OmniFocus 4.7
OmniFocus 4.7 introduces three powerful enhancements: a new “Planned” date type (for specifying the date an item is scheduled for work), the ability to create mutually exclusive tags (handy in a variety of workflows, like prioritization and energy level assignment), and improved repeat functionality (including new support for setting a repeat to end after a specific date or set number of repetitions).
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We’ve also tested and polished the database migration flow, substantially updated our Help content (and integrated it directly into the app), localized the app more thoroughly for non-English speakers, and implemented additional features which do not require a database migration (new Forecast functionality, Time Sensitive Notification support, improved shortcut actions, and more!).
I’ve been running mostly on Defer Dates for so long, often putting the date when I intend to start working on an action directly into its text. Obviously, that’s a design smell. Planned Dates seem like a better way to handle this, though I haven’t yet had a chance to get a feel for how they work in practice. I think a key will be learning how to leverage the Forecast view, which I’ve mostly ignored thus far.
With OmniFocus 3, I was a bit concerned that we were losing something with the switch from contexts to tags. An action can have multiple tags, which has proved to be very handy. But sometimes I want to treat tags more like folders, where assigning one tag automatically unassigns another. Mutually exclusive tags are a way to have the best of both styles. I can still assign multiple tags, e.g. for different locations where I might work on an action, but at the same time OmniFocus can enforce that certain groups of tags are treated like contexts:
I’ve added my “Today/Radar/Back Burner” tags to a mutually exclusive “Priority” tag group, and I can bump something up or down a priority list by simply assigning a single tag.
Task prioritization is just one example of a workflow streamlined by the introduction of mutually exclusive tags: we think this feature will also be a great fit for folks who use tags to assign energy level (high/low/medium), time of day (morning/afternoon/evening), or even appropriate weather (rain/sun) to their tasks.
To avoid breaking compatibility with earlier versions of the app, OmniFocus will only prompt you to migrate your database format once it detects that all active OmniFocus sync clients are capable of supporting the new database format.
Version 4.7 can still use the old database format, but some of the new features require migrating.
OmniFocus’s syncing has been rock solid almost the entire time I’ve been using the app. However, after finally updating to iOS 18 last month, version 4.6.1, which had never given me any trouble, suddenly kept getting out of sync with my Mac. Changes on the phone would sync to the Mac, but not vice-versa. The phone would say that it has synced yet still show itself as being many changes behind, as if the changes were stored locally but not yet integrated into the database. This continued with 4.7 and the old database format as well as after migration. Omni is looking into it. For now, I’ve found that force quitting seems to unblock whatever is preventing the app from integrating the changes.
My OmniFocus tip is to use the parts of the app that actually help you, and ignore or even hide the parts that you don’t yet need.
We designed the app with a lot of depth so that people could reach for that depth when they need it. But we’ve tried to design the app with progressive disclosure, so you can start simple, ignoring those deep features until such a time as you might actually need them.
I am edging toward the conclusion that OmniFocus with Planned date, Today view, and Forecast view could be the simplest task manager available if you just want to see what’s on your plate today without seeing tasks that are not available. That’s assuming you ignore the advanced features, which is certainly doable. You don’t have to have projects or tags if you choose not to.
Previously:
