In wide views, such as on a Mac or iPad in a non-compact view, the outline is the center pane and backdrop of all your activity in OmniFocus, with the sidebar available to the left and the inspector to the right.

In compact views, the outline fills the screen, and is the default pane that appears when you navigate to a new perspective. As with wide views, the sidebar lives to the left and the inspector lives to the right, tucked just out of sight and available with a swipe.

The Perspective Header

The items you see in the outline depend on the perspective you are viewing. You can narrow your concentration on a few things you’d like to accomplish in the near term with Forecast, tackle things contextually with Tags, or get a broad overview of the work ahead across a number of Projects, for example.

The name of your current perspective appears at the top of the outline, along with a count of the items currently visible.

The Anatomy of a Row

A row in the OmniFocus outline represents an item—a to-do that you captured with OmniFocus—or a piece of your organizational framework like a project, folder, or tag.

Rows can display all sorts of information about an item, like the project it belongs to, any relevant tags, due dates, and completion status in the form of the status circle.

When you first install OmniFocus, a subset of all of an item's optional information is shown for each row. Default rows display a badge indicating whether the item has a note, an attachment, or both, and the item's due date (if any).

When a row is selected for editing, it includes additional default controls:

• Flag
• Collapse
• Note
• Attachment

You can choose which information is visible app-wide with the Layout options in OmniFocus Settings, or change it on a per-perspective basis using the view options for each perspective; see Customizing Row Layout.

Status Circle

An item’s status circle is the target for checking it off when it is done. Tap the circle, and the item is complete. (What happens next depends on your Clean up resolved items setting.)

Status circles also convey important information about an item: items can be due soon (amber), overdue (red), or flagged (orange). Repeating items are distinguished by the ellipsis in their center, and items that are dropped receive a gray dash.

Structure and Layout

The item attributes you choose to show are further divided into display fields, which appear for all items as you browse a perspective, and editing fields, which appear when you select an item for editing.

When a row is selected, a few attributes are always visible regardless of other layout changes you've made:

• Item title
• Status circle
• Flag
• Collapse
• Note
• Attachment

Organizing the Outline

Grouping Items

Action Groups — Individual actions can be organized into action groups. When you create an action group you’re creating a parent-child relationship between an action and the actions within it. (Action groups are sometimes referred to as subprojects.) Once you’ve created a group, you can use the inspector to change the action group type, and determine whether the group auto-completes when the last action within it is marked complete.

If two actions exists, this can be accomplished by:

• Dragging one item on top of another (Mac, iPhone, or iPad). On a Mac, a line displays to indicate if the drop will be in line with the parent action, or placed as a child action. On an iPhone or iPad, rows will highlight or move out of the way as you drag a child action, to indicate where it will be dropped.
• If the intended child action is directly below the intended parent action, select the child action, and use the Indent command.

If the parent action already exists, but the child does not, this can be accomplished by:

• Selecting an item and using the Add Inside command (Mac, iPhone, or iPad).
• Dragging the Smart Add button from the lower right of your screen to hover over an action in the Outline (iPhone or iPad).

If the child action exists, but the parent action does not, this can be accomplished by:

• Selecting an item (or items), and using the Group command. A new untitled action is created to represent the group, and the selected items are indented to become its children.

Project, Folder, and Tag Rows

In addition to the common attributes of Inbox items, rows for projects, folders, and tags can have a variety of other useful information.

1. Disclosure Triangle — Tap to collapse or expand the folder, project, or tag to hide or reveal its contents.
2. Row Type Icon — Projects, folders, and tags have icons next to them to help remind you of your current perspective and the row’s relation to those around it. Projects are further broken down by type: Sequential, Parallel, and Single Actions.
3. Row Status — Projects and tags with a status other than Active display it here. In addition to Active (no icon), Projects can be On Hold, Completed, or Dropped, while tags can be Active, On Hold, or Dropped.
4. Item Count — The total number of items in the project, folder, or tag.
5. Notes and Attachments — Indicates whether there are notes or attachments associated with the project itself (as opposed to the items within it). Notes and attachments can’t be assigned to folders or tags.
6. Due Summary — When there is enough room in the row, this line shows a breakdown of the due states (due soon and overdue) of items in the project, folder, or tag.

The Toolbar

The toolbar at the top of your OmniFocus window contains a customizable set of buttons for commonly used app functions that you’d like to have accessible at a single click. This chapter describes the controls available in the toolbar, and also explains the notice bars that appear beneath it when your OmniFocus window is in an unusual state.

Sidebar Button

In wide views, tap Sidebar to open and close the sidebar on the left side of OmniFocus. In compact views, tap it to navigate back and forth between the sidebar and the outline.

