1. Creating Projects And Groups With Omnifocus 2 For Mac Download
2. Creating Projects And Groups With Omnifocus 2 For Mac Free

Omnifocus has evolved as my go-to application for project and time management. After Evernote, it’s the most important tool in my digital box. Recently the Omnifocus group released Omnifocus 2 which represents a substantive overhaul in design and usability. Dec 6, 2016 - OmniFocus's Mac and iOS apps—along with integrations and email support—let. There are two main ways OmniFocus can notify you: With a normal. Create OmniFocus tasks for new tasks in Asana projects. Most to-do apps let you group tasks into lists and perhaps add extra categorization with tags.

Note The difference between parallel and sequential projects is most visible when the View option is set to show only Available actions. (Actions beyond the first available action in a sequential project are blocked, and therefore hidden.) In other View settings the distinction is there, but more subtle: future actions in a sequential project have their titles in gray text instead of black. When viewing the Projects perspective, each project has an icon to its left that indicates the project type. These icons allow you to quickly scan a list of projects and tell which project is which type. If you find yourself using one type more often than the other, you can change the default setting in OmniFocus ▸ Preferences ▸ Organization. Single Action Lists The final project type, Single Actions, isn’t really a project—it’s a list of loosely-related actions that aren’t interdependent. A Shopping List project is a good example of a Single Action list because it contains a list of things that you need to pick up at the grocery store.

You can gather these items and check them off as completed (or acquired) as you make your way through the store. The order in which you collect them is irrelevant—it doesn’t matter if you pick some of them up today or tomorrow; they’re just things you know that you need to grab. A Single Action list is often more about a state you want to generally sustain (spoiled cat, non-spoiled food, functional household), rather than a state you want to achieve (ship an app, take a vacation, find a new apartment). Another way of looking at this is that Single Action lists rarely have due dates, and they rarely get checked off as completed. The items within the Single Action list may get checked off, but the project itself is ongoing. Project Status When you think about the status of an Action or Group, the primary concern is whether the Action is complete.

Projects are a bit different; they can be assigned one of four states: Active By default, all new projects have their status set to Active. This means that the project is current and ongoing. On Hold You can place a project On Hold at any time using the inspector, or while conducting a Review of your projects. When you place a project On Hold, what you’re essentially doing is delaying the project and its actions.

If you know when the project will resume, you can adjust the schedule in the Dates inspector, or you can wait until some point in the future to adjust the schedule. Completed When you change the status of a project to Completed, the project itself is marked as Completed. However, this does not affect the status of any Active actions within the project; they will remain Active until their statuses are set to Completed.

Dropped Every now and then, you’ll find that a project needs to be canceled or put off indefinitely. When that happens, you can set the project’s status to Dropped. When Dropped, the project and all of its actions are hidden, and won’t show up in any view setting other than All. This also notes that a project is slated for eventual in a separate database. Note You can change a project’s status in the Project inspector, with the Action menu, or by choosing Edit ▸ Status menu. Creating Action Groups Groups can also be used to create a project within a project—an action group (also sometimes called a sub-project).

If you find that you have an action that requires many steps of its own, you could split that action off as a separate project. However, a better solution could be to leave the action in its current project, and then move the related tasks underneath. For example, when planning your move to Seattle, you realize that you need to make a house-hunting trip to find a place to live. You need to book your flights, rent a car, reserve a hotel room, and make appointments with real estate agents to find an apartment or that dream house in Alki Beach. You can create these tasks one by one, and then move the action into the Plan a house-hunting trip action.

Put another way, when you create an action group you’re creating a parent-child hierarchical relationship between an action and the actions nested within it. If the desired parent and children are actions that already exist, this can be done by selecting the soon-to-be child actions and:. Dragging them on top of the parent action so the parent action is selected and shows a vertical insertion line indented beneath it, then dropping them inside, or. Positioning them immediately below the intended parent action in the outline and choosing Organize ▸ Indent ( Command-). If either the group’s parent action or its child actions have yet to be created, there are two other ways to create groups.

