Omnifocus Siri



Omnifocus

This session is a follow up to Automating OmniFocus 3 Using Siri Shortcuts: Basics and takes a deeper dive into more advanced productivity workflows that can be automated using Siri Shortcuts. We’ll build on the examples we explored in the Basics session, customizing them to add power and flexibility. Automating OmniFocus 3 Using Siri Shortcuts: Advanced – Learn OmniFocus OmniFocus 3 Workflows with Rose Orchard – Learn OmniFocus Efficient iOS Capture into OmniFocus using Drafts 5 – Learn OmniFocus. The Omni Blog OmniFocus is now on speaking terms by Liz on November 18, 2011. As soon as Apple announced Siri, everyone who owns OmniFocus for iPhone let us know just how much they needed these two tools to work together. OmniFocus and the Siri Watch Face. With watchOS 5, OmniFocus can use Siri Shortcuts to suggest relevant activities that appear on the Siri face of your Apple Watch. As with shortcuts on iOS, these suggestions occur automatically based on how you use the. Siri Integration. Location Reminders. OmniFocus + Getting Things Done (GTD) 24 brix. A Simple Mission. The OmniFocus Setup.

This live event is offered through our Learn OmniFocus site and is open to all members. Not a member yet? Join here.

Automating common tasks that you perform in OmniFocus and complementary productivity apps adds efficiency and accuracy to your workflows.

This session will help you master the basics of automating OmniFocus using Siri Shortcuts, a system-level service and app that was introduced in iOS 12. No prior knowledge is assumed, so it’s a great session to attend whether you’re just getting started with iOS automation, or if you want to revisit the basics.

Session Overview

Attend this live session and learn techniques and best practices for:

  • How to access both built-in and custom OmniFocus perspectives using Siri.

  • Basic principles that will help you make effective use of the Siri Shortcuts app.

  • How to find and install existing Siri Shortcuts that can be used to automate common OmniFocus activities.

  • How to make simple changes to existing Siri Shortcuts to customize them to match your specific use cases.

  • And more…

We’ll provide links to all of the Siri Shortcuts that are included in this session so that you can put what you learn to good use right away.

Omnifocus

Led by Rose Orchard

This session will be led by OmniFocus expert, Rose Orchard. Rose is a strong proponent of the benefits of automation. She’s the founder of Automation Orchard and co-hosts the popular Automators podcastalongside David Sparks (aka MacSparky). Rose also recently shared her OmniFocus setup and workflowshere on Learn OmniFocus, including how she makes extensive use of iOS automation technologies.

Open to All Learn OmniFocus Members

If you're already a member of Learn OmniFocus, visit the event page to learn more and to register. Please note that space is limited to 75 participants.

Appendix C

OmniFocus 3 supports interacting with Siri directly. Working with specific inputs that Siri recognizes, you can use voice commands to add and manage items in OmniFocus in many different ways.

When it comes to describing actions and projects, Siri uses words that are a little different from those used by OmniFocus internally. Siri recognizes action items as tasks, while projects and tags are understood as lists. Newgamefree flash games. Depending on the structure of your request, Siri and OmniFocus work together to provide the most logical output.

For guidance on using Siri with OmniFocus in languages other than English, see this support article on the Omni website.

Adding Actions

One of the most common needs that Siri can address is adding new actions and inbox items to OmniFocus. Siri listens for you to describe these as tasks that you’ll add in OmniFocus—key components of the example phrases you’ll find below.

It’s important to include the phrase “..in OmniFocus” in requests you give to Siri. Otherwise, Siri might whisk your change off to an unrelated app.

  • “Add a task named ~ in OmniFocus”

    Adds an item named ~ to your OmniFocus inbox.

  • “Remind me to ~ at 5:00 PM (on Thursday) in OmniFocus”

    Adds an item named ~ to your OmniFocus inbox with a due date set for today at 5:00 PM. Including additional parameters for the due date (such as on Thursday) can further define the set date.

  • “Remind me to ~ when I get home in OmniFocus”

    Adds an item named ~ to your OmniFocus inbox with the location-aware tag Home. If a tag with matching name and location data is not found, a new tag is created with the specified name and location.

    For example, “Remind me to stop at Voodoo Doughnut when I get to Portland, Oregon in OmniFocus” creates a new location-aware Portland (from Siri) tag (assuming one doesn’t exist) and adds the Stop at Voodoo Doughnut task to it.

Siri can’t directly access location information stored in OmniFocus. When you specify a location as part of a command, Siri searches other available information for a location with a name matching the command.

The most reliable matches are individual addresses associated with locations like your work and home that you’ve set up in your Contacts card in the iOS Phone app. Beyond that, Siri does its best to figure out what you mean by searching other Contacts or location data from the Maps app.

As with other location services on your device, this isn’t always the most reliable way to associate virtual places with reality. If you’ve set up location aware tags in OmniFocus already, the easiest way to make sure new items are assigned to them is to use the “Add ~ to my * list in OmniFocus” syntax described below, where * is a uniquely named tag with the desired location.