Back, Forward Buttons

Tap Back to return to your previous location in OmniFocus. Tap Forward to return to your next location, if you've navigated back to a previous one.

View Options Button

Tap View Options to customize which items appear in the current perspective’s outline view based on their completion status, project order, and other perspective-specific features. See View Options for more information.

Sidebar Menu Button

In wide views, tap the Sidebar Menu button to open a menu with controls for collapsing, expanding, and selecting items in the sidebar hierarchy. These controls are in the sidebar's More Menu in compact views.

Sidebar Edit Button

In wide views, tap Edit to switch the sidebar to edit mode. In compact views, this button replaces the Inspector button when viewing a perspective's sidebar.

More Button

Tap to open the More menu.

Inspector Button

In wide views, tap Inspector to open and close the inspector on the right side of OmniFocus. In compact views, tap it to navigate to the inspector for the current selection in the outline.

New Action Button

Quick Entry Button

Complete Button

Clean Up Button (Broom)

Attach Button (Paper clip)

Flag Button (Orange Flag)

Mark Reviewed Button

Quick Open Button

Focus Button (Pro)

View Options Button (Eyeball)

Inspect Button

Sync Button

Share Button

Flexible Space Button

Space Button

Custom Perspectives

Omni Automation

More Menu Button

The More menu contains an expanded list of useful controls for configuring your OmniFocus experience.

Undo Button

Tap it to revert the most recent change to your database. After a change has been undone, the Redo button also appears in this area of the menu.

Redo Button

Select Button

Tap Select in the More menu to enter the outline's Select mode.

Clean Up Button

In wide views, tap Clean Up to tidy any items in the outline that may belong elsewhere after a change of project, tag, or status. In compact views, drag down on the outline to prompt a clean up.

Expand All

Collapse All

Share

Tap Share to send a selected item outside OmniFocus using the iOS Share dialog. The item is added in a format relevant to its destination, with a link back to the original item in OmniFocus (or to add the item in OmniFocus, if sent via Mail).

Help

Tap to open the Help submenu, with entries for:

• About OmniFocus —
• OmniFocus Help —
• Release Notes —
• Contact Omni —

Settings

Tap to open OmniFocus Settings.

Select Mode

Tap More, then Select, to switch the outline to Select mode, where you can select, inspect, and edit as many items simultaneously as you would like. (Tap rows in the outline to select them.)

Any attributes shared by the selected items are displayed in the inspector. When attributes differ, the inspector indicates this as well (items selected across projects display as Mixed, a collection of flagged and unflagged items displays Some Items Flagged, and so on).

Editing an attribute of the selection applies the edit to all items in the selection, overwriting any existing information (in the case of Some Items Flagged, for example, tapping to flag the selection applies a flag directly to all items in the selection).

In Select mode, the bottom bar provides a variety of additional controls for quickly editing multiple items at once:

• Share —
• Copy — Copy the items to the pasteboard. Leave Select mode and touch and hold a row to open the shortcut menu and paste the copied items beneath it.
• Delete — Delete the items from the database entirely.
• More — Opens the More menu for Select mode, which contains the following controls:
  • Edit > Cut — Cut the items from the database and copy them to the pasteboard. Leave Select mode and touch and hold a row to open the shortcut menu and paste the copied items beneath it.
  • Edit > Copy as Link
  • Edit > Copy as TaskPaper
  • Edit > Paste
  • Edit > Duplicate
  • Organize > Group — Create a group consisting of the selected items and a new parent item. The group appears in the hierarchy on a peer row of the first item in the selection, directly above it.
  • Organize > Indent
  • Organize > Outdent
  • Schedule > Due Today
  • Schedule > Due Tomorrow
  • Schedule > Defer until Tomorrow
  • Flag/Unflag — Add or remove Flagged status to the items in the selection.
  • Drop
  • Inspect
  • Focus
  • Show in Tags

When you are finished editing, tap Done in the toolbar to leave Select mode.

Smart Add and Quick Entry

The Smart Add button floats in the lower right corner of the outline, and is available in every perspective.

The Smart Add button has three primary functions:

Adding Items Here

Tap the Smart Add button to add new items directly to your current location in the outline.

Adding Items with Drag and Drop

Touch and hold the Smart Add button to transform it into a new item that you can drag anywhere in the outline. As you drag the item over the outline, rows around it separate to provide a blank space to drop it. Drop the item to create a new item at that spot in the outline hierarchy, pre-filled with any relevant attributes based on the perspective you’re in.

