Integration and Automation

Just as OmniFocus is an integral part of your life, we strive to deeply integrate OmniFocus into the system of whichever device you are using.

As part of helping you to accomplish more every day — anywhere you go!, we continue updating OmniFocus:

OmniFocus supports a wide range of Apple technologies, including:

In addition to the available Apple technologies, we have our own cross-platform automation system: Omni Automation!

Apple Intelligence

Apple Intelligence is available on Mac, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Apple Vision Pro, if your device meets the minimum system requirements:

• How to get Apple Intelligence

As Apple continues to update Apple Intelligence, we evaluate each new feature to determine which will help you accomplish more in OmniFocus. OmniFocus currently supports:

Foundation Models

OmniFocus 4 includes support for Apple’s Foundation Models framework, both as part of our enhanced Date Parsing with Apple Intelligence, and as part of your Omni Automation workflows.

Genmoji

Genmoji can be used in titles and notes.

To learn more about creating Genmoji, see these Apple User Guide articles:

Shortcuts Actions for Apple Intelligence

The Shortcuts app supports Apple Intelligence actions, which can be combined with the OmniFocus actions described below.

As of the time of writing, Apple Intelligence actions include using a cloud, on-device, or ChatGPT language model; creating an image using Image Playground; or incorporating Writing Tools into your workflow.

To learn more about using Apple Intelligence with Shortcuts, see these Apple User Guide articles:

Writing Tools

Writing Tools are available for row titles, row notes, and text contained in any cell.

To use Writing Tools, select the text you want to modify, then choose Show Writing Tools from the Shortcut Menu; on Mac, you can also select Writing Tools from the Edit Menu.

If you select a row (instead of text inside the row), Writing Tools will focus on the row title, but is unable to successfully Replace the title. You can still Copy and Paste the result manually.

To learn more about using Writing Tools, see these Apple User Guide articles:

Siri AI (Beta)

Siri AI is an enhanced and more powerful version of Siri. Siri AI is currently available as a Beta feature from Apple, available on recent devices, beginning with the release of OS 27. For general information about Siri AI, please read Apple’s page about Apple Intelligence and Siri.

OmniFocus support for Siri AI is available on Mac, iPhone, iPad, and Apple Vision Pro.

Configuring Siri AI

For device-specific information from Apple, including which devices support Siri AI and how to request access to the Beta, see these Apple User Guide articles:

Once Apple has granted access to Siri AI, OmniFocus should automatically be included in your Siri AI learning and results. If you want to confirm that OmniFocus is included:

1. Open System Settings.
2. Select Siri.
3. Select App Access.
4. Select OmniFocus.
5. Under Allow OmniFocus.app to Use Data for, turn on the option for Learn from this application.

How OmniFocus Shares with Siri AI

OmniFocus integrates with Siri AI using Apple’s Reminders app schema, which provides the closest match to OmniFocus features, and allows you to use OmniFocus in most places you can use Reminders.

Since we are using the Reminders app schema, Siri AI requires using Reminders-based terms to interact with OmniFocus, and only supports interactions that are possible in both Reminders and OmniFocus. Features which are not supported by Reminders, such as Planned Dates, can not be added or edited using Siri AI. Remember that you can always start with Siri AI, and then use the full range of OmniFocus features to get everything just the way you like!

Supported Reminders terms include:

As of OmniFocus 4.9 and OS 27.0, OmniFocus supports using Siri AI to:

You can also Activate Siri to ask questions about your reminders, lists, and groups. Please read each section, to learn more about the information you can ask about:

• Reminders with Siri AI
• Lists with Siri AI
• Groups with Siri AI

Reminders with Siri AI

As of OmniFocus 4.9 and OS 27.0, OmniFocus supports using Siri AI to:

Siri AI supports the following properties when creating, updating, opening, or asking about reminders:

A few things to keep in mind:

• Siri expects you to refer to projects as lists.
• You can assign or update tags, but Siri doesn’t know anything about the hierarchy or relationship of tags, so features like mutually exclusive tags won’t work.
• Assigning a location only works if you have a matching tag, which has both a fixed Location (Here, Address, Contact, Pin) and Location Notification (When Arriving, When Leaving).

Some phrases you might want to try:

• Remind me to take out the trash every Friday, in OmniFocus.
• Can you open my reminder about researching a new computer?
• Can you update the due date for my reminder about grocery shopping to tomorrow?

