Learn OmniFocus was unveiled two years ago today, a few days after OmniFocus 2 for Mac was released to the public.
Since that day we’ve had many thousands of people from all over the world visit our site and and OmniFocus users from 59 countries have become members. I’m thankful to all of you who have supported us by becoming members and by providing feedback on the content we offer.
Read on for some of the highlights from the past two years and for a sneak peek at what’s coming down the pipe.
Learning from OmniFocus Experts
A heartfelt thanks to all of the guests on Learn OmniFocus LIVE who have shared their perspective on OmniFocus, and productivity in general. Our guest roster to date includes Kourosh Dini (recording), Sven Fechner (recording), David Sparks (recording), Joe Buhlig (recording), Shawn Blanc (recording) and me, Tim Stringer (recording). Recordings of all of our guest webinars are available to everyone free of charge.
I’m looking forward to welcoming Johnny Chadda to Learn OmniFocus LIVE on July 20 (register). Johnny will be joining us from Sweden and giving us the benefit of his years of experience with OmniFocus. And we’re looking forward to welcoming more guests later this year. Let us know if you have someone you’d like to recommend.
Themed Webinars
Over the past couples years I’ve also presented best practices and techniques on a wide range of OmniFocus-related topics: Creating Structure (recording), Capturing and Processing (recording), Stepping Into Action (recording), Staying the Course (recording), Automation (recording), Calendar Management (recording), Taming Email (recording) and Managing Ideas (recording).
Most recently, I went back to basics with Start Smart with OmniFocus (recording) and covered both core functionality and best practices for using OmniFocus on Mac, iOS and Apple Watch. I’ll be rounding out my coverage of built-in OmniFocus features and best practices on June 22 with “OmniFocus: Beyond the Basics”. This webinar is open to all active members with sessions at 10am Pacific Time (register) and 2pm Pacific Time (register).
Moving forward, there are more themes to cover, and I’ll be offering updated versions of past webinars as the technology evolves. For example, look for an updated “Automating OmniFocus” webinar that features new automation techniques on iOS that became possible with the introduction of OmniFocus 2.14. I’ve also had some requests for industry-specific webinars (e.g. education, medicine and legal) and am actively researching this possibility.
AppleScripts and Third-Party Apps
One of my goals in developing Learn OmniFocus was to create a central hub for all things OmniFocus, complementing the excellent content that the Omni Group provides on the recently revamped Inside OmniFocus website.
The OmniFocus AppleScript Directory provides links to a growing number of scripts that add convenience and efficiency to OmniFocus for Mac (Pro edition). I test all of the scripts that are posted on this directory, and personally use many of them regularly. I’m in the process of testing more scripts and look forward to continuing to expand this directory over the coming weeks and months.
OmniFocus is even more powerful and convenient when combined with complementary apps and services. There is a growing number of Mac, iPhone, iPad and web-based apps that support OmniFocus and others that can be integrated using AppleScript.
The OmniFocus App Directory showcases apps that we’ve vetted. It also serves as a convenient place to locate Learn OmniFocus content that references these apps and, in many cases, includes links to content on sites such as ScreenCastsOnline, Lynda.com and MacSparky that provide in-depth tutorials for taking full advantage of the functionality that these apps provide.
We’re also continuing to expand our library of videos that feature OmniFocus integration with third-party apps and services. Our video library currently contains tutorials to support you in using OmniFocus with a range of third-party apps, including Evernote (video), TextExpander (video) Drafts 4 (video), Fantastical (video) and PopClip (video). And we’ll soon be expanding our video library to feature more apps with built-in OmniFocus integration.
Reading Up on Best Practices
Our library also features a series of articles that provide guidance on structuring your OmniFocus folders (article) and contexts (article), while avoiding common pitfalls (article). We also provide practical advise for establishing a daily OmniFocus routine (article).
We have more articles in the works, including one that provides guidelines for naming projects and single action lists and another with best practices for managing large projects. These articles are exhaustively researched and draw upon years of experience using OmniFocus.
Requests for Content Welcome
Whether you’re enjoying our free content or are a paid Learn OmniFocus Member, you’re very welcome to contact us with any requests you have for OmniFocus-related content. We carefully review all of the messages we receive and these requests help steer the topics we cover and the release schedule for new content.
Thanks again and warm wishes from Vancouver, Canada.