Omnifocus: Where to place tasks w/ no project ?

[Tado]

Currently in OF you have to place tasks inside of projects, you can't have a single task in a folder for example. Currently i have a project called "Errands" that contain tasks that are single actions tasks, with no direct project attached to them. For me it doesnt really feel right.. Has anyone would a way around this ?

[Oogiem]

Currently in OF you have to place tasks inside of projects, you can't have a single task in a folder for example. ... Has anyone would a way around this ?

Not all tasks have to be in projects. You can use a single actions list for those types of things.

If you choose you can have multiple single action lists, one for each folder. That gets around the no actions in a folder issue.

I tried that because my folders are based on my areas of focus but in the end I found it best to have just 2 single action lists. One is errands where I put the various stores and places we need to go when we are out and about. The other is Miscellaneous and holds all other single action items. I have them both at the top and not really in any specific area of focus folder.

Play with the options and see what works best for you.

[cojo]

To me, "Errands" is not a project, but a context. Projects are independent of contexts. As an example, I might have "Buy brick anchors at the hardware store" as part of my project of "Renovate the living room", but it would fall into context "Errands".

I view context as being a "While I'm here" kind of system. So if I'm grocery shopping, I check my "errands" context to see if there's anything I can do that's on the way to the store.

With this setup, items in context "Errands" could fall under a project OR be a single action.

I don't think Omnifocus does require actions to be in a project! I just have two top folders called "Work" and "Personal", and under each of those folders I have a sub-folder called "Single Actions" where I store all my one-offs. But each of those one-off actions does have a context.

[waynepepper]

Yes and yes, agree with both comments above. And...I encourage my clients to consider if they spend any time figuring out "which project does this task belong to?" there's value on the back end for them.

I find asking that question slows down my Processing, and doesn't provide me that much value on the back end. The connection between Project and Next Action happens for me in Weekly Review.

I do find the Contextual thinking does pay off for me.

Best,

Wayne

[Oogiem]

To me, "Errands" is not a project, but a context. Projects are independent of contexts.

For me Errands is a single action list because I have as contexts several major places I go. We have one set of stores available in the towns within 10 miles of us, so there is a context for errands I need to do in one of those towns. Most other shopping is a once a month thing at the city that is a 75 mile 1 way drive. So for me it's important to track all the various places I need togo when we are next in that city hence the single action list of Errands and places or actions on that list have a context depending on where they need to happen. An example is we need to buy some specific tractor parts. I have a separate shopping list that I keep the details (part number etc) in of the things I need to buy. But I'll put a note in my single action list of Errands to Go to Western Implement for parts and a context of Delta/GJ for that item so next time we don't forget we need to stop there to buy the part.