Lists with Siri AI

As of OmniFocus 4.9 and OS 27.0, OmniFocus supports using Siri AI to:

Siri AI supports the following properties when creating, opening, or asking about lists:

You can also create a list containing reminders, or ask Siri to turn a reminder into a list of reminders with more detail.

If you’re not sure how to accomplish a task, ask Siri to research it for you, then create a new list with reminders for you to work through.

Some phrases you might want to try:

• Please research a good lasagna recipe, and create a new list containing ingredient I need to buy, in OmniFocus
• Can you open my chores list in OmniFocus?
• I would like to read “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings” series. Please create a list for each book, with a reminder for each chapter, and add due dates so that I can complete the series in the next quarter.

Groups with Siri AI

As of OmniFocus 4.9 and OS 27.0, OmniFocus supports using Siri AI to:

Siri AI supports the following properties when opening or asking about groups:

A phrase you might want to try:

• Please open my family group in OmniFocus

Activating Siri

There are many ways of activating Siri, depending on the device and platform. These often include:

• Using the new Siri app.
• Using the “Siri” or “Hey, Siri” commands.
• Using the Spotlight bar.
• And many other options!

To learn more about activating Siri, see these Apple User Guide articles:

When you first start working with Siri AI and OmniFocus, you will need to include “in OmniFocus” in your conversation, such as “please remind me to buy some milk in OmniFocus.” As you continue working with Siri AI and OmniFocus, and as Siri learns that you use OmniFocus for your reminders and lists, you may find that you can eventually drop “in OmniFocus” from your conversation, such as “remind me to call my parents.”

Siri App

OS 27 includes a new Siri app, which unites all of your Siri conversations into a single location, and syncs them between your Siri AI-compatible devices.

While developing the Siri AI support in OmniFocus, our team has found the Siri app valuable for exploring what is possible with Siri AI. You can type or talk to Siri, easily scroll back to review your conversation thus far, and continue your conversation using already established context, or return to older conversations along with the previous context.

To learn more about the Siri app, see these Apple User Guide articles:

Onscreen Awareness

Onscreen awareness allows Siri AI (Beta) to see everything on your screen, including OmniFocus. You can ask Siri about items that you see in OmniFocus, and update them by Activating Siri or using the Siri App.

You can also ask Siri about other items on your screen, such as a website you would like to read later, a photo of a place to visit, or a document you are editing, and then create related reminders in OmniFocus.

You can:

Some phrases you might want to try:

• Mark the first three reminders complete.
• Which of my reminders are most important?
• Remind me to research this website tomorrow evening.

To learn more about Onscreen awareness, see these Apple User Guide articles:

Onscreen awareness is not available on Apple Vision Pro.

Visual Intelligence

You can interact with photos of objects or to-do lists, adding related reminders and lists to OmniFocus, or capture reminders and lists about items you see around you.

To learn more about Visual Intelligence see these Apple User Guide articles:

Spotlight with Siri AI

Spotlight with Siri AI is supported on iPhone, iPad, and Apple Vision Pro.

Building on the power of Spotlight, Siri knows about the content of your database, including remaining and recently completed items.

Voice Control

If you would like to supplement the OmniFocus integration with Siri AI, you may be interested in using Voice Control to control OmniFocus on your Mac. To learn more, visit this Omni Automation page:

• Interact with OmniFocus using Siri AI and Voice Control on macOS

Omni Automation

Omni Automation is our JavaScript-based cross-platform automation system, which is available on Mac, iPhone, iPad, and Apple Vision Pro.

To learn more about Omni Automation, please visit the What is Omni Automation? and Omni Automation in OmniFocus pages.

Plug-Ins

Omni Automation Plug-Ins are written in Apple’s Core JavaScript, and can be used to automate a wide variety of workflows.

To learn more about Omni Automation Plug-Ins, visit the Omni Automation Plug-Ins website, try building your own using The Action Template Generators, or Installing Plug-Ins from the Omni Automation Plug-Ins for OmniFocus collection.

Installing Plug-Ins

To install Omni Automation Plug-Ins on Mac:

• Add the plug-in to a Connected Folder which is configured to support Plug-Ins, such as the iCloud Drive Connected Folder.
• Double-click the plug-in, then select from On My Mac to use the plug-in on this device only, OmniFocus to add the plug-in to iCloud Drive > OmniFocus > Plug-Ins so it can be used on all your devices, or any other configured Connected Folder.
• Select Configure… from the Automation Menu, then drag the plug-in over the Automation Configuration window.

