[Macworld]

Post your comments for Review: OmniFocus 1.0 task management software here

[Min]

Llamagraphic's Life Balance is still better even though it is a bit clunky.

[VicDiesel]

Disagree. Life Balance is one of the programs I bought and subsequently discarded because it didn't agree with me. It's clunky, hasn't been upgraded in ages, but it just doesn't feel right. To me, that is.

Ok, I've just opened it up. The fact that it presents me with one reeeeeaaaallllyyyyy long list of tasks is very annoying. All this stuff is in my face and amorphous, which I don't like.

1. OmniFocus shows me what's due today, tomorrow, later, was due yesterday, last week, et cetera. Much better.

2. Most importantly, OF is much better in hiding data that is not relevant yet. My todo list is much cleaner.

3. OF is better at repeating tasks: tasks can repeat at regular intervals (pay the rent) or at an interval from completion (water the plants).

4. OF has more display modes: show all tasks, all remaining, next available; sort by this that the other.....

In general, it feels much better, and I'm a very happy user.

V.

[GeorgetheFlea]

"If you want a quick, unobtrusive way to keep track of your tasks, OmniFocus is too much. ... If you're the kind of person who spends as much time managing your to-do list as you do actually completing the tasks on it, you will be able to geek out to your heart's content."

Review hit the nail on the head for me with these two sentences. I think OmniFocus is a good, professional-quality app, but for me it's way overkill. I always felt like I was spending more time getting the darn tasks into OmniFocus than I was spending actually completing them.

My choice for the last few months has been Things. It doesn't have quite as powerful a featureset as OmniFocus, but it does exactly what I need in a very elegant, friendly way. Of course, it's not really an option for some people since it's still in beta (and doesn't have some features like iCal synching implemented yet), but it's extremely stable so I figured it was worth a mention.

[jworth3]

What about iPhone integration? Can I enter tasks into my iPhone and then synch them to OmniFocus? Can I view and/or check-off tasks on the iPhone?

[jochenWolters]

Dan,
OmniFocus's Sort menu does work in Planning view, but only on a list of projects, not on the actions inside a project.
If, e.g., you select a folder containing several projects, you can use the Sort menu to determine the order in which these projects are displayed in the main outline area.

"If youa??re the kind of person who spends as much time managing your to-do list as you do actually completing the tasks on it"
That is probably exactly the kind of user that would benefit from GTD in the first place. ;)
J.

[haylo]

Actually as a OmniFocus owner and recent GTD'r, I thought the review was really fair if a little low in score. It's very GTD centric and is definitely a power user app but I personally find the apps GTD approach fantastic. It's horses for courses - need a list making app then try TaskPaper, need a hardcore GTD app then try OmniFocus or iGTD.
Killer features for me are iCal Integration, Perspectives (views) and the quick approach to capture.
Downsides... the apps interface is a bit fussy sometimes, syncing has to be manually initiated (timed sync or sync on quit would be good options)
A great app if you need it...

[zvikico]

The one thing which sets OmniFocus apart is task outlining. In other task managers you can have a flat list of tasks or two levels (project & task), maybe three. In OmniFocus you're not limited. I can write a task, and then break it into sub-tasks and then even smaller sub-tasks as much as I like.
This is a major difference which was very critical for me. I started using it when it was still in private alpha and I'm hooked. Sure, it takes some time to understand the concepts, but once you do, your getting a much stronger tool.

[oneaccord]

I tried out Bartek Bargiel's iGTD (www.igtd.pl) for a while and found that it was only as useful as my information was digital. I was, and am, still running a standard in-box on my desk with a file system a-la Allen.
In the end iGTD lost because it overwhelmed iCal with context specific calendars. Not entirely Leopard friendly either.
However, it is free (donationware), seems to do much that OF offers and is integrated with Quicksilver, Launchbar, MailTags and many other productivity apps.

[jman]

Not to take away from all your comments, it's what you think about the two programs which is helpful. Life Balance has been updated recently. That's all.

[bigcloits]

I jumped on the GTD bandwagon when I discovered OF about half way through it's beta lifespan. It is the most important change I've made in my time management in about a decade. I'm totally entranced by the way OF tells me "what's next" in a given context. What's the next errand I have to run? Ah, right, that one ... cool!
Having had the opportunity to watch the app grow during beta, I'm convinced the development and support teams are completely on the ball with this project. As good as OF is already, they will be quick to fix problems and create robust new features in response to user input. I'm a totally satisfied customer so far.

[iGaucho]

I love OmniFocus and depend on it every day to track school projects. I was using iGTD before but switched for the better user experience that OF offers. I find it much more intuitive since I'm not an expert on the GTD philosophy (iGTD seems to be geared more towards those who have some knowledge of it to use). On the downside, OF is extremely pricey. Granted it's aimed more at professionals than home users, but I think the Omni Group would get a much larger user base if they dropped the price to about $50. Fortunately, I got in on the pre-order discount with academic pricing. So, it only ended up costing me $25. I think it's the best GTD app on the Mac and I have tried a couple of them. It can be a little confusing at first to figure out how to get started, but once you get started you will find yourself more on top of things. Omni Group even has a screencast on their website to get your started! After watching that I was amazed at how much I can do with it.

[iGaucho]

There have been several patches put out for iGTD to improve Leopard compatibility and 2.0 is on its way. You might want to make sure you've patched your copy. The patches can be found on the iGTD homepage in the downloads section.

[dougeddy]

I have used OF since it was a beta. I am still struggling with some of its operations, but I find it very helpful. I very much like the iCal synch (though have found it glitches at times). I would like an Address Book synch that would allow me to synch data to the Address Book notes section and maybe visa versa. I too find their support very helpful though the video goes a bit fast for newbies.