Adding Items with Quick Entry

Touch and hold the Smart Add button to transform it into a new item that you can drag directly to the left, where the Quick Entry target appears.

When positioned on top of the Quick Entry target it becomes highlighted. Drop the item to open Quick Entry and create a new item there.

The Quick Entry sheet acts like a mini Inbox that you can access from anywhere in OmniFocus, and use to add one or more new items with a customizable set of metadata fields.

1. Cancel
2. View Options
3. Save
4. New Item

Row Shortcut Menus

Shortcut menus appear when you touch and hold a row in the outline, and contain commands relevant to your selection.

More information about shortcut menus can be found in the Commands, Gestures, and Keyboard Shortcuts chapter.

On Text

On Actions

Depending on their attributes, shortcut menus for actions and Inbox items include the following commands:

• Cut — Cut the item from the database and copy it to the pasteboard.
• Copy — Copy the item to the pasteboard.
• Paste — Add the contents of the pasteboard beneath the selected item.
• Share — Open the iOS Share dialog to send the selection to another app or run an Omni Automation Plug-In or other action.
• Delete — Delete the item from the database entirely.
• Forecast Tag — Add or remove the Forecast tag , if one is set.
• Flag/Unflag — Add or remove Flagged status.
• Drop/Skip — Set the item's status to Dropped, or skip the current iteration of a repeating item.
• Due Today/Reschedule to Today — Set the item's due date to today, or reschedule the current iteration of a repeating item to today.
• Due Tomorrow/Reschedule to Tomorrow — Set the item's due date to tomorrow, or reschedule the current iteration of a repeating item to tomorrow.
• Defer until Tomorrow — Set the item's defer date to tomorrow.

On Projects

Depending on their attributes and location (sidebar or outline), shortcut menus for projects include the following commands:

• Expand All — Expand all items in the outline to show their contents.
• Collapse All — Collapse all items in the outline to show only the top level projects and folders.
• Share — Open the iOS Share dialog to send the selection to another app or run an Omni Automation Plug-In or other action.
• Forecast Tag — Add or remove the Forecast tag , if one is set.
• Flag/Unflag — Add or remove Flagged status.
• Drop — Set the project's status to Dropped.
• Due Today — Set the project's due date to today.
• Due Tomorrow — Set the project's due date to tomorrow.
• Defer until Tomorrow — Set the project's defer date to tomorrow.
• Go to Project — Navigate to the project in the outline.
• Paste — Add the contents of the pasteboard as items within the project.
• Review — Open the project in the Review perspective.
• New Action — Add a new action to the project.
• Delete — Delete the project and all of its actions from the database entirely.
• Open in New Window (iPadOS only)—Open the project in a new window.

On Folders

Depending on their location (sidebar or outline), shortcut menus for folders include the following commands:

• Expand All — Expand all items in the outline to show their contents.
• Collapse All — Collapse all items in the outline to show only the top level projects and folders.
• Share — Open the iOS Share dialog to send the selection to another app or run an Omni Automation Plug-In or other action.
• Go to Folder — Navigate to the folder in the outline.
• New Folder — Add a new folder inside the selected folder.
• New Project — Add a new project inside the selected folder.
• Delete — Delete the folder and its contents from the database entirely.
• Open in New Window (iPadOS only)—Open the folder in a new window.

On Tags

Depending on their location (sidebar or outline), shortcut menus for tags include the following commands:

• Expand All — Expand all tags to show the nested tags and items within them.
• Collapse All — Collapse all tags to show only top level tags in the outline.
• Share — Open the iOS Share dialog to send the selection to another app or run an Omni Automation Plug-In or other action.
• Go to Tag — Navigate to the tag in the outline.
• Paste — Add the contents of the pasteboard as items with the tag assigned.
• New Tag — Add a new tag inside the selected tag.
• New Action — Add a new action inside the selected tag.
• Delete — Delete the tag and its associated items from the database entirely.
• Open in New Window (iPadOS only)—Open the tag in a new window.

Search

Navigate to the top of the outline and drag down to reveal the Search bar. Tap Search and enter keywords to find matching items from among three different possible scopes on your database.

• Here — The search is limited to the content currently visible in the outline. For many perspectives this includes the entire content of the perspective, but for those with hierarchy it may not—if you’re viewing the contents of a specific project or folder, items in projects outside that scope will not be shown in the results.
• Remaining — The search includes everything in your database with an implicit status of Remaining: all items except those marked Completed or Dropped.
• Everything — The search includes every item in your database, regardless of status or location.

Search looks for text matching the keywords in item titles, notes, and tags, and displays results as a list of items in the outline.

Sidebar

Chapter is next to be revised.