Omnifocus and Things

I totally changed my mind. Went with Omnifocus 3 in the end :man_shrugging:

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I used Omnifocus for years, but even after becoming an expert, I would still get caught by having tasks hidden from me and missing important things. Things 3 is better because it is more restricted and pushes you towards a certain workflow. I never have this hidden task problem anymore. Simple is better in terms of task managers. I’ve even toyed with just using the built-in Reminders app, but that is too simple for what I need most of the time.

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As long as your choice works for you, that’s all that really matters.

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I realized that you just have to pick something and use it. If you spend too much time fiddling with the tool, you end up busy, feeling like you’re doing work, but not actually being productive. If I was cross platform, I would use todoist. It’s actially very flexible and allows for custom searches which allow for easy reviews. The only thing I didn’t like was the look.

I gave things 3 a try and loved it. I’ve never used OF because it seemed like too much and I never liked the look. Things looks great and I actually find that because it’s a little restrictive, it’s actually freeing. I don’t worry about fiddling because I can’t.

Ask yourself this question, have you ever become more productive by switching task managers? For me, I’m productive when I stick with my system. The tool just allows me to use my system. I’ve never become more productive using another tool.

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Very true, you still have to do the work!

Been using Things 3 for two weeks now. Really enjoying it so far. Seems like it’s easier for me to keep track of everything and know where it is in Things.

Has anyone seen The Sweet Setup course on Things 3? Is it worth it?

@eddiecoyote @kennonb It sounds like you’d both benefit from “Quick Open” (⌘O)on OF2 for Mac coming to iPad. My biggest pain point using OF3 on iPad is not being able to tab through the action fields when I’m making a new action on Mac. Being able to quickly add my context, project, defer, due date, and flag status all keep me from usually processing my inbox until I’m sitting down at my Mac.

I know that Things 3 for iPad has a feature that corresponds to OF’s quick open (I forget what they call it though)

That’s why I learned how to do task paper. Once you get the hang of it, writing tasks and projects in task paper will be easy.

I quickly create projects in taskpaper using the Drafts app. then hit the TaskPaper to OF action. Bam, it gets created in OmniFocus.

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In the end, this is all that matters - use the tools that help you get things done with the least amount of stress (and hopefully some amount of enjoyment and a lot of satisfaction). OF is that tool for me. And it took several iterations with other tools and schemes before I found my preferred combo. Sometimes, one must date around until they find the love of their life. I may change as my needs change, as my projects change, as I change, but I’ve loved OF since I first learned some insights from Sparks, Dini, and Stringer. (I think they will all be getting some more of my money in the next year.) Since then, Sparks has changed his scheme, but I remain effective in my current OF regiment (deferrals, few due dates, and one context). When OF3 for Mac arrives, I’ll invest more into multi-tags, but I’m good for now.

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@Maczero I’m interested in doing what you do, use OF3 and Things. Can you tell me how to send them from Drafts? I’m not sure how to do that.
Thanks

…and bloody location-aware reminders, already. Sheesh!

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I have finally jumped off the OmniFocus bandwagon. It is a very well designed and details app but it never ever clicked for me. It didn’t make me more productive and I wasted time in it.

Moved over to todoist which I am really enjoying

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I purchased the entire course. Found it moderately useful. If you don’t have a system or process in place the part of the course about the “setup” it worth it. The overview about Things - I believe Things is very intuitive and the course isn’t needed.

Can you send me the link to purchase the entire course? thank you

It’s linked above :slight_smile:

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I have, @RosemaryOrchard. It is a bit short but very good :grinning:

Hi Jim
Sorry to take some time to get back to you on this. I am absolutely a baby at automation on the iPad. However, Drafts 5 comes with an action in its directory to send a task to Omnifocus:
https://actions.getdrafts.com/a/1CP.
This action then returns you to Drafts. I just added a second step to add the Draft to Things, return to Drafts and then delete the draft (my normal practice since I don’t need them clogging up my inbox or archive.

The actual callback URLs I use are: omnifocus://x-callback-url/add?name=%5B%5Btitle%5D%5D&note=%5B%5Bbody%5D%5D&autosave=true
And
things:add?title=%5B%5Btitle%5D%5D&notes=%5B%5Bbody%5D%5D

I hope that helps.

Andrew

After ignoring Task managers for the summer - just now getting back into them.

I was using Workflowy for quite a while and then switched over to Todoist. But now that I’ve tried the demo to Things 3, Todoist just feels awkward. I have a subscription until Jan 2019 so I am trying to do the responsible thing and wait until then to switch over to Things, but it sure is tough. Things really appeals to me.

I saw some people mention 2Do, I’m interested in that. How is it? I can’t figure out which one to use , I’m looking at OF3 , things 3, and now 2Do. I always would use Apple reminders but I want subtasks, and somewhere just to stump ideas then send them somewhere.

A little more work to become comfortable with OmniFocus, but well worth the investment.