OmniFocus 3


OmniGroup announced their roadmap for 2018. A number of updates are planned for their productivity apps, but the big update appears to be for OmniFocus for macOS and iOS. OmniFocus 3 will make a number of changes including introducing tags in place of context. Context is based on the GTD methodology that has you assigning tasks based on a context, such as home or work. This allows you to easily address tasks when you can do them. You can't rake the leaves when you're at work, so there's no reason to see that task while in the work context. The same concepts can be done with tags, it seems, but multiple tags can be assigned to a task for more flexibility and possibilities.

Another interesting item is they're planning to bring OmniFocus to the web for a simple interface. This will allow people to access OmniFocus on other platforms and may be helpful to access on a computer if you don't have the desktop version.

I used to use OmniFocus for a daily task organizer, but have pulled back to have it handle recurring tasks. For me, the powerful feature of OmniFocus is the ability to not show me tasks until I'm ready to view them. In addition to due dates, this helps me look at tasks that can do now and have those tasks age to must do. The other feature I like is the different ways I can repeat tasks. I could use a calendar and have a repeating task, but many of my regular reminders are based on when they're done. For example, changing a water filter. I have it appear when it's about time to change and give an alert when it is time to change. When I do change it, it resets the task for 6 months.