OmniFocus for the Web Reference Manual

The Inspector

The Inspector holds tools for editing your actions, projects, and tags.

With something selected in the outline or sidebar, the inspector automatically shows fields relevant to the selection. Click the Inspect button in the toolbar the Inspect button, an italicized I in a circle to show or hide it.

This chapter explains the purpose and function of the inspector’s various sections and the options they contain for editing your OmniFocus items.

Each section of the inspector has a disclosure triangle The disclosure triangle next to each section header in the inspector. next to its name. Click it to collapse or expand the section.

Title

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

The Title section of the inspector.

Select the title text in the inspector to edit it.

Most workflows use an item’s title to represent an actionable task—either a standalone action item, a step in a project, or the project goal itself.

By contrast, titles for tags typically represent people, places, things, or situations relevant to completion of the tasks at hand.

Type and Status

Use this section of the inspector to set attributes specific to the type and status of an item 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 an Inbox item or item group.

The Inbox Item section of the inspector.

This section includes the following attributes:

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

    Inbox items have the Active status by default. For more on the meaning of each status, see Item 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 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 item's project. For Inbox items and groups, this field is empty; assigning a project to an Inbox item typically causes it to leave the Inbox.

    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.

  • 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 an action or action group.

The Action section of the inspector.

This section includes the following attributes:

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

    Actions have the Active status by default. For more on the meaning of each status, see Item 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 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 action's project.

    Change the action's project by entering a different project name in the field. To create a new project for the selection, enter it in the field and choose Create new project name. Click Go to Project The Go to Project button in the inspector. 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 a project.

The Project section of the inspector.

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. 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 a tag in a view that lists tags in the outline or sidebar.

The Tag section of the inspector.

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.

Tags

Use the Tags section of the inspector to add tags to a selected item, or review any tags it already has.

The Tags section of the inspector.

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.

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 an item's creation, modification, and completion.

The Dates section of the inspector.

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.

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 default 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 and Dropped

The Completed and Dropped dates of the selection are shown here, if any. These dates are created when their respective statuses are applied. These values can't be edited here, but can be changed with OmniFocus for Mac or iOS.

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.

Supported Date Formats

You can be creative with the way you enter dates; OmniFocus is good at guessing what you mean. For example:

  • 2d, –3w, 1h, 1y1m, and so on — Relative dates and times put the date at a certain amount of time from right now. Negative numbers represent times in the past.

  • 2 days, –3 weeks, 1 hour, 1 year 1 month, and so on — You can use the full names of units too.

  • yesterday, tomorrow, tonight, next thursday, last month, this friday, and so on — You can refer to relative dates using common words. “This”, “next”, and “last” have specific meanings: this friday always means the Friday in this week, next friday always means the Friday in the next week, and last friday always means the Friday in last week, regardless of what day today is. Other units work in the same way.

  • september, fri, 2019, and so on — If you enter the name of a specific time period, the date will be at its beginning. So september means September first.

  • 5/23/08 10a, 9.30.09 2:00 PM,* and so on — You can use the short date format as defined in your Language & Region system preferences.

  • 2w sat, 4d @ 5p, mon 6a, aug 6 tue 5p, and so on — Mix the available formats however you like.

  • now, 9, 14:00, tom, and so on — OmniFocus makes its best guess at things like bare numbers, times, and word fragments. If you think something might work, give it a try.

Note

Use the Note section of the inspector to add, view, and edit the note associated with the selection.

The Note section of the inspector.

To add a note to an item, click the note icon The icon on an item row indicating that its note field is empty. in the outline near the item’s title, edit the note field in the inspector, or choose Edit > Edit Note (Command-’).

Text styles added in other versions of OmniFocus sync with OmniFocus for the Web, but are not displayed and cannot be interacted with directly using the web client.

Attachments

Attachments you add to items in OmniFocus for Mac or iOS appear in the outline when you expand an item's note, as well as in the Note section at the bottom of the inspector.

The web client does not support adding attachments at this time.

Attachments in the inspector.

Each attachment is represented by an accompanying thumbnail image. Hover over the image to display controls for the attachment:

  • Click the cloud icon A cloud-shaped icon with a down arrow appears over an attachment thumbnail. to download the attachment to your computer.

  • Click the delete icon A circular icon with a horizontal bar in the middle appears in the bottom right over an attachment thumbnail. to remove the attachment from OmniFocus.

  • For image attachments, click the magnifying glass icon A magnifying glass icon appears over image attachment thumbnails on hover. to view the attachment in your browser.