Omnifocus and Things

One thing I enjoy about Todoist is the ‘Next Seven Days’ view, which is the main way I view tasks. The update to Apple Reminders only has ‘Today’ and ‘Scheduled’ but Schedules is broken down with day separators so it might be sufficiently usable for me.

Me too. I was on Things for a year, but it simply wasn’t robust enough for me. Omnifocus isn’t as pretty, but it definitely meets my needs better than Things.

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For me Things is more of a personal GTD. I did not need all the options in Omnifocus. But I imagine if I had to run various projects with inputs from more sources, Omnifocus would be better. I also think a GTD app should be as simple to possible. You just put it in the information and need a quick look to know what is needing to get done. That is why I like Things. I was always adjusting something in Omnifocus, which was fun but I realized I spent too much time in the app itself and I just do not need all the options. And in the end it is necessary to realize that if you spent 1 hour doing something to save 10s on a task, you need to repeat that task 360 times to get the time back.

I think it really is pretty easy to decide between Things and OF 3. If Things has the power and features you want and meets your needs, go with Things. It is far easier and more intuitive to use, much less expensive and, at least IMHO, has a more attractive interface.

On the other hand, OmniFocus has a lot of power and features for those who have more complex task management needs. I think some people can get overwhelmed in OF if they don’t really need its advanced features and that frustration can cause the back and forth switching.

OmniFocus has a much larger online training and support community, but that is primarily because Things is intuitive enough to use that there is no need for a lot of extra training beyond their provided tutorial.

Neither of them is good for collaboration and both of them must be tweaked a bit if you want to use them with the GTD system, although Things is probably closer to the GTD system than OF is in their native formats.

If you are really into GTD and want an app built and designed from the ground up exclusively for GTD, check out Nirvana on iOS. It also has a web version so you can access it from any desktop or laptop computer with an internet connection.

I wouldn’t recommend it for any other individuals who need a task manager, but it is beautiful for GTDers (you know who you are).

I’ve just ready through GTD again over the summer and it motivated me to take another look at OmniFocus.

The result is that I have it set up with perspectives that I can tap in different contexts, and I’ve been finding it amazingly useful again in helping me focus on the right task for where I am at any particular time. Things is beautiful and I used it for a while but, for me, it falls short of being able to successfully apply GTD as I want.

Combined with DEVONthink for ticklers and reference materials, I now feel really on top of things in terms of organising my life and applying the methodology.

In case anyone’s interested, this was the result of configuring OF while reading GTD again:

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Since Things has no perspectives I had to make my own (i.e. saved searches of tags) :slight_smile:

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I only use Things on IOS and I was trying to find a way to open a tag through Shortcuts. Currently it’s not possible as you need to specify a list first prior to selecting the tag. I emailed their support address and explained the situation and what I wanted and they have said they’ll look into it.

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To go to a tag from shortcuts:

  • Search for the tag, click the icon in the top right and choose share, then copy link
  • In shortcuts, choose the action for web->open url and paste the url here

I use this to have icons to jump to my tags (which are set up as GTD contexts).

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That works a treat thanks.

I like the Sweet Setup and this is just my opinion… but most people won’t need this. Things is simple enough that, with a knowledge of GTD, you can learn to apply it by yourself. Here are some free resources I’ve found useful as well:

https://culturedcode.com/things/guide/

I bounced back and forth between OmniFocus and Things several times. When I’d switch to Things it always made me feel more under control, like I had less to do. However, this was only an illusion created by the simpler UI. I have switched back to OmniFocus for good as while it sometimes makes me feel more overwhelmed, I believe it gives me a more honest look at what I really have to get done. I just had to admit I have a really complex list of tasks and that this simpler UI of Things just could not do the job.

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After switching back and forth myself, I think I may be back to OmniFocus when I have time to switch it all over. My plan is to be FAR MORE religious with defer dates to replicate much of the value of Things 3. Things is great with keeping track of what you are currently working on, despite due dates being in the near or distant future. I just wish entering tasks in OmniFocus was a bit quicker.

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I’m a habitual Things/OmniFocus switcher myself and have been tempted by OF several times over the past month.

You’ve discussed how you’re using OF to try to replicate the capabilities fo Things. But what drew you back to OF?

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That’s pretty much why I always end up switching!

If I switch to OF again – and I just might – I don’t think I’ll go all in at first. I’ll run both Things and OF for a while, until I’m sure that OF will stick for a longer term.

