Software
Hey, graphic designers, I'd love to include custom icons with these scripts. If you'd like to share your talents, please email me.
I like to hack. Occasionally I produce the odd bit of code that might be useful to others. Here are some of the fruits of that. Share and enjoy!
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OmniFocus Scripts
I'm a proponent of David Allen's Getting Things Done (GTD) approach to personal productivity [book, web site]. I rely heavily on OmniFocus by the Omni Group to apply the GTD methodology in my life. Besides their very livable interface designs, another thing I love about Omni Group applications is that they are scriptable. This lets me automate common tasks that I perform and lets me tie various applications together. Below are some OmniFocus scripts that I've found useful, divided into a few groups:
- OmniFocus-Mail Links
- Send OmniOutliner Items to OmniFocus
- Send OmniFocus Items to OmniOutliner
- Populate Template Placeholders
- Send (Safari) URL to OmniFocus
- Verify Next Actions Exist
- Split/Merge Windows
Installation instructions are included, but to make best use of the scripts you probably should add the Scripts menu to your menu bar, if you haven't already. To do this, open the AppleScript Utility, located in /Applications/AppleScript/, and select the "Show Script Menu in menu bar" checkbox. The menu should appear on the right side of the menu bar.
You might also be interested in sandro's OmniFocus scripts.
OmniFocus-Mail Links
This pair of scripts allows you to:
- to create OmniFocus actions from messages in Apple Mail
- jump from linked OmniFocus actions back to the Mail message.
Installation and use instructions are included in the download.
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Current version:
OmniFocus-Mail Links, version 0.8.1.
Updated for OmniFocus AppleScript implementation change
- OmniFocus-Mail Links, version 0.8.
- OmniFocus-Mail Links, version 0.7.2.
- OmniFocus-Mail Links, version 0.7.
- OmniFocus-Mail Links, version 0.6.
- OmniFocus-Mail Links, version 0.5.1.
- OmniFocus-Mail Links, version 0.5.
- OmniFocus-Mail Links, version 0.4
- OmniFocus-Mail Links, version 0.3.1
Send OmniOutliner Items to OmniFocus
I rolled the little script below that takes the selected items in OmniOutliner and turns each into an OmniFocus project, preserving the structure. To install, copy the script into the folder:
~/Library/Scripts/Applications/OmniOutliner
creating the folder(s) if necessary.
- Current version: Send to OmniFocus, version 0.1
Send OmniFocus Items to OmniOutliner
This collection of three scripts allows you to create OmniOutliner outlines:
- from your complete projects list in OmniFocus,
- from your current (filtered) view, or
- from the currently selected projects.
Installation instructions are included in the download.
-
Current version:
OmniFocus-OO Export, version 0.1.3
Updated for OmniFocus AppleScript implementation change
- OmniFocus-OO Export, version 0.1.2
- OmniFocus-OO Export, version 0.1.1
- OmniFocus-OO Export, version 0.1
- Send to OmniOutliner, version 0.1 (Original separate script is now bundled with two other similar scripts.)
Populate Template Placeholders
Templates were the only thing missing in the current version of OmniFocus that were part of my old GTD system. But the scripting interface in OmniFocus is solid enough to implement them!
Here is a script that will take an OmniFocus project, replace placeholders with user entered strings, and adjust all dates by some fixed interval-again based on user input. Installation and use instructions are included in the download.
-
Current version:
Populate Template Placeholders, version 0.5.2
Updated for OmniFocus AppleScript implementation change.
- Populate Template Placeholders, version 0.5.1
- Populate Template Placeholders, version 0.5
- Populate Template Placeholders, version 0.4
- Populate Template Placeholders, version 0.3
- Populate Template Placeholders, version 0.2
Send URL to OmniFocus
This script creates an action in the OmniFocus inbox reminding you to read the page that is displayed in the front window of Safari. The note of the action contains the page's URL. To install, copy the script into the folder:
~/Library/Scripts/Applications/Safari
creating the folder(s) if necessary.
- Current version: Send URL to OmniFocus, version 0.1
Verify Next Actions Exist
This script scans all projects and action groups in the front OmniFocus document identifying any that lack a next action. I use it in my daily reviews to keep all my projects moving forward. To install, copy the script into the folder:
~/Library/Scripts/Applications/OmniFocus
creating the folder(s) if necessary. This script takes awhile to perform its analysis. As such, it uses Growl to display unobtrusive progress messages. So, you'll need to download Growl to use this one.
A separate script, included in the zip file will clear the “Missing NA” prefix from selected items.
-
Current version:
Verify Next Actions Exist, version 0.5
Works around an intermitent OF bug. Adds a script for clearing the Missing NA prefix.
- Verify Next Actions Exist, version 0.4
- Verify Next Actions Exist, version 0.3
- Verify Next Actions Exist, version 0.2
- Verify Next Actions Exist, version 0.1
Split/Merge Windows
I use this pair of scripts during my inbox processing. The first script splits the front OmniFocus window into two windows so I can display the inbox in the top window and a project in the bottom one. The second script merges the two windows back into a single window. To install, copy the scripts into the folder:
~/Library/Scripts/Applications/OmniFocus
creating the folder(s) if necessary.
- Current version: Split/Merge Windows, version 0.1.1
- Split/Merge Windows, version 0.1