or weeks before the due date, without having to figure out the exact date yourself).

I've used Things, 2Do, Todoist and Omnifocus. Heres my (personal) take on them:

Things: *Very* easy to use, almost zero effort of entry into the Things way of working. Lovely to look at.Excellent sync service. Major limitation - no perspectives or filtered views, so if you have large numbers of tasks, can be hard to view/understand the overall picture and focus on what's needed now. Second major limitation: no online support - Twitter and Reddit don't cut the mustard in my view. Expensive if you use it on multiple devices. Scriptable, if that floats your boat.

2Do: Very well-featured and flexible, but needs effort to get into. If you spend the time, extremely powerful, especially in filters/smart searches. Can also work well for simpler setups. Very goo information density and some nice UI features on IOS. Limitations: one-person developer, so new features/major update can be very slow. No online support - Twitter only. Sync works well if you use Dropbox. Not so well using iCloud or personal WebDAV (which is my preference). Cheap. Not scriptable.

Todoist: Very good, but needs a subscription to get the best from it. I'm not willing to follow subscription models for this kind fo application. Good support. Easy to get into.

Omnifocus: Easy to get into, and a cheap, simple version if you don't need a lot from it. If you want smart searches (perspectives), becomes expensive, especially if you use multiple devices. Very good sync (including WebDAV, hooray!). Requires lots of thinking and effort to get the best from the power, but has a very good online presence - support and user community - so advice is really available. Lots of 3rd party resources too - if you want to spend the time. Scriptable if you want to spend even more time. Has a Review perspective which, to me, is priceless.

Things doesn't give me the control over views that I want. Todoist needs a subscription. I swing between 2Do and OF - currently OF because new shiny version

I have used the four applications NickG discusses above (plus several others over the years - including MLO way back in my Windows days).

My feelings about the four more or less chime with NickG's excellent summation - with the exception that I put greater emphasis on the OmniFocus "hinterland" which, if nothing else has always in the past brought me back to the application.

For example, with OF1 and OF2 I shamelessly borrowed other people's AppleScripts in order to streamline the application, and I used Übersicht with OF2 to place my "Today" list on my desktop. With OF3 I'm dropping OF tasks into Fantastical, with Fantastical honouring the tasks' durations (and using Blotter to put the calendar of tasks and "hard landscape" for the week on my desktop). Previously, I used BusyCal for this, but unlike Fantastical, BusyCal doesn't yet seem to accept dropped OF tasks cleanly.

In the past, Things 2 has also mimicked much of the OF inter-operable functionality and now Things 3, like OF, effectively has "start dates" (which are important for me - and currently unlike, say, ToDoist). As NickG says, Things also looks very pretty when compared with its rivals. But for me Things and the others still lack much of the rest of the "hinterland": for example, David Sparks' videos, Tim Stringer's Learn OmniFocus, guidance on OF from Asian Efficiency etc etc.

If I have a beef about OmniFocus, I do wish it were more inter-operable with OmniPlan (which I use a lot)!

satis wrote:

I was listening today to a podcast with Fraser Speirs, who's known for
having created a precursor to OF before OF was even developed by
creating some insanely complex Applescripts on top of Omnioutliner that
provided GTD functionality. He discussed how GTD as initially
promulgated hasn't aged well, since the original concept of contexts has
eroded in a world in which people can do work anywhere with mobile
devices.

Agreed that GTD as originally formulated is somewhat out of date and needs updating in the light of developments in technology since David Allen wrote his book.

As a matter of history, it's usually Ethan Schoonover who's credited with creating the original "Kinkless GTD" (kGTD) on top of OmniOutliner. As I understand it, the Omni Group then bought in Schoonover's work and developed it into OmniFocus. Perhaps Schoonover and Speirs were working separately but in parallel?

I've just resolved one misconception I've had all along. The explanation for contexts I read somewhere was like "things I want to do when I'm in a grocery store." It didn't resonate.

Perspectives, my dummy self has just realized, are stored searches. When you go into a perspective, it finds the things that currently match and shows them to you. These things are attributes of the items in the to-do database.

Tags are just what they are supposed to be, arbitrary labels I add at will to any items I want.

I can be so dense at times.

For something much more intriguing, though, there is a mention in the help text about a warning bar. It shows things like an update available that will change the database format.

It can also show when you're looking at a "foreign" database, not the one that's baked in to iCloud.

I've started using TaskPaper for per-project to-do files where I only want to see chores when I'm working on a certain writing project.

Will OmniFocus open an arbitrary database file? Can I put things off in their own little boxes like that?

That would be awesome.

I made the investment in OF3. I have it on my two iPads, so having universal syncing with all of my devices is a must. Others also do that, but I am expecting that I will grow into OF3.

Tried to install it today, but it needs HighSierra while i'm still using Sierra because HS does not work well with multiple external monitors :-(

Thats one of this Mac Problems that you always have to repurchase everything.

If I've understood your last question properly ("Will Omnifocus open an arbitrary database file?) - OF is built on the assumption that you have a single database. It is possible, but not easy, to create and manage multiple OF databases, but you will probably get problems with syncing and notifications.

If what you want is to be able to see *only* the project you're working on at this moment, you would normally achieve this by creating a perspective (as you say, a stored search) for each project, and use the Focus facility to make only that perspective visible. You can use tabs in the OF window if you want to be able to switch quickly from one perspective to another.

I hope that makes sense

Amontillado wrote:

I've just resolved one misconception I've had all along. The explanation
for contexts I read somewhere was like "things I want to do when I'm in
a grocery store." It didn't resonate.

