I’ve been using OmniFocus on and off for years but after reading this article on MacStories and revisiting how I was using tags it’s finally clicked.

I was using a project for almost everything, I had one for my creative projects and others for Home or Family etc. Taking a step back things like home and family aren’t really projects but categories. This is where tags come in.

I’m now using tags for everything that goes into my system. What I’ve changed is to use projects for actual projects like my podcast or my blog. Basically where I have a goal and need to break it down into tasks.

What in finding since switching over to this method is I’m using the tags section of the app to view all of my tasks.

So far so good and I haven’t even thought about switching apps in the last couple of weeks whilst playing around with OmniFocus again.

I won’t go into my iCloud issues but needless to say I’ve switched back to my trusty OmniFocus. On setting up from scratch I’ve changed the way that I use the app and perspectives this time around.

As you can see above I’m using 5 main views

• Inbox
• Home
• Money
• Family
• Wellbeing

Most items in my system sit in the Inbox as you can see from the item count but I use tags. Whereas before I’d have a load of projects this time I’ve used tags to categorise.

I then have a perspective showing me everything that has a particular tag. So the wellbeing tag simply shows me everything with a tag of wellbeing.

For my forecast view I’ve implemented a tag called ‘Today’ that I can add to any items I’d like to get done today but don’t want to add a deadline.

You can do this by tapping on the little eye icon.

This seems to hang together for me and in the last few days I’ve enjoyed coming back to OmniFocus. This seems to work with my brain and I’m not wondering if my iCloud data is going to be there or not as the OmniFocus sync is rock solid and never let me down.

Are you using OmniFocus? What’s your setup?

I’m starting fresh and clearing down my OmniFocus setup and when looking at removing perspectives it wasn’t that intuitive on how, here’s how to do it.

First off you need to SHOW all of your perspectives, tap on the SHOW icon.

Select the perspective you want to delete by tapping on it and then hit the icon marked in the image above.

Scrolling to the bottom you will see a DELETE PERSPECTIVE option.

I’m getting more into using OF now as my main productivity app and some elements are not as intuitive as I’d like so I’ll be sharing hints and tips I’m picking up. First up is moving an existing project into a newly created folder.

Navigate to your projects and tap Edit.

Now tap the project to select it and tap the ‘i’ at the top.

Tap the icon in the lower left and then tap the project name you want to move it to.

I’m back with a blank slate again on my productivity system and fallen back to my old favourite OmniFocus. I thought I’d share how I’m using it over a series of posts and how I’m initially setting it up.

First off it might look intimidating but OmniFocus really can be as simple or as complicated as you need it to be.

The first step is to do a bit of a brain dump. I find that even if I’m coming from another app I don’t duplicate I start fresh. I’ll go into the Inbox and start to drop in everything on my mind.

Once I’ve “dumped” everything out of my mind I’ll start to work through each one by tapping on it and picking a tag to categorise (such as errand or chores) or add it it’s own project if it’s something bigger like a trip.

To be honest you don’t need to worry about tags or projects if you’re just starting out with OmniFocus you can just drop stuff in and get it scheduled so you don’t forget.

For now step 1 is just to install, use their sync service and get whatever is in your head into the inbox and add due dates where they are needed.

I’ll be creating more posts in the coming weeks on next steps.

I’m back using OmniFocus and one of the features I’m glad I have back is the Forecast view. I check this a few times a day.

I check it in the morning, around midday and then in the evening. I look at the count at the top to see if I have any items left today and I can also have a look at my calendar items.

If I see an item that I need to reschedule I simply long press and then pick an option to move it tomorrow.

Using this as I’m moving through my day is helping me keep on top of things.

I’m a couple of weeks in with using OmniFocus exclusively and it’s actually starting to stick. I wanted to write a series of posts on how I’m using it in my daily life.

First up each morning I’m looking at what I have on my plate and adjusting the day to suit my availability and energy.

I tap on the relevant day in the forecast view to drill into the day itself.

This shows me my agenda and the to do items I have set for the day.

If there is something on there I’m not going to be able to achieve I’ll long press and move to tomorrow.

My forecast view also shows me any items I’d like to get done today but haven’t set a due date or time. I tag these items with ‘today’ and change the view settings to show me them in my forecast view.

These show at the bottom of the list in the forecast view.

That gives me a view of the day within the app. To supplement this I also use the widget and the Apple Watch complication to have a quick reference of how I’m getting on.

So far the data sync has been good but if I’m updating on my iPad and don’t open the app on my iPhone to sync then app notifications do get a bit out of sync.

I go away but have found I always come back to OmniFocus (OF). OF still remains one of the quickest ways for me to enter new items to my inbox (I have SIRI disabled) using text entry and using a combination of due times and flagging I’ve been using it well this week and kept on top of things.