To create a group from an existing action intended as its parent: Create child actions from scratch by choosing Organize ▸ Add Inside ( Shift-Command-) with the intended parent action selected. A new action is created with the selected action as its parent.

To create a group from existing actions with no existing parent action: Select the items you’d like to group and choose Organize ▸ Group ( Option-Command-G). A new untitled action is created to represent the group, and the selected items are indented to become its children. Once you’ve created that action group, you can change its type from Parallel to Sequential so that the next task only becomes available when you tick off the previous task.

And when you’ve completed the final action for that subproject, the parent action can be checked off, too. Tip For added flexibility in creating just the right dependencies for your project, consider making an Action Group parallel within a sequential project, or vice versa. Grouping Projects with Folders Occasionally, you’ll find that some of your projects are similar enough that you want to keep them together so you can look at everything in one place. These projects might have different goals, timelines, or objectives, but they contribute to the greater whole.

For projects such as this, you can use Folders in OmniFocus to group multiple projects together. To create a project folder, follow these steps:. Select two or more projects in the Projects perspective:. Choose Organize ▸ Group ( Option-Command-G). This places the selected projects within a folder. Enter a name for the folder to replace the New Folder text. Press Return to accept the new folder name.

Alternatively, choose New Folder from the Plus menu beneath the projects list, or choose File ▸ New Folder while in the Projects perspective. Tip Folders can be created or moved inside other folders, to create a nesting hierarchy of projects that’s as deep — or wide — as you need it to be. Marking a Project Complete Eventually you’re going to reach the successful end of a project. When you’re sure that you’ve really accomplished “Move in to new house,” “Carve Halloween pumpkins,” or “Write pterodactyl novel,” you can mark the project complete. Select the project and then choose Status ▸ Completed from its contextual menu, change its status in the inspector, click the Complete toolbar item, choose Edit ▸ Status ▸ Completed, or just press the Space bar. The project’s status changes to Completed, and it is filed away in your library for safekeeping. Placing a Project On Hold If you’re not quite sure whether you want to start (or continue) a project, you can change the project’s Status from Active to On Hold.

When you place a project On Hold, the project and its actions are removed from the project list in the sidebar (if you’ve chosen to show Active projects in View options). Every now and then, you can switch the project View option to Remaining so you can the projects you’d like to make active, drop, or keep On Hold. There are several ways to place a project On Hold:. Select the project in the main outline, open the Project inspector ( Option-Command-I), and then change the Status to On Hold. Select the project in the sidebar, and then choose Status ▸ On Hold from the gear menu at the bottom of the sidebar.

Control- or right-click the project in the main outline or in the sidebar, and then choose Status ▸ On Hold from the contextual menu. To switch an On Hold project to Active again:. Choose Perspectives ▸ Projects ( Command–2). Click View in the toolbar, or choose View ▸ Show View Options ( Shift-Command-V) to open the View options popover menu.

Choose the Remaining view option. Any projects that have been placed On Hold, have been deferred or blocked, now show up in the sidebar.

Click away from the View options popover to make it disappear. Select the project in the sidebar, and then use one of the following techniques to set the project’s status back to Active:. Select the project in the main outline, open the Project inspector ( Option-Command-I), and then change the Status to Active. Select the project in the sidebar, and then choose Status ▸ Active from the gear menu at the bottom of the sidebar. Control- or right-click the project in the main outline or in the sidebar, and then choose Status ▸ Active from the contextual menu. Tip If you don’t want On Hold projects cluttering your Projects sidebar until they are active, you can leave the Projects View options set to Available, but then change the Review View options to Remaining.

Creating Projects And Groups With Omnifocus 2 For Mac Download

This way, anything that is On Hold, Deferred, or Blocked shows up in the sidebar whenever you review all of your projects, and you can decide then whether to reactivate a project or action. Dropping a Project If you’ve decided not to work on a project any further, you can drop it completely. It disappears from the list in the sidebar, and its actions likewise stay hidden. Of course, you could just delete the project, but then you wouldn’t have any record of it or its actions ever having existed. Keeping them around in a dropped state means you can go back and check on how often you give up on projects, check which actions you’ve completed regardless of whether they’re from still-relevant projects, and so on. Note When you drop a project, OmniFocus archives it away for safekeeping and, when you choose, removes the project from your main database.

