If they would just figure out how to make it easier to organize tasks with the keyboard, or without 15 taps, they would solve 90% of their problems. So much unnecessary friction.
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To circle around on this and give credit where it is due, the app has come a long way in a positive direction for my usage. They have been good about implementing changes from feedback and their support team has been very thorough in the back and forth email exchanges I have had with them on some of the more major issues I was seeing. Touch points still need some work, but even those have already improved dramatically in the past couple of months. Still also some UI issues there, but we’re moving away from pain point territory with those and into quibble land.
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I didn’t play with it much. But there’re a few noticeable changes I like:
- Outline is a dropdown pop-up window now.
- So is the information panel
- Search button re-allocated to bottom bar.
It’s still very rough though.
There’s a Things 4? 
OF4 is still a work in progress. Rough edges are still being smoother out and experimentation with different approaches in UI continues.
If you’re not interested in influencing the direction of OF4, just wait for whenever it gets officially released.
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Since this thread was started, there have been 3-4 big pushes from Omni that prompted giddiness from many of the testers, plus many minor ones. It’s been rewarding to provide feedback and interact with Ken and the other staff; the influence of those discussions on the releases is evident. Agree with Wilson that it’s still not the kind of early access that you want if you only want to get a head start on using the next version.
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How are folks feeling about this these days?
Today’s update had a bunch of notes about the Filter view on the Projects screen. I had really been hoping against hope that the new Projects screen was just a beta thing, because I find it entirely unusable.
For me, there is so much mental overhead in moving from this screen to any other project that I just give up. I know there’s a search button, but I find it slow to operate, and I have a hard time remembering what the name of a task or project is. It’s easy for me to find my tasks in a hierarchy, which is what has made OF so wonderful for me for all these years.
I really like what Omnifocus empowers me to do, but if the final version continues to go down this path, that will no longer be true. Very sad.
Have you tried the filter view to visually scan your hierarchy of folders and projects? That is the replacement for tapping through each level of folders and action groups as you did in OF3.
They’ve been struggling to get the UI right, especially around canceling filters and the interaction between filtering and focusing, but the trajectory is promising. I already find it faster and lighter than deep navigation in OF3.
I have tried the filter view, but it is awkward to use with one hand and I don’t find it fast at all. If it ships like this, I’ll genuinely switch to Things, just because it will be easier for me (and the way my brain works) to reliably and quickly find things.
But I’m glad it’s working for you! Different strokes, etc.
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Regarding the one-hand issue, I just learned from the OF Slack that you can double-tap (or tap once while the view is active) the bottom row of icons in the app to get the filter. Should be a lot easier than reaching for “filter” in the upper right. It works for every icon except inbox, including custom perspectives if you’ve set them there.
I actually use quick open to reach most things, but I’m already in the habit of adding extra search words to a project title when I fail to find it with cmd+o on Mac, so I don’t have the same burden to remember a project title.
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This is a great tip, thanks!
Posted a long post in the Slack channel but the take away is I am off OF for good (this time). OF4 is pretty good on the iPad (trouble is I do not use my iPad much) but it’s pretty bad on a phone.
Too many options, show this, hide that, press this, press this twice, two inspectors, one inline and the legacy one from OF3. Too many taps to do simple things, the Projects view is a mess, heading fonts way to big (IMO) and difficult to navigate let alone focus on anything.
OF4 is I believe in danger of going the same way as Evernote, Dreamweaver and Photoshop, bloated and by trying to please everyone running the risk of pleasing all but a subset of users. I do think this is partially the result of a protracted Beta period, still no end in site, with too much input from too many people instead of Omni taking the Things3 approach of this is the way we do it and we believe in it.
AsI said on Slack I am reminded of the Simpson episode where Homer gets to design a car “for everyone” the result is bits from everywhere which individually may be OK but when combined is just horrendous. Caveat I do not think OF4 is horrendous but for me as a long time user I find it confusing and no longer a joy to use, and software should have a degree of joy in its use, especially if you rely on it daily.
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