Defer Actions, Groups & Projects in OmniFocus 2 for Mac

By using the defer feature in OmniFocus you can control when an action, a group or even an entire project becomes available.

OmniFocus 3 for Mac

Defer dates and times work the same way in OmniFocus 3 as they did in OmniFocus 2. However, some of the specifics of what’s included in this video have changed in OmniFocus 3.

The Cleanup button no longer appears in the toolbar by default. It can be added to the toolbar by choosing View > Customize Toolbar.

It’s still possible to view and change deferred items in the Forecast perspective. The calendar items, if displayed, now appear inline with due items. Previously they were displayed separately in a horizontal format.

Custom perspectives are more powerful in OmniFocus 3.  It’s still possible to create a Radar perspective in OmniFocus 3 for Mac (Pro), but the interface for creating this custom perspective has changed.

Note that contexts are now called tags and OmniFocus 3 tasks can have multiple tags.

OmniFocus allows you to specify the date and even the time when an item will become available. When you’re getting down to work you can have OmniFocus only show you “available” actions, filtering out those actions that have been deferred. The result is a shorter, more relevant list.

In this video we’ll review the basics of using defer dates and will look at how they can be used as part of your day-to-day workflow. You’ll learn:

  • How to defer an action to a future date.
  • The difference between defer dates and due dates.
  • How to specify the default start time for defer dates.
  • How to defer an action to a specific date and time.
  • How to display deferred items in the Forecast perspective.
  • How to use drag and drop to reassign defer dates.
  • How to defer a group of actions.
  • How to defer an entire project.
  • How to create a “Radar” perspective that groups actions according to their defer date.

If you’re using the Pro edition of OmniFocus 2 for Mac, it’s also recommended that you watch the Custom Perspectives with OmniFocus for Mac (Pro) video. This video provides instruction on creating perspectives that show all of your available actions as well as those that show available actions based on a filtered view of your OmniFocus database.

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