Perspectives store the settings for your OmniFocus window, so

Planning mode and Context mode Toolbar Perspectives you can get back to them again and again. You can find them in
the Perspectives menu.
Planning mode is where you organize your Context mode is where you can ignore the
actions into projects and folders. hierarchy and concentrate on working. Double-click a perspective to open The pane on the right
it in your front OmniFocus shows the view settings
window, or Option-double-click to for the selected
open it in a new window. perspective.
Switch to the Focus on the Clean Up puts Reset the next Type to filter the view Open the Print what's
You can assign keyboard
other mode and selected folders or everything where it review date for the for matching folders, inspectors, currently visible Drag an image file onto a
shortcuts in the options
find your project, temporarily belongs, based on the selected projects. projects, and actions. where you can in the outline. perspective, or choose an image
area below for quick
selection there. hiding everything else. changes you made. edit details of the from the options below, to give it a
access.
selected items. custom icon. These icons become
available as toolbar buttons in the
main window.

View Bar Click the View button in the toolbar to see the View bar, which contains
lots of handy menus for filtering your outline, and the column headers.
Click the plus button to create a
perspective from your current
OmniFocus window.
Click the Snapshot button to Click the expand button
Filter your projects by status. Group your projects Sort your projects Filter actions by Filter actions by Filter actions by Clear your overwrite the selected perspective to see options for the
You can switch back and forth between planning mode Remaining: Left to be done under headings by various criteria, or status. estimated time, so whether you have custom filters, with the current window's settings. selected perspective.
and context mode by clicking the Mode switcher Active: Currently working on based on their leave them unsorted. Remaining: Actions you can find stuff flagged them. Flags returning to
Stalled: Without available actions containing folders or not yet complete that can be done in don't have any the defaults
or the Switch button on the toolbar.
Pending: Starting in the future various dates. Next Action: The the time you have inherent meaning; or to the last
On Hold: Not currently working on next thing you can do available right now. they're just a perspective
Dropped: Given up in each project convenience. you opened
Completed: Finished successfully Available: Actions
you can do right now
Completed: Actions
finished successfully

Planning Sidebar Outline This is the detailed view of your inbox, folders, projects, and actions, arranged in rows
and columns. Contexts mode is similar, except that actions are broken out of their
Quick Entry Whatever application you're using, press the Quick Entry shortcut
(⌃⌥Space by default) to quickly send information to OmniFocus.

The Inbox: dump in stuff to process later (Planning mode) project hierarchies so you can see them individually by project, due date, and so on. Outline freely in the quick entry If you don't assign a project Set up a Clippings shortcut in
window just like you do in the inbox. or a context, your quick entry Preferences, then use it to send
The Library contains all your folders, projects, and actions The Inbox appears above your library of projects and actions. Use the Action pop-up items land in the inbox for selected content from any
Folders: Categorize your projects Outline new ideas, incoming tasks, or emerging projects here. menu to customize columns. you to process later. application straight to Quick Entry.
A Project represents some goal you hope to achieve When you're ready, assign a project and a context to an item,
then click the Clean Up button to turn it into an action. Or,
A Shoebox holds single actions that don't fit into a project
drag an item to the sidebar to turn it into a project.

Select any item in the sidebar to see its The darker gray rows are your grouping, as set in the View
contents in the main outline Bar above. This outline is grouped by folder.

Lighter gray rows are projects. A project should be a goal that

Numbers indicate your inbox items (gray), overdue you can complete some day; this one is the title of a painting.
actions (red), and almost-due actions (orange)
Categorize your actions by context; then you
The first remaining thing you can do in each project, the next can switch to Contexts Mode and organize
action, is colored purple. them by when and where you can do each
Because this project is sequential, all actions after the next one.
action are considered unavailable. You have to finish the This action has a note, as shown by the note
earlier actions before you can start the later ones. icon. Click a note icon to see the note area,
where you can type or drop files.
When you put the mouse pointer on a row, you see the columns
Contexts Sidebar and buttons available for that item.
OmniFocus Overview
The No Context box: actions still needing contexts You can use the Add Child, Indent, and Group commands in This action has a due date. You can show the Toolbar
the Edit ▸ Outlining menu to collect related actions into a Due Date column (and other columns) in the View bar
group for easier tracking. View menu.
A Context represents the place or the tools
necessary to get something done Overdue items are red.
The arrows on a project or a group indicate Sidebar
whether it is parallel or sequential. The
sequential “Work” must have its actions done
Contexts can contain subcontexts in the order they are listed, while the parallel
Single-action lists are like projects, but they contain loose, “Ideas to sketch out” can have its actions Outline
unrelated items instead of actions aimed toward the done in any order.
Select a context to see the actions completion of a goal.
assigned to it Perspectives
All single actions are considered “next actions,” and they are This action is flagged. Click the flag icon to
colored blue to distinguish them from project actions. mark items with a flag for your own reference;
the flag filter in the View Bar above can find
all of your flagged items for you.

...And here's the next folder, with its own projects and single- Quick
action lists inside. Entry