For location-aware tags to work properly, make sure that OmniFocus is allowed to access your location (in the iOS Settings app under OmniFocus).

  • Remind me to ~ when I get home at 5:00 PM in OmniFocus”

    Adds an item named ~ to your OmniFocus inbox with the location-aware tag Home and a due date of 5:00 PM today (this example is a combination of the previous two).

  • “Add ~ to my * list in OmniFocus”

    Adds an item named ~ to a project or tag named * (“add eggs to my grocery list in OmniFocus”, for example).

    Since Siri’s notion of lists doesn’t distinguish between projects and tags, you’ll be prompted to confirm the destination for this item (or to choose between available options, if you have more than one project or tag with the same name).

  • “Remind me to ~ when I get home in my * list in OmniFocus”

    Adds an item named ~ with the location-aware tag Home. If * is a project, the item is added to that project.

  • “Remind me to ~ every Thursday at 9:00 PM in OmniFocus”

    Adds an item named ~ set to repeat every Thursday at 9:00 PM to your OmniFocus inbox. Siri understands OmniFocus’s repeat rules pretty well, so feel free to try any repeating items you can think of.

Omnifocus Siri Commands

Adding Projects

When OmniFocus listens to instructions you give to Siri, it interprets a command to create a list as a command to create a new OmniFocus project. (Siri sees both projects and tags as lists. Because of this ambiguity, OmniFocus chooses the relatively more common project as the list type to create.)

Some example phrases:

  • “Create a list called ~ in OmniFocus”

    Adds a project named ~ to OmniFocus.

  • “Create a shopping list with bananas in OmniFocus”

    Adds a project named Shopping and adds the action Bananas to that project in OmniFocus.

Marking Items Complete

Siri can be used to mark OmniFocus items (both actions and projects) as complete using the following example sentence structure.

  • “Mark ~ as complete in OmniFocus”

    Marks an action or project named ~ as complete in OmniFocus. (Projects of the single action list type can’t be marked complete in this way.)

Due to limitations imposed by iOS, Siri can’t mark items complete in OmniFocus while your device is locked.

Searching

Beyond adding and changing items in OmniFocus, you can also ask Siri about the content of your OmniFocus actions, projects, and tags (what Siri understands as tasks and lists respectively).

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Some example searches that you can do on your OmniFocus data are as follows (these don’t make any changes to your actual content):

  • “What lists do I have in OmniFocus?”

    Shows a list of all the projects and tags you have in OmniFocus.

  • “Show me the ~ list in OmniFocus”

    Searches your OmniFocus projects and tags and shows those with names that match ~. If multiple projects or tags match the name, all are shown.

  • “Read me my lists in OmniFocus”

    Shows all of your OmniFocus projects and tags with their included actions, and reads them aloud, 25 at a time.

  • “What reminders called ~ do I have in OmniFocus?”

    Shows a list of all items matching ~ that you have in OmniFocus.

  • “Read me my ~ task in OmniFocus”

    Shows and reads items matching ~ aloud. (If a due date is set, that is read along with the item’s title.)

Siri Shortcuts

Starting with iOS 12, the Siri Shortcuts feature helps you be more productive by analyzing the way you use certain apps on your device. OmniFocus 3.1 for iOS brings support for Siri Shortcuts to your iOS device and Apple Watch. Pipo de clown en de noorderzon yr 1978 for mac.

OmniFocus with Siri Shortcuts requires iOS 12 or later and OmniFocus 3.1 for iOS or later. Siri Shortcuts on the Siri watch face for Apple Watch requires watchOS 5 or later.

With Siri Shortcuts, as you use OmniFocus in various ways (create new items, complete repeating tasks, or browse to different perspectives, for example), Siri keeps track of your actions and starts suggesting activities based on your common use patterns.

You don’t have to manually configure anything to use Siri Shortcuts. By using OmniFocus as you normally would, suggestions for these activities can appear in Spotlight, on the lock screen, and in Siri & Search settings all by themselves.

Voice Activated Shortcuts

Omnifocus Siri

To make your most frequently used shortcuts even easier to use, you can set up Siri voice commands for them using Siri & Search settings in the iOS Settings app.

First, open Siri & Search settings. You may see some suggested shortcuts at the top.

Omnifocus And Siri

If you don’t see any shortcuts, don’t worry—after using OmniFocus for a little while, suggested shortcuts will start to appear. You can also tap All Shortcuts for a list of those you use less frequently, or scroll down to OmniFocus in the app list of Siri & Search settings to view a full list of recent shortcuts to choose from.

When you see a shortcut you’d like to set up with Siri, tap it to open the Add to Siri voice recorder. Record a phrase, and it appears in the My Shortcuts section at the top of Siri & Search settings.

Omnifocus And Siri

Now, whenever you talk to Siri you can use the phrase you recorded to perform the shortcut in OmniFocus.