Title

Every item or tag you add to OmniFocus has a title, which you can edit with this section of the inspector.

Select the title text in the inspector to edit it.

Type and Status

Use this section of the inspector to set attributes specific to the type and status of items selected in the outline.

The name of this section changes depending on what you select.

Inbox Item

The Inbox Item section appears when you select one or more Inbox items or item groups.

This section includes the following attributes:

• Status—A switch for setting the status of the selection. Inbox items and groups can either be Active or Completed.

• Flag—A flag that is either empty (unflagged), filled orange (flagged), or with an orange outline (inherited flag). Click it to set or remove flagged status on the selection.

  When a flag is set on an inbox item, it appears in the Flagged perspective. If a flag is set on an item group, the items within it inherit the flag.

• Type (item groups only)—A switch for setting the type of the group. Item groups can be either Parallel or Sequential.

• Project—A field for setting the items’ project. For Inbox items and groups, this field is empty; assigning a project to an Inbox item typically causes it to leave the Inbox (this depends on your Organization preferences).

  Assign a project to the selection by entering its name in the field, or click the down arrow for a list. To create a new project for the selection, enter it in the field and choose Create new project name (or press Command-Return). Click Go to Project to open the assigned project in the Projects perspective.

• Complete with last action (item groups only)—A checkbox that determines whether the group status automatically changes to Completed when the last item is completed. (If deselected, the group status must be changed to Completed manually.)

Action

The Action section appears when you select one or more actions or action groups (across any number of projects).

This section includes the following attributes:

• Status—A switch for setting the status of the selection. Action items and groups can either be Active or Completed.

• Flag—A flag that is either empty (unflagged), filled orange (flagged), or with an orange outline (inherited flag). Click it to set or remove flagged status on the selection.

  When a flag is set on an action, it appears in the Flagged perspective. If a flag is set on an action group, the actions within it inherit the flag.

• Type (action groups only)—A switch for setting the type of the group. Action groups can be either Parallel or Sequential.

• Project—A field for setting the actions’ project.

  Change the actions’ project by entering a different project name in the field, or click the down arrow for a list. To create a new project for the selection, enter it in the field and choose Create new project name (or press Command-Return). Click Go to Project to open the assigned project in the Projects perspective.

• Complete with last action (action groups only)—A checkbox that determines whether the group status automatically changes to Completed when the last item is completed. (If deselected, the group status must be changed to Completed manually.)

Project

The Project section appears when you select one or more projects.

This section includes the following attributes:

• Status—A switch for setting the status of the selection. Project status can be Active, On Hold, Completed, or Dropped.

  Projects have the Active status by default. For more on the meaning of each status and how it affects availability of items within the project, see Project Status.

• Flag—A flag that is either empty (unflagged), filled orange (flagged), or with an orange outline (inherited flag). Click it to set or remove flagged status on the selection.

  When a project is flagged, the actions inside it inherit the flag and appear in the Flagged perspective.

• Type—A switch for setting the type of the selection. Projects can be Sequential, Parallel, or Single Actions.

  Projects have the Parallel type by default (this can be changed in Organization preferences). For more on the meaning of each type and how it affects availability of items within the project, see Project Type.

• Complete with last action—A checkbox that determines whether the project status automatically changes to Completed when its last action is completed. (If deselected, the project status must be changed to Completed manually.)

  Projects of the Single Actions type do not display this attribute, since they have no last action and are not conventionally considered complete.

Tag

The Tag section appears when you select one or more tags in a view that lists tags in the outline or sidebar.

This section includes the following attributes:

• Status—A switch for setting the status of the selection. Tag status can be Active, On Hold, or Dropped.

  Tags have the Active status by default. For more on the meaning of each status and how it affects availability of items the tag is assigned to, see Tag Status.

• Added—Lists the date that the tag was added to your OmniFocus database. This value is set when the tag is created and cannot be edited.

• Changed—Lists the date when the tag was last changed. This value is updated automatically when you edit the tag and cannot be directly edited.

Status

The Status section appears when you select multiple items of different types.

This section includes the following attributes:

• Status—A switch for setting the status of the selection. Multi-type selections can have their status changed to either Active or Completed.

• Flag—A flag that is either empty (unflagged), filled orange (flagged), or with an orange outline (inherited flag). Click it to set or remove flagged status on the selection.

Tags

Use the Tags section of the inspector to add tags to items in the current selection, or review any tags they already have. When multiple items are selected, the list includes all tags assigned to them.

Tags represent associations that tasks have to you and the surrounding world. Click the field in the inspector and start typing to add a tag to an item; existing tags are available to autocomplete. To create a new tag for the selection, enter it in the field and choose Create new tag name (or press Command-Return).

Items can have as many tags as you like. When tags are assigned to a selection, Control-click one to either show it in the Tags perspective or remove it from the selection.

Dates

Use the Dates section of the inspector to set time-related attributes for items that have requirements for when they should start, end, or both. This section also displays times related to the items’ creation, modification, and completion.