See for more information. There are several ways to drop a project:. Select the project in the main outline or in the sidebar, and then choose Edit ▸ Status ▸ Dropped.

Select the project in the main outline, open the Project inspector ( Option-Command-I), and then change the Status to Dropped. Select the project in the sidebar, and then choose Status ▸ Dropped from the gear menu at the bottom of the sidebar. Control- or right-click the project in the main outline or in the sidebar, and then choose Status ▸ Dropped from the contextual menu. To switch a Dropped project or folder to Active again:. Choose Perspectives ▸ Projects ( Command–2).

Click View in the toolbar, or choose View ▸ Show View Options ( Shift-Command-V) to open the View options popover menu. Choose the All view option.

Any projects that have been Dropped now show up in the sidebar. Click away from the View options popover to make it disappear. Select the project in the sidebar, and then use one of the following techniques to set the project’s status back to Active:.

Select the project in the main outline and choose Edit ▸ Status ▸ Active. Select the project in the main outline, open the Project inspector ( Option-Command-I), and then change the Status to Active. Select the project in the sidebar, and then choose Status ▸ Active from the gear menu at the bottom of the sidebar. Control- or right-click the project in the main outline or in the sidebar, and then choose Status ▸ Active from the contextual menu.

For robust task and project management, OmniFocus has been on the scene for a couple of years. With great updates such as, moving, and even offering, continues to provide powerful tools allowing you to keep track of all those things you need to get done. For office, school, and home With in-depth project management ability and easy task list organization, OmniFocus 2 can be used for most any situation. Projects can work with a sequential, parallel, or single action flow, allowing good flexibility. For example, you might make a simple single action project for a list of items to be done around the house, but a sequential flow at work for projects with dependencies.

Whichever you choose, you have various options for estimated duration, due date, repeating project, and a deferral date if needed. You can also add context, notes, and attach images or audio. To begin, select Projects from the navigation and then tap the plus icon at the top. Adding project actions After you have set up your project, it is time to add all of the tasks (actions) necessary to complete it.

Just tap and hold the project in the main Projects list and select New Action. You can then add the same basic information you did for the main project such as due date, repeating task, or duration along with notes, context, images, and audio. There is a nice feature within the Actions section for adding multiple items. Just select Save + at the top and you can continue adding actions without going back to the main project. This is very handy when you have several actions within a project that you can add up front. Using contexts OmniFocus 2 has a feature called Contexts which are tools, people, or locations that relate to your projects and actions. The app comes with several built-in contexts which you can use or edit or you can create your own.

Creating Projects And Groups With Omnifocus 2 For Mac Free

These could be used basically as tags to keep your items better organized and allow for a quick view of all related projects and actions. Just select the appropriate context when setting up your project or action. Another convenient use for contexts is for locations. For example, say that you are in sales and must visit several local businesses throughout the day. Just create contexts for those and then quickly view your entire day by selecting the Nearby option from the navigation. Your items will appear right on the map.

To create a new context, you can do so from the main context list by selecting the icon at the top. Or, if you are within a context already, just select the plus icon. Additional useful features OmniFocus 2 does not stop at the above features. The app offers many useful options and additional organizational tools that can help you go beyond simple project and task management. Hierarchy organization which can hold levels of folders, projects, and actions.

Inbox to jot down ideas that can be converted into projects and actions. Ability to flag important items. Forecast view of calendar events. Today widget for the notification center.

Alerts and notifications for items due or nearby with Reminders capturing. Syncing options. Portrait and landscape views Start simple Some may feel a little overwhelmed when opening OmniFocus 2 for the first time. After all, there is a lot of information within the Inbox and other sections instructing you how to do things. But, that information is very helpful and once you begin creating simple projects and actions, the other useful features fall right into place for those more complex items that you need to organize. So, try starting with simple items to get the feel of the app and then work your way up. Is universal with Apple Watch support and available for $39.99 on the App Store.

There is an in-app purchase for the Pro Upgrade ($19.99) which provides customization of perspectives, the home screen, and the today widget.