Mac software replacement for OmniFocus

[dougl]

OmniFocus 2 is out, and the UI is, well, terrible. Very low information density, poor layout, and they've removed all customization (you can't even re-size columns). The font choices are miserable to try to read - in general, a big hit to productivity.

The good news is that they still support custom WebDAV syncing, so my earlier thread isn't an issue.

I've reverted back to OF1 for the time being, but am concerned it may not work on OSX 10.10 due out this fall. If Omni restores all the features they removed from OF1, I may continue to use it, but in the meantime, I've a parallel research effort underway for a replacement.

Requirements:

Runs on OSX and iOS
Local (non-cloud sync) between devices - corporate policy prohibits cloud services, and I don't trust them for personal stuff anyway.

http://www.appigo.com/todo-task-and-to-do-list.html#smart-and-invisible-syncing was posted to that other thread - any more thoughts on it (or other solutions)?

 

[vbampton]

Have you seen this hack? https://discourse.omnigroup.com/t/c...on-one-line-w-status-circles-on-the-left/1697 It's made OF2 useable for now, and it looks like they're working on it becoming a permanent feature, hopefully with the resizable columns again.

 

[PeterW]

http://http://www.appigo.com/todo...le-syncing was posted to that other thread - any more thoughts on it (or other solutions)?

I have been using Appigo Todo for a number of years and am happy with it. It doesn't have the depth of features in OF but for me that's a good thing - the more features in an app the more time I seem to spend playing with them and tweaking things. It's not specifically designed for GTD but the way I have it setup using Tags for the main GTD buckets works well.

 

[Philb]

Take a look at "The Hit List". Great Mac client and has an iPhone app too with syncing.

http://www.karelia.com/products/the-hit-list/mac.html

 

[dougl]

I did see that link, and tried the hack. Unfortunately, it still doesn't make it usable, and in some ways makes it worse - like you can't click the flag/checkbox. Which never, ever should have been merged - it prevents quick scanning, but then it appears that Omni doesn't think people do that, since the lack of fixed-width columns prevents it too. Other things - like not being able to drag/drop from the inbox to projects without opening multiple windows, horrible font choices, and such are major problems, and I'm done fighting a tool that should just get out of the way.

Omni's gone radio silent on confirming any fixes/changes, and from comments in the forum it almost seems as if they are doubling down on the 'we know how you should work, just deal with it' attitude.

Thanks for the other links - I'll check into those. I may yet have to deal with a cloud sync, so would probably only trust iCloud (and definitely not dropbox), but am hoping not.

 

[Romain]

It might seem a bit like killing a mosquito with a bazooka, but you may want to consider Daylite. It's a CRM (by marketcircle), and I discovered it as such first. The thing is, I was able to set it up so as to have a (very) comprehensive (in my opinion) GTD system, at least for Runway and 10kft. Now, it's quite expensive as compared to usual solutions, but :
- it works,
- it syncs with everything (I mean, Mac and iPads/iPhones),
- you can put everything in, and link data around the way you see fit (contacts to tasks to projects to calendar to notes to files... you name it)

 

[ktinboulder]

I've been using Things for a long-time now and highly recommend it. It's built from GTD core concepts (Today, Next, Someday, Projects and Areas of Focus) and adds nice features like integration with Contacts. Syncs to iPhone and iPad via Things Cloud.

 

[atreinke]

I agree with Romain, Daylite is in my opinion is a great system to use for GTD if you take the time to set it up right for yourself and your workflow. I was an Omnifocus fan for years and switched over to Daylite about two years ago because I wanted an "all-in-one" system which Daylite provides. I decided to test out Omnifocus 2 when it came out but found I felt the same way about it as Dougl, just don't like the interface.

With Daylite I can manage all of my actions, projects, calendars, contacts, notes, email integration, goals, and reference materials in one system that can link everything appropriately so that I can see the information I need to see when I need to see it without having to go look for it in five different places. Yes, it costs more than most other applications, and yes it takes some work to learn it and set it up for your personal workflow, but its money and time well spent. You can always go to the MarketCircle Web site and watch the tutorial and webinar videos in the support tab to see how it works before you buy to see if its right for you.

The link for Daylite tutorials is below. They just recently upgrade Daylite from v4 to v5 and some videos are for v4 and some for v5. Basic functionality is the same with v5 having many more improvements.

https://www.marketcircle.com/help/tr...torial-videos/