Estimated Duration

Use the Estimated Duration field for the amount of time (in minutes or hours) that you think it will take to complete a task.

Estimated duration is particularly useful when setting up custom perspectives, where you can use this value to create perspectives for tasks that require a certain amount of time to complete.

Defer Until

Use the Defer Until field to set or change the selection’s defer date. Use the +1 day, +1 week, and +1 month buttons beneath the field to add a new defer date at the present time plus the button’s value, or augment the existing date by the value of the button.

When a defer date is set on an item, it is not considered available for action until that date is reached.

If a defer date is set on a project or group, items within it inherit that date. (A defer date set directly on the item will override the inherited date, if it is later.)

Due

Use the Due field to set or change the selection’s due date. Use the +1 day, +1 week, and +1 month buttons beneath the field to add a new due date at the present time plus the button’s value, or augment the existing date by the value of the button.

When a due date is set on an item, it is considered due at that date (and due soon based on your Dates and Times preferences).

If a due date is set on a project or group, items within it inherit that date. (A due date set directly on the item will override the inherited date, if it is sooner.)

Completed

Use the Completed field to set or change the selection’s completion date. If the selection has a status other than Completed, entering a date here (even a date in the future) changes its status to Completed.

Added and Changed

The date the selection was added to OmniFocus and the date it was last edited. These values are derived from your editing history, and can’t be changed directly.

Repeat

Use the Repeat section of the inspector to set up tasks that occur on a regular basis.

Select the Repeat Every checkbox to turn on repeating for an item. Items can be set to repeat based on a variety of criteria that are progressively disclosed as you make changes in the repeat editor.

Repeat Interval

Choose a number hours, days, weeks, or months which elapse for every repeat cycle. When weeks or months are chosen, additional custom options become available.

Days of Week

With an interval of weeks, the option becomes available to repeat every weekday chosen here (Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, for example). With an interval of months, the option becomes available to repeat every first through fifth (or last) weekday of the month.

Days in Month

With an interval of months, the option becomes available to repeat on the chosen calendar dates of the month (or the last day of the month).

Schedule the Next

If the item has a defer date, choose whether completing the item will schedule the next occurence as a:

• Due Date—The item must be completed again by that date. Or;
• Defer Until Date—The item becomes available again on that date.

Repeat From This Item’s

Choose whether completing the item will schedule the next occurence from:

• Completion—The repeat interval begins when the item is completed. Or;
• Assigned Dates—The repeat interval begins at the originally assigned date.

Review

Use the Review section of the inspector to change the frequency with which the project comes up for review, and edit the date of a project’s next scheduled review.

Next Review

Use this field to set the date of the project’s next scheduled review.

Review Every

Set the interval at which the project comes up for review, expressed in days, weeks, months, or years. (The default is every week, beginning a week from the project’s creation.)

Last Reviewed

The date the project was last reviewed. This is derived from your editing history, and can’t be changed directly.

Notes and Attachments

Use the Note section of the inspector to add, view, and edit any notes or attachments associated with the selection.

To add a note to an item, click the note icon in the outline near the item’s title, edit the note field in the inspector, or choose Edit > Edit Note (Command-’).

In addition to plain text, notes support rich text including custom fonts, colors, and styles. Notes also support hyperlinks; enter a URL in the note field and it automatically becomes an interactive link.

The notes field also displays any file attachments associated with the currently selected item.

Attaching Files

With an action or project selected, choose Edit > Attach File. This opens a file selection dialog, where you can browse to find the file you’d like to attach. You can choose whether to link to the file on your system, or embed it into your database (the Embed option is chosen by default).

When you embed an attachment and sync OmniFocus, that file is copied into your OmniFocus database and is stored on the sync server so it can be pulled down wherever you need it.

If you want access to the file on your other devices, this is the option you want—if you attach the file as a link, it stays locally on your system and isn’t included with the rest of your OmniFocus data.

The Attachment List

The Attachment List (Window > Attachment List) gives you quick access to all of the files attached to your database. This can be handy for finding the little pieces of reference material you have added to your actions and projects.

The Attachment List displays a list of all of your attachments along with a thumbnail image, file size, and the date they were added. Click any of the column headers to sort the list by that attribute (in ascending or descending order). Click the disclosure triangle on the left of an attachment row to reveal its associated database items, or double-click the attachment to go straight there.

The Attachment List can also be used for clearing out old attachments, thus slimming your database to take up less space on your devices (especially useful when syncing).

To delete an attachment that you don’t need anymore, select it in the list and click the Delete button in the window’s lower left corner. The Delete dialog indicates how many attachments are selected for deletion, and how many individual database items those attachments are associated with.

If you would like to retrieve attachments from your database (perhaps prior to a big deletion), select them in the list and click Export. An export panel appears where you can choose a location on your Mac to store the attachments. Navigate to the directory you would like to use as the export destination, and click Export again to save copies of the files to your drive.