To install Omni Automation Plug-Ins on iPhone, iPad, or Apple Vision Pro:

• Add the plug-in to a Connected Folder which is configured to support Plug-Ins, such as the iCloud Drive Connected Folder.
• Tap the plug-in, then select from On My Device to use the plug-in on this device only, or OmniFocus to add the plug-in to iCloud Drive > OmniFocus > Plug-Ins so it can be used on all your devices, or any other configured Connected Folder.
• Select Configure Plug-Ins from Automation Settings (or from the Automation Menu on iPad), then drag the plug-in over the desired location header. This is easier on iPad or Apple Vision Pro, but still possible on iPhone.

Uninstalling Plug-Ins

To uninstall Omni Automation Plug-Ins on Mac:

• If it is in a Connected Folder, remove it from that folder.
• Select Configure… from the Automation Menu, Control + click on the plug-in, and select Move to Trash.

To uninstall Omni Automation Plug-Ins on iPhone, iPad, or Apple Vision Pro:

• If it is in a Connected Folder, remove it from that folder.
• Select Configure Plug-Ins from Automation Settings (or from the Automation Menu on iPad), swipe on the plug-in row from right to left, and select Delete.

Shortcuts

OmniFocus 4 included a collection of actions in the Shortcuts app, with further updates for OmniFocus 4.7 and OmniFocus 4.9.

These actions are described below, with additional context and links to other sections of this documentation, where helpful.

You can also view available actions by launching the Shortcuts app, creating a New Shortcut, and then scrolling to the OmniFocus section. Shortcuts also allows you to search action details, which is a quick way to find specific actions, or narrow your search to actions affecting one primary element (such as rows).

Select the button to the right of an action title to show details, including the intended purpose of the action, as well as possible inputs and results.

If you are just getting started with Shortcuts, please start with these helpful Apple User Guide articles:

Categories

OmniFocus actions are separated into categories, based on which part of your OmniFocus database they primarily affect:

There is one action which is in:

• Beta

The Shortcuts app will also suggest actions for you, based on how you have been using OmniFocus; these are grouped under the Other category.

OmniFocus also includes actions from earlier versions of OmniFocus 4, to preserve your existing workflows. We encourage you to update to our more powerful App Intent-based actions, as you have time.

• Legacy

Remember that shortcuts can also include actions from other apps, as well as actions that are built-in to the system, including actions using Apple Intelligence.

Actions

Application

Beta

Focus

Folders

Omni Automation

Perspectives

Projects

Tags

Legacy Actions

Shortcut Actions Reference

Our App Intent actions have been built to be compatible with the most recent updates from Apple.

All current OmniFocus Shortcuts actions, in alphabetical order:

Add Action

Updated in OmniFocus 4.9

Description:

• Adds a new action to OmniFocus with the specified details.

Action:

• Add Action to Project with Detail

Inputs:

• Action — The title of the action to add.
• Project — The project to which the action is added.
• Detail — Choose to add details for Tags, Note, Flagged, Attachments, Estimated Minutes, Defer Date, Planned Date, Due Date, Repeat.

As of OmniFocus 4.9, this action supports Rich Text in the Note; previous versions of this action supported only Plain Text.

As of OmniFocus 4.9, this action supports adding a Repeat.

Add TaskPaper

Updated in OmniFocus 4.9

Description:

• Adds the TaskPaper passed as input into OmniFocus.

Action:

• Add TaskPaper to Target

Inputs:

• TaskPaper — The TaskPaper formatted text to add.
• Target — Choose to add your text to the Inbox perspective, Projects perspective, a selected Folder, a selected Project, or a selected Action.

For more information about TaskPaper-formatted text, read our OmniFocus TaskPaper Reference Guide.

This action has replaced the Legacy: Add TaskPaper action.

Complete Action

Complete Project

Delete Actions

New in OmniFocus 4.9

Description:

• Deletes the provided actions in OmniFocus.

Action:

• Delete Actions

Inputs:

• Actions — The actions to delete.

Edit Action

New in OmniFocus 4.9

Description:

• Sets a specific field with a new value on the provided action.

Action:

• Set Detail of Action

Inputs:

• Detail — Choose to update the Repeat, Due Date, Planned Date, Defer Date, Estimated Minutes, Is Flagged, Note, Tags, Project, or Title of a selected action.
• Action — The action to edit.