Perspectives, my dummy self has just realized, are stored searches. When
you go into a perspective, it finds the things that currently match and
shows them to you. These things are attributes of the items in the to-do
database.

Tags are just what they are supposed to be, arbitrary labels I add at
will to any items I want.

I can be so dense at times.

For something much more intriguing, though, there is a mention in the
help text about a warning bar. It shows things like an update available
that will change the database format.

It can also show when you're looking at a "foreign" database, not the
one that's baked in to iCloud.

I've started using TaskPaper for per-project to-do files where I only
want to see chores when I'm working on a certain writing project.

Will OmniFocus open an arbitrary database file? Can I put things off in
their own little boxes like that?

That would be awesome.

I used to use an Omnifocus competitor called The Hit List. It was developed by an indie developer under the business name The Potion Factory and later acquired by Karelia. It seems like development has stopped, which is a shame. I stopped using it some time ago because I moved to to-do solutions that would work with my Android phone (Checkvist) and across all platforms, but it is/was a great Mac tool with excellent keyboard support.

Anyway, I'm glad that OmniFocus is still being developed with new versions released. It's a product I might use in the future if I ever decide to get an iPhone. Omni releases good tools. I use OmniOutliner pretty frequently and have since version 3.

marlowe wrote:

I used to use an Omnifocus competitor called The Hit List. It was
developed by an indie developer under the business name The Potion
Factory and later acquired by Karelia. It seems like development has
stopped, which is a shame. I stopped using it some time ago because I
moved to to-do solutions that would work with my Android phone
(Checkvist) and across all platforms, but it is/was a great Mac tool
with excellent keyboard support.

Anyway, I'm glad that OmniFocus is still being developed with new
versions released. It's a product I might use in the future if I ever
decide to get an iPhone. Omni releases good tools. I use OmniOutliner
pretty frequently and have since version 3.

I too used The Hit List at one point, and liked it: its iOS app was till recently still on my 'phone. I think that the original developer (under The Potion Factory brand) was Andy(?) Kim. Its keyboard support was at that time one of its USPs. I'm sorry to hear that development has stopped.

The Hit List for MacOS received an update just a week ago. I think it was just a maintenance release to address some Mojave issues, but it isn't abandoned. Just want to make that clear.

Steve Z.

marlowe wrote:

I used to use an Omnifocus competitor called The Hit List. It was
developed by an indie developer under the business name The Potion
Factory and later acquired by Karelia. It seems like development has
stopped, which is a shame.

The iOS version of The Hit List is free, by the way. And it's been updated a half dozen times this year so far:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/the-hit-list/id948328681

The $50 Mac version seems to be in decline, or at least in stasis, with only one update in 2018, a couple of weeks ago, to ensure Mojave compatibility. It looks like a creditable, functional app, though the UI is a bit dated. If the app works and syncs well, then a single $50 charge for cross-platform use could be a compelling option. But it needs to be supported.

Not sure what is going on with Karelia. The only app the dev is working on seems to be Sandvox, a RapidWeaver competitor, but I don't know anyone using either of those apps (or types of apps) any more these days, given the generally better looks and/or greater sophistication from even free hosts like Medium, Wordpress.com and even Blogspot.

I think I've learned something new today.

One of the very few complaints I've had about OmniFocus is the everything-in-one-basket approach. I have writing projects I start that never get off the ground. Sometimes I want to have a to-do list for that project, but if it gets abandoned, I don't want stuff cluttering up my OF database.

You can export your main OmniFocus database to an OmniFocus format file. Double clicking it in the Finder will open it. I don't think the automatic backup feature works and it doesn't sync with Omni's sync server, but that's ok.

I think this is the feature I've been looking for. Now I have a template in DEVONthink to create an empty OF todo list.

Hopefully I'm not missing some obvious downside.

If you have MindNode you can create a project outline, with notes, etc. Save that as a template for your project -- in DEVONthink or wherever. When you need to use it, open it in MindNode, select the main node, then click the Share Sheet and choose Export to OmniFocus. The hierarchy will be imported to the OmniFocus inbox and can be added to another project or drag the parent task to the Project perspective to initiate a new project.

Thanks, Paul, that's a great suggestion. It works perfectly.

OmniFocus for IOS apparently doesn't have the ability to open a backup or foreign database, so that makes my idea less than ideal.

I haven't experimented with it yet, but I see OmniFocus will also import an OmniFocus document. That might be another way to make a template.

Paul Korm wrote:

If you have MindNode you can create a project outline, with notes, etc.
Save that as a template for your project -- in DEVONthink or wherever.
When you need to use it, open it in MindNode, select the main node,
then click the Share Sheet and choose Export to OmniFocus. The
hierarchy will be imported to the OmniFocus inbox and can be added to
another project or drag the parent task to the Project perspective to
initiate a new project.

Unless I am mistaken, exporting OF3 exports the entire database. I see no way to export just a Project or a Folder.

Amontillado wrote:

I haven't experimented with it yet, but I see OmniFocus will also import
an OmniFocus document. That might be another way to make a template.

True, but you can delete everything you don’t want from the exported file.

J J Weimer wrote:

Unless I am mistaken, exporting OF3 exports the entire database. I see
no way to export just a Project or a Folder.

Amontillado wrote:
>
>I haven't experimented with it yet, but I see OmniFocus will also
import
>an OmniFocus document. That might be another way to make a template.