Getting Help
When you’re in need of help — whether you’re trying to figure out how custom perspectives work, how to sync your database with OmniFocus on another device, or if you’re having some other issue with OmniFocus — it’s good to know that the Support Humans at the Omni Group are always available to lend you a hand.
In addition to contacting Omni support directly, there are several online and in-app resources that can help answer your questions about OmniFocus.
Reference Manual
OmniFocus 4 for Mac, iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch documentation is being combined into this single, unified reference manual. This is still work in progress, which encountered significant delays during our recent development.
If you are using OmniFocus 3, or you would like more context on material that is not yet available in this manual, you may be interested in the OmniFocus 3 Reference Manual for macOS or OmniFocus 3 Reference Manual for iOS.
Email Docs Team
Your thoughts and feedback about this reference manual, or any related topics, are very welcome. Planned changes, work in progress, and published updates are noted below, but if there’s something additional you’d like to see, or topics that you’d really like us to prioritize, please email the documentation team; we’d love to hear from you!
If you have a non-Documentation related question or issue, please see the section about emailing the Support Humans, below.
Release Notes
For a detailed, comprehensive summary of the latest changes to OmniFocus, read the Release Notes, available from the Help menu on Mac, the Help row in Settings on iPhone and iPad, or the Help sub-menu under the toolbar More menu on iPhone and iPad.
Finding Help Online
The OmniFocus Support Site provides a wealth of information (including this reference manual), as well as support articles which cover other topics related to working with OmniFocus.
Similarly, the OmniFocus product page is always a good place to find the latest information about features and updates to OmniFocus.
Email Support Humans
If you’re stuck, if you have a good idea for the next version of OmniFocus, or if you just want to let us know how we’re doing, please send us an email. Contact Omni will create an email message addressed to us, which also includes information about the version you’re running, which operating system you’re running it on, and what type of license you have, which helps us quickly assist you.
Alternatively, you can email Support Humans directly! Either way, we take support seriously, so you can expect a prompt response actually typed by our Support Humans.
If you are contacting support with an issue, it’s very helpful if you can include a screenshot or screen recording of the behavior that you’re experiencing, along with the steps that are causing the issue. This helps us understand the problem and find a solution more quickly and effectively.
Apple provides several useful sets of instructions for capturing screenshots or screen recordings:
Phone Support
We understand that sometimes you just can’t wait for an email response when you’re knee-deep in a project and you’re stuck, or something isn’t working quite right. When this happens, you can call our Support Humans! Please check our Support site for current hours and telephone numbers.
Online Forums
Omni maintains online forums for all of our products, which are available to everyone. Come share your questions and ideas with other users, share tips to show off how you’re using OmniFocus for getting stuff done, and seek help from the OmniFocus community.
Omni also maintains a public Slack Workspace, where you’re welcome to join the community of fellow productivity enthusiasts to hang out and share OmniFocus-related insights.
Note that while Omni Forums and Slack are a great resource for interacting with others in the OmniFocus community, they are not monitored for troubleshooting purposes, and are not considered an official support channel. Please use our email and phone options to get in touch with our support team directly.
Documentation Updates
While documentation is still being actively revised, notes will be added to this section to make it easy to find new and updated content.
Planned Revisions
Remaining work is planned in this order; feedback is welcome!
- Perspectives (in progress)
- Outline and Sidebar
- Custom Perspectives (Pro)
- Inspector
- Capture Methods
- Apple Integration
- Settings (minor updates needed)
- Commands and Shortcuts (minor updates needed)
- OmniFocus for Apple Watch
- Automation
- Accessibility
Documentation Release Notes
- 4.0.0.0 (2023-12-12) — First public release.
- 4.0.0.1 (2023-12-12) — Minor cleanup.
- 4.0.0.3 (2023-12-13) — Added Grouping Items section; added documentation email.
- 4.0.0.4 (2023-12-13) — Updated Custom Perspectives to be more accurate (full rewrite is still in progress); updated Settings.
- 4.0.0.5 (2023-12-14) — Fixed layout of index; added Projects Sidebar & Project Type sections, updated Miscellaneous Project.
- 4.0.1.0 (2023-12-15) — Added Clippings section.
- 4.0.1.1 (2023-12-18) — Added Setting up OmniFocus 4 and Upgrading from OmniFocus 3 sections.
- 4.0.1.2 (2023-12-19) — Added How OmniFocus Sync Works (as well as updates regarding syncing with an Omni Account or WebDAV) and Troubleshooting sections.
- 4.0.2.0 (2023-12-20) — Added links to relevant portions of OmniFocus 3 Reference Manual for macOS and OmniFocus 3 Reference Manual for iOS to sections that are currently in progress.
- 4.0.2.1 (2023-12-21) — Added Archiving in OmniFocus and Exporting from OmniFocus sections. Updated Settings and Commands and Shortcuts chapters.
- 4.0.2.2 (2023-12-26) — Added Project Sidebar, Project Status, and Folder Status sections. Updated Settings, Commands and Shortcuts, and Glossary.
- 4.0.3.1 (2023-12-28) — Added Tags section to Perspectives chapter. Updated Archiving in OmniFocus and Upgrading from OmniFocus 3 for changes being released in OmniFocus 4.0.3. Updated Settings, Commands and Shortcuts, and Glossary.
- 4.0.3.2 (2023-12-29) — Added Backups of OmniFocus Data and Migrating Your Data sections to Managing Your Data. Updated Commands and Shortcuts and Settings.