Useful Gestures

Most of the interactions in OmniFocus are evident based on what you see on screen, but there are some time-saving shortcuts that aren’t always as easy to find. This section lists gesture-based interactions available throughout the app that make common actions even more convenient.

Pull to Clean Up

• In compact views, pull down from the top of the outline to clean up the current view.

• In wide views, this is replaced by the Clean Up button.

Pull to Sync

• Pull down from the top of the screen (in the sidebar on wide views, anywhere on compact views) to prompt OmniFocus to sync.

Swipe in the Outline

• Swipe an action or Inbox item row from right to left to delete it.

• Swipe an action or Inbox item row from left to right to flag or unflag it, or to tag or untag it with the Forecast tag if one is set.

Swipe in the Sidebar

• Swipe a project, folder, or tag from right to left to delete it.

• Swipe a project from left to right to flag or unflag it, or to tag or untag it with the Forecast tag if one is set.

Drag and Drop From the Outline

• Drag and drop items within the outline to reposition them, or create groups by dropping items on top of other items.

• Drag items from the outline to a project or tag in the sidebar to add them to that project or tag.

• Drag items from the outline to a date in the Forecast date row (either in the Home tile or the Forecast perspective outline) to assign that due date to them.

• Drag items from the outline to other iOS apps to add them in plain text TaskPaper format.

Drag and Drop To the Outline

• From outside OmniFocus, drag text rows to add each row as an item.

• Drag rows from OmniOutliner, OmniPlan, and OmniGraffle’s outline view to add them as OmniFocus items.

• Drag images from Photos or Safari to add them as items with the image file attached.

• Drag messages from Mail to add them as items with links to the original messages in the notes field.

• Drag files of any type from the Files app (or elsewhere) to create new items and add the files as corresponding attachments.

Drag and Drop in Home

• With OmniFocus Pro, tap and hold a tile in the Home view to enter Tile Editing mode. Drag perspective tiles to rearrange them.

Drag and Drop in the Sidebar

• In the sidebar for Projects and Tags, drag and drop rows to rearrange them within the current level of hierarchy.

Drag New Inbox Item

• Drag the New Inbox Item button between any two items in the outline to add an item there, pre-filled with attributes corresponding to the current perspective and item location.

• Drag the button onto a folder instead to create a new project inside that folder.

Tap and Hold...

• Items in the outline or sidebar to open their contextual menus.

• Back to instantly go Home.

• The OmniFocus app icon on the iOS Home screen to open a contextual menu with quick access to common app functions.

Shake to Undo

• On iPhone, shake the device to mimic the effect of tapping Undo .

Multiple Windows (iPadOS)

With OmniFocus on iPadOS, drag a folder, project, or tag row to the edge of the screen to create a new OmniFocus window showing that item's contents.

Alternatively, use the Open in New Window contextual menu command to open an item's contents in a new window directly.

Learn more about iPadOS multitasking features on the official Apple website.

Keyboard Shortcuts

If you’re using OmniFocus for iOS with an external keyboard, you can take advantage of the app’s built in keyboard shortcuts for many common tasks.

Anywhere in the app, press and hold the Command key on your connected keyboard to view a list of available shortcuts. There are some common shortcuts that work no matter where you are; others are specific to your current view.

Action	Shortcut
Universal Shortcuts (available anywhere in the app)
Cut	Command-X
Copy	Command-C
Paste	Command-V
Undo	Command-Z
Redo	Shift-Command-Z
Outline Shortcuts (with an item selected in the outline)
Toggle Completed	Space
Toggle Dropped	Option-Space
Inspector Shortcuts (when editing item details)
Edit Note	Command-’
Toggle Flag	Shift-Command-L
Info	Control-1
Note	Control-2
Attachments	Control-3
Save (when adding a new item only)	Command-S
Save Plus (when adding a new item only)	Option-Command-S
Cancel	Command-.
Delete	Command-Delete
Previous Item	Command-↑
Next Item	Command-↓
Projects Perspective Shortcuts
New Project	Shift-Command-N
New Folder	Option-Shift-Command-N
Tags Perspective Shortcuts
New Tag	Control-Command-N
Review Perspective Shortcuts
Mark Reviewed	Shift-Command-R
Navigation Shortcuts (outside the new item editor)
OmniFocus Settings	Command-,
New Inbox Item	Control-Option-Space
New Action	Command-N
Sync	Shift-Command-S
Search	Command-F
Favorite Perspectives	Command-0 through Command-9
Collapse All	Control-Command-0
Expand All	Control-Command-9
Home	Shift-Command-H
OmniFocus Help	Command-?

Other Keyboard Tips

In perspectives other than Forecast, if you have a hardware keyboard attached you can press the down arrow key to select the first item in the outline (even if nothing is selected), then use the arrow keys to keep moving through your items.