(Yours too, I suspect.)Īpple includes a geo-location feature in its Reminders app, and OmniFocus does the same. In real life, few of my days go by with just two tasks. I have eliminated part of the (empty) middle section to draw your attention to the task list on the top and the calendar blocks on the bottom. This is a slightly truncated version of the iPad view. I’m surprised that so few task programs also offer this calendar feature in fact, this was the single feature that initially drew me to OmniFocus. Still, in a single screen view, I can assess my entire day and make way through all that I intend to get done. Each task is clearly identified by its context (Digital Insider, Home, Music, etc.) In addition, down at the bottom of the screen, I see a quick view of my day’s calendar (among my few criticisms: I would be happier with even a hint of what meeting was represented by each of the schedule bars). I click on Monday, May 6 and I see the list of 13 tasks I have assigned to that date. I click on Saturday, May 4 and I see the four tasks that are due on that day. On the iPad, along the top, there are a series of boxes, each with a date and a number of due tasks. The other half us a very reasonable view called Forecast. It looked pretty, but I seemed to spend more time futzing than actually, you know, getting things done. I used these often when Appigo’s To Do was my management system. Note that there are no priority levels (three stars for most important, two for moderate importance), and no color coding for each category (Music is red, Books are purple). There’s a nice big note field, and I use hat to capture URLs, reminders of the most recent attempted contact (left phone message on sent reminder email on ). I can stop there, deciding to add a flag to any high-priority tasks, but I prefer to add a due date to every task (start dates are also an option, but I don’t work that way). Then, I select a project, again from my own list that includes: Art, Books, Digital Insider, Home, Music, Software, Travel, Web Site, and various, specific work-related projects. After naming the task, I select a context from my own list that includes: Awaiting Response, Call, Create, First Contact, Followup, Just Do It, On Hold, Purchase, Research, Schedule, Visit Web Site, and Write. Allow me to run through a task, an illustration of how OmniFocus is used to run much of my life.Īlthough it is possible to make a quick task entry, the more complete entry panel is more useful. Sounds like every other task management software, like every GTD (“getting things done”) app, but that assessment is not quite right. Wunderlist is free, and so is Appigo’s To Do (available in Pro edition for $19.99 per year) Things for iPad costs $19.99, and OmniFocus costs twice as much.įor me, the key to OmniFocus and its value is a view of tasks by date. So what’s the big deal about OmniFocus? There are dozens of to-do and reminder apps, with sync, available for far less than OmniFocus. (The one thing that I like even more about Evernote is that I can also access everything via any web browser, but that has not been much of an issue when I use OmniFocus because I always have a OmniFocus device with me). I’m busy, I jot down a note or reminder on my iPhone, and I can fetch it, adding details or changes as I wish, on my iPad, or office iMac. What I like about Evernote, I like (or will soon like) about OmniFocus. When something needs to get done, I enter it into OmniFocus. I no longer make random lists (well, almost never). And every task, every to-do, every reminder is logged in a capable, well-designed software application called OmniFocus. During the past few months, I have retrained myself so that all notes are dated, tagged, written and stored in Evernote. We’ve certainly experienced this phenomenon with smart phones, then tablets, email, web browsing, and for some, Facebook, Twitter, and other social networking activities. Every once in a while, a tool becomes an indispensable part of everyday life.
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