You can also choose to clear any of the details, except for the title, which is required.

Find Actions (Beta)

Updated in OmniFocus 4.9

Find Folder

Find Perspectives

Find Projects

Updated in OmniFocus 4.9

Find Tags

Get Action

Description:

• Gets an action from the provided input.
• Accepts an Action URL or ID.

Action:

• Get Actions from Action URL or ID

Inputs:

Get Actions from Perspective

Description:

• Returns any actions currently appearing in the specified perspective.

Action:

• Get Actions from Perspective

Inputs:

This Shortcuts action is the equivalent of viewing any of the Standard Perspectives or Custom Perspectives .

For a Forecast-specific version of this action, use our updated Today’s Forecast action.

Get Folder

Description:

• Gets a folder from the provided input.
• Accepts a Folder URL or ID.

Action:

• Get Actions from Folder URL or ID

Inputs:

Get Perspective

Description:

• Gets a perspective from the provided input.
• Accepts a Perspective URL or ID.

Action:

• Get Actions from Perspective URL or ID

Inputs:

Get Project

Description:

• Gets a project from the provided input.
• Accepts a Project URL or ID.

Action:

• Get Actions from Project URL or ID

Inputs:

Get Tag

Description:

• Gets a tag from the provided input.
• Accepts a Tag URL or ID.

Action:

• Get Actions from Tag URL or ID

Inputs:

Open Action

Omni Automation Plug-In

New in OmniFocus 4.9

Description:

• Runs an action from an Omni Automation plug-in.

Runs an installed Omni Automation Plug-In from among the actions you have installed in OmniFocus; adding this to your shortcut provides a drop-down menu where you can select the desired Omni Automation action to run.

Action:

• Run the Plug-In Action Omni Automation Plug-In

Inputs:

To learn more about incorporating Omni Automation into your Shortcuts workflows, visit the Omni Automation and Shortcuts page on the Omni Automation website, and try Installing Plug-Ins from the Omni Automation Plug-Ins for OmniFocus collection.

This action replaces the Legacy: Omni Automation Plug-In action.

Omni Automation Script

New in OmniFocus 4.9

Description:

• Runs an Omni Automation script, using optional input from another Shortcuts action.

Action:

• Run a script with Input via Omni Automation

Inputs:

To learn more about incorporating Omni Automation into your Shortcuts workflows, see Omni Automation and Shortcuts on the Omni Automation website.

This action replaces the Legacy: Omni Automation Script action.

Open Folder

Open Perspective

Open Project

Open Tag

Quick Entry

Quick Open

Set Favorite Perspective

Description:

• Turns on, turns off, or toggles the favorite status of one or more Perspectives.

Action:

• Boolean Perspectives as favorite

Inputs:

Set OmniFocus Focus Filter

Description:

• Sets the behavior of the OmniFocus app when the given Focus is enabled.

Action:

• Set OmniFocus Filter while in Do Not Disturb

Inputs:

Sync OmniFocus

Today’s Forecast

Description:

• Gets items for today from your Forecast, including tagged, flagged, and deferred items if those options are selected in View Options.

For additional customization, use our new Get Actions from Perspective action.

This Shortcuts action is the equivalent of viewing the Forecast Perspective.

Legacy Shortcuts

Following is a list of the automation actions that OmniFocus provides to the Shortcuts app when it is installed on your device. Each action has a description, and where relevant, a list of the inputs the action receives and the outputs the action provides.

All legacy OmniFocus Shortcuts actions, in alphabetical order:

Current OmniFocus shortcut actions cannot be combined with legacy shortcut actions, as they are developed using two different types of Apple technology.

Most functionality of the legacy shortcut actions is available with the current generation of actions, in addition to a whole new set of functionality.

If you are unable to re-create something from a legacy shortcut using the newer actions, please Email Support for assistance.

Legacy: Add Item

This action is deprecated, and cannot be used with our new Shortcuts actions. It will be removed in a future version of OmniFocus.

Please replace this action with our new Add Action action.

Description:

• Adds a new action to OmniFocus with the specified details.

Action:

• Add Item to Project + Detail

Inputs:

• Item — The title of the action to add.
• Project — The project to which the action is added.
• Detail — Choose to add details for Tags, Flagged, Estimated Minutes, Defer Date, Due Date, Attachments, Note.

Unlike the Add Action action, this action supports only Plain Text in the Note.

