OmniFocus 3 adds power and flexibility — while also making it easier to get started and easier to work the way you want to work. We’ve replaced contexts with tags, made scheduling and notifications more flexible, updated the design, added automation and collaboration features — and even created a web app, since not everybody always has their Mac, iPhone, or iPad available. In future posts we’ll go into more details with each of these — but, for now, we’ll quickly highlight a few upcoming features. Note that not all of the below will appear in the initial 3.0 release (though tags will). Tags We’ve replaced contexts with tags. Tasks and projects can have multiple tags instead of just a single context. Consider the case where you want to talk to Alice at work when your energy level is high.
(Since Alice imparts a lot of useful information quickly!) Instead of applying a #work context to that action, you would tag it with #work, #Alice, and #high-energy. You’ll be able to view every task and project with a specific tag, re-order items within that list, and sync that order across devices.
You’ll also be able to create custom perspectives that show this tag or that tag, or this tag and another tag but not this other tag. Like contexts, tags can be nested: you might have a #people tag with #Alice and #Joe as child tags. Tags do everything contexts do — and more.
And they’re a thing people are used to. Even the Finder has tags these days!
Automation While the Mac version has always had strong AppleScript support, we know our users need something powerful that works on Macs and on iOS. To that end we’re adding JavaScript support — the same Omni Automation system that already appears in and — that will allow you to write scripts that work on both Macs and iOS and across Omni apps. You’ll be able to create reports, run powerful filters, create projects and tasks based on templates, and plenty more. You’ll be able to do things we haven’t even thought of — which is the point of automation. Collaboration With OmniFocus’s new collaboration features, I could send you a task with all its data, and you could accept, which links this task across our databases. While the task is linked, both of us will see updates to that task, including status updates.
One of us may add sub-tasks, and one of us might not. One of us might move it to a different project.
The task remains linked. This lets you keep using OmniFocus for your personal task management, while still allowing for flexibility and for the sharing that you need. OmniFocus for the Web We’ve heard from plenty of people that they’re in front of a Windows machine at work — or that they, for whatever reason, sometimes have access to a browser but not to OmniFocus. OmniFocus for the web will allow people to view their projects and tasks, edit them, complete them, and make new ones. It will be simplified compared to the Mac or iOS app — it won’t include custom perspectives and similar features. But we believe it will handle most of what people need when they’re away from their Mac or iOS device.
More The above is light on detail and skips a number of important features, but we promise to write more posts to fill you in on everything. And there will be delicious screenshots.:) But, for now, you can read the second half of the blog post, where it concentrates on OmniFocus 3, and you can listen to on The Omni Show. You’re also welcome to ask questions via, the,.
Things 3 is the latest update to Things, a to-do list for macOS and iOS from Cultured Code. This app has a history: it was first released in 2007, won an Apple Design Award in 2009, and Things 2 was released in 2012.
At the end of 2013, Cultured Code announced that they were working on Things 3, and then it never came. Some people waited, others (like myself), moved on. For the past four years and had given up on Things 3 ever shipping. That’s why it’s a big surprise that. I’ve been playing around with it since it was released two weeks ago, and there are things about it that I really like. But from a long-time OmniFocus user’s perspective, I don’t think I’ll be switching back.
Here’s a quick overview why. Things 3 is a delight Things 3 is delightful. Things has always been more beautiful than OmniFocus, and version three is the loveliest one of all.
It’s colorful, spacious and full of delightful animations that make using the app a joy, something I could never say about the staid OmniFocus. Headings gives you another level. Things 3 isn’t just designed to look good. Both Things and OmniFocus let you organize projects into folders (Things calls them ‘Areas’), but Things 3 goes further and gives you Headings, another way to visually organize projects into clear hierarchies. Things Cloud is fast. Cultured Code’s syncing engine is fast. I often have to trigger manual syncing for OmniFocus on my iPhone to get it up to speed, and even syncing on macOS takes a while when booting.
Tasks jump between Things on macOS and iOS in seconds. Natural language processing is fun. You can use natural language for dates in both Things 3 and OmniFocus, but I’ve sometimes run into bugs while using this in OmniFocus. It’s a quick and easy way to schedule dates when writing tasks. I love these pies. Things 3 introduces ‘Progress Pies,’ a neat visual representation of how close you are to completing a project. It’s a nice way to see your progress, and I found it motivating to try and ‘close’ pies by the end of the day.
Thoughts On Omnifocus 3 For Mac Released
I’ve missed Someday/Maybe. A ‘Someday/Maybe’ bucket is something that the Getting Things Done (GTD) methodology suggests you use to keep ideas. OmniFocus doesn’t have a Someday/Maybe bucket, but Things does. I’ve missed the Weekly Review. While Things has a handy placeholder for Someday/Maybe, it doesn’t have a built-in Weekly Review feature like OmniFocus does. However, I suppose you could schedule a Weekly Review in Things 3 as a repeating task. No repeating tasks in Projects yet.
Talking about repeating tasks, there’s no way to create them now inside of projects in Things 3. Cultured Code says they’re working on it. Tags on the side, please. I would have loved to see the ability to include Tags, or what GTD calls ‘contexts,’ in the sidebar. OmniFocus lets you do this, and it brings up a quick and easy way to see your tasks defined by location. Saved tag selections would be even better. Apparently, you can select multiple tags with Things on macOS using CMD, but it didn’t work for me (a bug?). I’ve grown attached to Perspectives on OmniFocus, where you can save sets of contexts to look at.
For example, with my saved ‘Work’ Perspective, I can see tasks tagged ‘Office,’ ‘Mac,’ and ‘iPhone,’ all at once. Deadlines need timelines too. On OmniFocus, you can specify both a starting date and time, as well as an ending date and time. On Things 3, however, while you can specify a start date and time, you can only set an end date.
I need OmniFocus, but I want Things I want to switch to Things 3, for its delightful design and swift syncing. But I’ve grown used to the customizability that OmniFocus provides, and I don’t think I can make the switch. The old conclusion that Things is prettier, but OmniFocus is more powerful, still holds true with Things 3. Some people might see that as a negative, but I see it as a positive.
Omnifocus 3 Pro
Not everyone needs the complexity that OmniFocus provides, and some will benefit from a focused app that balances usability with utility. Also, my secret hope is that Things 3 will inspire The Omni Group to give OmniFocus a makeover. Fingers crossed. Besides being easier to get into, Things 3 is also easier on the wallet relatively speaking.
Things 3 costs US$9.99 (iPhone), US$19.99 (iPad), and US$49.99 (Mac). OmniFocus costs US$39.99 for the Standard edition (iOS), US$59.98 for Pro (iOS), US$39.99 for the Standard edition (macOS), and US$79.99 for Pro (macOS). You’re looking at US$79.97 to go all in on Things 3, which isn’t cheap, but it is more affordable than OmniFocus, which will be all yours for US$79.98 (Standard editions) and US$139.97 (Pro editions). Cultured Code is having a 20% launch discount until June 1st, so if you want to try it, this is a good time to get it. However At the same time though, Things 3 is launching in a very different market today than Things 1.
Things is an Apple-only app, and today, there are cross-platform to-do apps like and that offer free tiers. Even their membership prices aren’t exorbitant, Todoist, for example, costs US$28.99 per year for the individual plan, which you can use on iOS, Android, macOS and PC. I haven’t used much of the other apps, so I can’t say what they’re like compared to. But if you’re price conscious or need to work across different platforms, they may be even better options than Things 3 for you.