I’m still in the process of sorting myself out and setting some personal goals but I’ve settled on OF. I was going to go all in with Reminders but a few things put me off using Apple apps

1. Sync has been unreliable across devices for me, especially macOS
2. I don't have any confidence in the Apple development team to keep the app updated. It'll always be a small part of iOS for Apple and I don't want to wait a year between updates for bug fixes
3. If you need support, good luck. I'm almost a month in on my second attempt to get my iCloud sync sorted and Apple keep breaking their promises of calling me back with updates or even looking like they care about my data. I'm paying for iCloud storage and Apple aren't taking me as a customer seriously, I don't want to put my life into Reminders then hit a problem and be stuck trying to sort it out on my own

Ok, rant over.

So how am I’m setting up OF?

I’m starting pretty simple and mostly chucking items into the inbox via the app or Shortcuts. Anything that I think is urgent or want to get done today ideally I’ll put a flag against. I can quickly view everything flagged as almost a wish I could get this done today list or a reminder of items that are going to cause me some pain if I don’t get done.

Project wise I’m using folders to divide my projects into areas of focus. It’s pretty simple for now but I have one for my writing and another for personal, which includes any goals. I’ll share more on this one I’ve got my project structure sorted. I’m expecting it’ll be financial, work etc.

Everything else in OF I’m pretty much ignoring. The beauty is that it can be as simple or complicated as you need it.

I’ve started to use OmniFocus folders as my areas of focus, such as career and financial. Within these I have projects such as podcast and blog. They are building up and seem to stay in the same order they are created in. Well the good news is that you can reorder these.

To do this simply tap on one and hold. You’ll then be able to order them by moving around.

I’d like to see a sort order added to the app, if anyone knows a better way please let me know.

Whilst listening to an episode of Mac Power Users there was a really great tip shared by David when using OmniFocus.

I wanted to post this to help me remember more than anything but hopefully you will find this useful too.

If you are deep down in a project and want to quickly get back to the home you can simply long press the ‘back’ button. This may not say back but it will labelled with whatever the sub division you are in. This doesn’t matter as its always the button in the top left.

This has already saved me a tonne of taps.

I do a lot of repeating tasks and found creating them in OmniFocus a little time consuming. For each task I had to tap ‘show more’ in the inspector and before I could do anything with it.

Thankfully I’ve found a quicker way.

Tap on any task you’ve already created (this won’t work on a new task you’re creating). Tap ‘show more’ then tap ‘customize inspector’. This then let’s you drag and drop the fields you use the most when creating a new task.

I’ve used a few different apps over the years to try to build good habits but in the end they all fall by the wayside. The main reason for this is I’m not seeing or being reminded of them. When switching over to OmniFocus I thought I’d use their tagging system to help me with this.

On discovering I could add a tag to my forecast view I had an idea. If I want to build up habits why don’t I make sure I’m seeing them everyday.

So to this end I created new tasks such as ‘complete exercise rings’ and marked them with my ‘urgent ’ tag. This means that when I see my forecast I’ll always see them. The only downside is that these don’t appear on the Apple Watch app, unless I’ve missed something of course - please let me know if I have.

The task itself is never actually marked as complete so I don’t have it repeating or anything. It’s just a visual reminder to be better.

A useful feature in OmniFocus 3 is the ability to add tags to your tasks. Whilst looking at the forecast view I realised I could customise and show 1 tag along with my calendar and scheduled tasks.

I find this useful when I have something I’d like to get done but don’t necessarily want to add a hard due date and time. I created an urgent tag that I use for this.

So the image above shows what tasks have been flagged as urgent for me, basically anything I want to be reminded of daily.

To do this simply go to the forecast view, tap on the eye symbol.

You’ll then see an option for tag, simply tap this and chose your tag.

I’ve had an on/off relationship with OmniFocus over the years but with a period of overwhelm I’ve decided to stick with it and learn how to actually use it effectively.

When plotting out my overwhelm I used a mind map and split everything into areas of focus. I did this is an earlier post but redid it as my mind has changed on a few passion projects.

When looking at the whole folder vs projects debate it hit me. Folders can be a way to group my projects into these areas of focus.

I then created a folder per area of focus.

My next step is to create my projects, such as my blog and DIY projects into their relevant folders.

Seems very formal to me but I need to create my buddy brain to keep me in check.

It’s a big day for the Omnigroup, today sees the launch of OmniFocus 3. I’ve been a user of OmniFocus for a while, well on and off. I switch a lot but always seem to come back eventually. I like their privacy and encryption stance and trust them above any other productivity app to look after my data.

I’m starting to test and will let you know how I get on.

Omnigroup