Legacy: Add TaskPaper

This action is deprecated, and cannot be used with our new Shortcuts actions. It will be removed in a future version of OmniFocus.

Please replace this action with our new Add TaskPaper action.

Description:

• Adds the TaskPaper passed as input into OmniFocus.

Inputs:

• TaskPaper — The TaskPaper formatted text to add.
• Target — Choose to add your text to the Inbox perspective, Projects perspective, a selected Folder, a selected Project, or a selected Task.

Legacy: Find Items

Searches for the items in your OmniFocus database that match the given criteria.

• Input — Text

This shortcut action returns inbox items and actions (inside OmniFocus projects) specifically. To find projects or tags instead, use those respective shortcut actions.

This shortcut action returns inbox items and OmniFocus actions (items inside projects) specifically. To find projects or tags instead, use those respective shortcut actions.

Legacy: Find Projects

Searches for the projects in your OmniFocus database that match the given criteria.

• Input — Text
• Result — Project

This shortcut action returns projects specifically. To find action items or tags instead, use those respective shortcut actions.

Legacy: Find Tags

Searches for the tags in your OmniFocus database that match the given criteria.

• Input — Text
• Result — Tag

This shortcut action returns tags specifically. To find action items or projects instead, use those respective shortcut actions.

Legacy: Get Database Object Result from Input

Returns a “Database Object Result” containing one of “Item”, “Project”, “Folder”, “Tag”, or “Perspective”, depending on the input. These objects can be used in the pickers found in other OmniFocus shortcut actions.

Accepts JSON-formatted text passed in as input. The JSON attributes are “type” (with values “task”, “project”, “folder”, “tag”, or “perspective”) and “primaryKey”. You may recognize these attributes from their use in omnifocus:/// URLs.

• Input — Text
• Result — Database Object Result

What are Database Objects?

Database Objects are representations of entities in OmniFocus that aren’t natively supported by the Shortcuts app. They make it possible to manipulate elements of OmniFocus that otherwise would be inaccessible. (For example, to pass an OmniFocus folder from one action to another.)

If you want to make modular shortcuts including a snippet of logic that spits out JSON that looks like what is found in the example .. for example, based on whether it’s found between 9am and 5pm it distinguishes between your home folder and your work folder, and you want to use that representation between multiple shortcuts, that’s the way to work around the limitation that you can’t pass an OmniFocus specific object type (like a folder) from one shortcut to another.

Legacy: Omni Automation Plug-In

Runs an action from among the Omni Automation Plug-In actions you have installed in OmniFocus. Adding this to your shortcut provides a drop-down menu where you can select the desired Omni Automation action to run.

Learn more about incorporating Omni Automation into your Shortcuts workflows at the Omni Automation website.

Legacy: Omni Automation Script

Runs an Omni Automation script, using optional input from another Shortcuts action.

Learn more about incorporating Omni Automation into your Shortcuts workflows at the Omni Automation website.

Legacy: Show in OmniFocus

Shows a project, folder, tag, or perspective chosen from a list, or an item passed from the previous action. The latter is useful in combination with the Find Items action.

Legacy: Today’s Forecast

Get items for today from your OmniFocus Forecast, including tagged and deferred items if those options are selected in Forecast View Options.

• Result — Item

Siri

Siri is available on Mac, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Apple Vision Pro.

• Use Siri on all your Apple devices
• Use Siri on Mac
• Use Siri on iPhone
• Use Siri on iPad
• Use Siri on Apple Watch
• Set up and activate Siri on Apple Vision Pro

Once you have configured a shortcut using the Shortcuts app, you can launch it using Siri.

To learn more, see these Apple User Guide articles:

For general information about Siri, these articles are useful:

Spotlight

Spotlight indexes your OmniFocus database, allowing you to quickly search for:

As well as quickly access:

Spotlight is available on Mac, iPhone, iPad, and Apple Vision Pro:

System Focus

Apple has a robust Focus system, which allows you to configure a range of device and app settings based on your current location, time of day, or area of… focus. You can also share your Focus states across devices, making it quick and easy to update everything at the same time. Customization options include Focus Filters, which allow you to automatically update OmniFocus (and other apps) when you change Focus on your devices.

To learn more about Focus, start with these Apple User Guide articles:

Focus Filters

While configuring a Focus, select Add Filter.

You can search for folders, then select one or more to use as the basis for an automatically applied Focus on Selected when you switch your device Focus.