Today, The Omni Group announced OmniFocus 4.7, which brings interesting new productivity and workflow features. However, an optional database migration is needed to enable some of them. Here are the details.
About that new database
In a blog post announcing the new features, the company explains that while it worked hard to maintain backwards compatibility between OmniFocus 3 and 4, some of the features announced today will require an update that moves the database to a new format.
Still, the company says that this migration is optional, and that “OmniFocus will only prompt you to migrate if it detects that all syncing copies of OmniFocus are compatible with the newer format.” The company also says that while some new features require this migration, that is not the case for all of them.
What’s new in OmniFocus v4.7
While some projects have hard kickoffs and deadlines, in which case, Defer Dates and Due Dates do the trick in OmniFocus, that may not be the case for all types of projects. That’s why OmniFocus v4.7 introduces Planned Dates, which are meant “for scheduling when you plan to work on an action, action group, or project.”
Here’s how Planned Dates work:
“Planned Dates are available everywhere you might have previously interacted with a Defer or Due Date, and they behave in much the same way. Items assigned to a project or group inherit Planned Dates set on parent items, although a child action can also have a Planned Date before or after their parents’ Planned Date. Items can be displayed on their Planned Date in Forecast, and items that aren’t completed on their scheduled Planned Date will persist in the “Past” section of Forecast. Planned Date-based rules are also a great addition to custom perspectives!”
This feature requires the database migration.
This is perhaps one of the most useful new features, depending on how you organize your workflow.
With mutually exclusive tags, user can, for instance, assign different levels of urgency, days of the week, times of the day, or priority level for their upcoming or pending tasks.
One fun example in the press release mentions rain/sun tags, for weather-appropriate tasks. Other examples include high/low/medium, and morning/afternoon/evening.
This feature also requires the database migration.
Custom cutoff for repeat scheduling
Say you’ll be involved in a two-week project, which will require you to schedule frequent due dates or reminders. With OmniFocus v4.7, you’ll be able to set repeat limits, which will automatically stop alerting or reminding you once the preset time elapses.
And as with all things Omni, the company went the extra mile:
“In addition to repeat limits, OmniFocus 4.7 introduces the ability to enable “automatic catch up” for items which repeat on a regular schedule. When enabled, the next iteration of the repeating item is always generated with dates in the future, skipping over any missed repetitions of the item. Great for catching up after Summer vacation (or if perhaps you simply didn’t do your homework last week)!”
This feature also requires the database migration.
Forecast tweaks and other enhancements
Here’s one very cool feature that doesn’t require the database migration: the Forecast screen now offers a new way to quickly check how many (and which) pending or assigned tasks are scheduled for each day:
“Forecast now displays summary task dots in the outline date header and calendar sidebar. These dots communicate how many items are due, due soon, or have been assigned a due date on a given day, offering improved at-a-glance communication of scheduled task load on a given day. We’ve also updated the logic for what is included in Forecast summary counts (i.e. the counts displayed in the outline date header and calendar sidebar, as well as the Forecast badge in the Perspectives Bar). By default, these summaries now count all displayed items (previously, counts only included due items).”
While these are the features the company decided to highlight, the release notes include dozens of tweaks, improvements, and new features for OmniFocus v4.7 on the Apple Vision Pro, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Mac, as well as the web. You can check the details here.
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