The segmentation would be “new stuff” and “stuff already in Things.” Eventually, if I make the move, I’d move everything over.

I really want to have a better reason than DIFFERENT!!! SHINY!!! though.

Not that I’m criticizing you. I’ve done the DIFFERENT!!! SHINY!!! thing millions of times myself.

Two reasons I can find to switch to OF: Ability to attach documents and photos, rather than just links. And start times, rather than just start days. Maybe more graceful handling of projects… ? But truly I don’t have a lot of projects. Like, one of my tasks this morning was just: “Reserve hotel rooms for conferences this year,” along with two names of important conferences as sub-task. That’s all I need to see. (Whoops, just thought of a third! And a fourth!)

I am still straddling the leap… I like OF for its customizability, attachments, and automation. But I am still thinking about how I will replicate my Things setup in OF.

I am trying to figure out a way to quicken the process of capture in OF. I am going to explore some Shortcuts automation to try and cut down the time (in macOS OF is quick, but I do most of my task management on iOS).

OmniAutomation is also really powerful, and I want to explore that before making a switch as well.

Since I am just now building up for the next semester of teaching I still have some time to decide.

Finally, after years of switching between OF and Things, I’ve been using plain old Reminders for the last month. I don’t use tagging on any app as it doesn’t make any sense to me. Reminders works well for me because now I can group projects and the recent updates in iOS 13 make it just as functional as Things (with a few gestures and interface design choices that I prefer to Things). It is much easier to use than OF and has a clean and well designed interface, I think OF is ugly and clunky.

Plus, on Apple Watch it makes capturing a reminder as easy as Drafts, so I’ve stopped using that too.

The integration makes it worth dropping the extra features for me, they just tend to make me spend time in apps rather than doing things.

Like some strange recurring fever, the urge to move task manager - after 18 months of very happy Things work - reappeared recently. Thought I had beaten this particular illness! Then realised that I had simply not been working on the well-mapped Things lists. Completing the tasks and the urge/fever settles.

My journey with Things was helped enormously by the advice of the Fu Master at the Productive With A Purpose website:

  • simplify the tag lists
  • Today list is only for the few items which must be done, not for massive listing of incomplete tasks
  • Anytime is where the action should be. Ruthless reviewing of this list

According to Andrea has some good advice too:

I use links to folders in DEVONthink for project associated documents and iThoughts for planning out the projects.

This switching illness can be beaten whichever of the task managers one uses.

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I’m interested. Is this holding up for you? I’m assuming IE is work? Does every task get only one tag?

I think the cure for this “switching illness” happens by itself when you find yourself being very productive in a particular system/app. After bouncing between task managers a few years back, including several years on OmniFocus, I switched to Things 3 in February 2018, but Things is only partially responsible for my satisfaction.

The bigger cause was finding a workflow that works for me. I’ve never been as satisfied with my productivity in my life, and have had zero urge to switch, even when new things pop up that always tempted me in the past. This is a big deal for me because I was always the guy to try out anything new and shiny in tech. I’ve also historically been a procrastinator, and happy to be distracted by tweaking my system instead of actually getting things done.

For me Things just happened to be the tool that fit what I ended up doing. The bigger deal was my realization that GTD just didn’t fit my job, and realizing that “Next Actions” were less important to me than seeing “Past Actions,” thanks to the unpredictability of those actions in my particular situation. It’s hard to explain, but I have a zillion tasks unrelated to each other, but sometimes related to something that has gone before (but not in a way that can usually be predicted).

So I spent years trying to twist the concept of “Next Actions” to my use, and when I instead started logging “Past Actions,” something instantly clicked. Now, when I handle a task in Things, the main task field has 3 things in it - (1) the name of a case (I’m a lawyer), (2) the date I last completed a task on that case, and (3) what I did on that date. When I do something new, I have a Keyboard Maestro macro that copies and cuts the date and task info from the current task field, moves all that info to the notes field, and then moves focus back to the task field with the case name and current date. I then type what I just did, and set a new Start Date for when I next want to see it. That is when it reappears in my Today view. I sometimes but rarely also type a slight reminder about what I might need to do when that task reappears, depending on what I think might happen between now and then. But seeing what I just did, and having a log of sorts in the notes field, tells me almost instantly what I need to do next.

This has been the most freeing and excited I’ve been about this sort stuff since I first starting wrangling my tasks 25+ years ago, and I’m as excited and productive now as I was when I started it almost 2 years ago.

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