The new OmniFocus Shortcuts Directory is now available on Learn OmniFocus. It’s a collection of meticulously crafted shortcuts for members that brings convenience and consistency to OmniFocus across all your Apple devices.
Shortcuts is Apple’s automation app. A single shortcut can carry out a series of steps across one or more apps, prompting for input as needed. For example, one shortcut reads your calendar and creates the actions you need to prepare for an upcoming meeting. Another takes the message you’re reading in Apple Mail and creates an action that links back to the message.
Keeping OmniFocus Consistent
When you add things to OmniFocus manually, small variations tend to creep in. An action gets a tag one day and not the next. A note is formatted one way in the morning and another in the afternoon.
Shortcuts apply the same structure every time, so what ends up in OmniFocus follows the practices I teach on Learn OmniFocus. That consistency helps make your system more trustworthy and inviting. Perspectives show what you expect them to, and reviews turn up what they should.
Use OmniFocus Shortcuts Without Learning Shortcuts
Each shortcut is ready to use as soon as it’s installed. You may be asked a few questions during installation to customize it for your own use, such as which verb to use for actions and which tag to apply. Your answers are stored in the shortcut, so they’ll be available across all your Apple devices.
If you’d like to customize a shortcut further, you can open it in the Shortcuts app and make changes. Alternatively, duplicate it and use it as the basis for a shortcut of your own.
Examples of OmniFocus Shortcuts in the Directory
The directory includes shortcuts for capture, planning, and navigation. A few examples:
- Dictate an action to your OmniFocus Inbox
- Create an action that references the web page you’re viewing in Safari
- Create an action to follow up on the email you’ve selected in Apple Mail
- Open Quick Entry, no matter which app you’re in
- Add prep actions for upcoming events on your calendar
- Create a project in the folder you specify using consistent naming
- Jump to a project, tag, or perspective with Quick Open
Anyone can browse the OmniFocus Shortcuts Directory. Every shortcut has its own page with detailed instructions and a short demo video, so you can see it in action before installing it on your devices.
Installing the shortcuts requires a Learn OmniFocus membership, which also gives you access to our courses, articles, videos, and LIVE sessions. While I can’t guarantee shortcuts will work perfectly with your setup, all shortcuts have been tested on OS 26 and the OS 27 betas.
More to Come
I’ll be adding more shortcuts over time. As always, drop me a line if you have requests, or join us at an upcoming Office Hours session if you’d like to explore how any of this fits your workflow.