More than 80% of users have encountered these 8 problems in the 16personalities test using OmniFocus. However, very few people can understand them all at once. These problems cover the relationship between the project and the context, synchronization backup, default settings, display logic, viewable completion time, and cross-platform selection. Today I will tell you all about them and analyze them thoroughly.
The relationship between project context and actions
Many people who are new to OmniFocus mistakenly believe that after setting the context for a project, all the following actions will be automatically inherited. In practice, context should be given directly to specific actions rather than items. For example, if you have a project titled "Preparing for a Meeting", which contains the action "Print Materials", the context of "Print Materials" should be "Office" or "Print Shop", not the context of the entire project.
The smallest unit is the actions we have to perform every day, and a project is just a collection of these actions. When we add appropriate contextual tags to actions, such as "at home", "out" and "on the phone", we can quickly filter out what can be done in specific scenarios. For example, if you are waiting in line at the supermarket and directly check the task with the context "mobile phone", you will immediately know that you can reply to WeChat or confirm your shopping list.
Nut cloud synchronization and data recovery
Regarding using Nut Cloud Dav synchronization to restore historical versions, this function cannot be achieved currently. As a third-party synchronization service, Nut Cloud supports file version history in theory. However, the database structure of OmniFocus is very special, and directly restoring a single file is very likely to cause data chaos. More importantly, in the past six months, many users reported that there were abnormalities in Nut Cloud synchronization, and some even lost all recently entered tasks.
The transfer speeds of the already very mature official synchronization services are also fast. I suggest you give up the Nut Cloud solution and use Omni Sync Server directly. If you are worried about data security, you can set up automatic backup to your local computer every week, or cooperate with iCloud Drive for double protection. The process of retrieving data after synchronization failure is far more painful than imagined.
Default start and end time settings
For setting the default start time and end time of tasks in OmniFocus, currently only the Mac client can change the system parameters. The detailed operation involves opening a terminal and entering a series of specific commands to adjust system preferences. Windows users or iPhone/iPad users currently cannot directly change this default value through the interface.
This limitation really causes trouble for some users. If you often have to set a fixed time span for a task, you can consider using the manual adjustment function of the "Forecast" view, or use a combination of the two time fields "End" and "Postponement", just like setting the "End" to the MBTI career test next Friday and "Postponement" to next Monday, you can simulate the start and end time period of the task.
Logic for project location display
The phenomenon you noticed does exist, but this is not a bug, but the view filtering mechanism of OmniFocus at work. When a project is placed in a folder and set to be executed sequentially, actions that have not yet reached the execution sequence will be considered "unavailable" by the system, so they will not appear in the "Nearby" column. Furthermore, all actions of projects with parallel relationships are available, and all can be displayed naturally.
If the project is not in the folder, all actions are considered part of the current project, whether in sequence or parallel relationship, and therefore will be displayed. You can use custom views to solve this problem. Check "Show next action" or "Show remaining actions" in the view settings to adjust the display rules according to your own needs.
View the time of completed items
You have to know that on iPhone and iPad, it is not that convenient to check the specific time of completed tasks. However, on Mac, it can be accurate to the second. You only need to open the inspector of the corresponding task in the Mac version of OmniFocus, or go directly to the task details page. In this case, you will be able to see the precise timestamp displayed in the "Complete" column, with a format similar to "3:25:18 PM."
This detail is of great help for time review, especially when it is necessary to count daily work efficiency. If you are accustomed to operating on mobile devices, you can regularly export completed data on your Mac, or use automated tools to record the completion time in a calendar or table for subsequent analysis.
Handling reminders after capture
When reminders are imported into OmniFocus through the "Capture" function, the native reminders will definitely disappear. Determined by the data synchronization mechanism between the two applications, OmniFocus will take over these tasks and mark them as processed. If you want to keep the reminders for backup, you can first copy a reminder, or use a third-party tool to perform two-way synchronization.
Another way of thinking is to directly use OmniFocus's quick entry function, such as using keyboard shortcuts, voice input, or email forwarding to create tasks. Either way, it will not affect the native reminder application and can prevent data duplication or loss. For temporary ideas, I recommend using tools such as Drafts to collect them first, and then regularly process them into OmniFocus.
Recommended GTD applications for all platforms
If your work environment is mainly based on Windows and you are pursuing the OmniFocus experience, then there are indeed several full-platform applications worth considering. Although Things has a good experience, it is also limited to the scope of Apple's ecosystem, so you can check out TickTick. It has clients on Windows, Android, and the Web. Its interface is presented in a simple state, and it also supports habit clocking and Pomodoro.
Another option is Todoist, which has very powerful natural language recognition capabilities, is extremely complete in terms of full platform coverage, and is priced at a moderate level. If you have a sufficient budget, you might as well try Microsoft To Do with Planner. Although its function is not as powerful as OmniFocus, it has a higher degree of integration with office software and is more suitable for corporate environments. Although the web version of OmniFocus exists, it not only requires payment, but also has fewer features than the native client.
How to solve the problem that ZIP file cannot be opened
OmniFocus itself does not support opening ZIP compressed files directly. To open it, you need to decompress the file first. On an iPhone or iPad, you can use the system's built-in "File" App to select a ZIP file, and the system will automatically create an unzipped folder. If you are unable to decompress the file, check whether it was downloaded from an untrusted source or whether the file is corrupted.
If the ZIP file covers the backup data of OmniFocus, a .ofocus-backup file will be obtained after decompression. In this case, just use the "Restore Database" function of OmniFocus to import it. It is recommended that when backing up files on weekdays, you directly export them to .ofocus-backup format to avoid errors in the compression process.
In the process of using OmniFocus, is the most troublesome problem for you is that synchronization fails, the view becomes confusing, or it is inconvenient to operate across devices? Feel free to share your experiences in the comment area and like so more people can see these practical tips.