OmniFocus public beta released

I was keeping my to-do lists (one for each client) in OmniOutliner Pro. When that got to be too much to handle, another OO user recommended Kinkless GTD. OmniFocus appeared on the scene a few days later.

I've been using OmniFocus every day since mid-June. Although I never made it past chapter 1 in David Allen's book, OmniFocus has changed my life - one master to-do list covering home, development and consulting tasks. OmniFocus keeps track of what I need to do. All I'm responsible for is the doing.

My only relationship with the Omni Group is very satisfied user of OmniWeb, OmniGraffle Pro, OmniOutliner Pro, OmniDiskSweeper, and now OmniFocus.

I've been in the private beta of omnifocus for a few months now (I have no affiliation with omni beyond that) and I can say first-hand that this is a great piece of software. I used iGTD before getting into the beta and I plan on paying for the final version of omnifocus.

In response to the "this looks complicated" post above. It really is pretty simple to use. It improves upon a simple todo list by embracing the notion of contexts from GTD as a first class organizational mechanism.

Anybody looking for a good organizational app owes it to themselves to try this program.

I can already tell that OmniFocus is on its way to becoming the premier GTD app on the Mac. I really think the price is what will halt some of its growth. It's a really nice app, but $79 is just an insane amount to ask for this type of application. I would be willing to pay maybe $40-50 retail for it. iGTD already meets it feature for feature in many ways and it's free. iGTD 2.0 and iGTD Pro are coming really soon (there are some screenshots available at http://www.igtd.pl/iGTD/iGTD2/index.html). I really think those are the top two contenders at this point.

I already have iGTD and TaskPaper (version 1.1 will be out really soon with some major new features), but I am serious tempted to pick up OmniFocus. I'm a big Omni Group fan and the $25 education pre-order price is almost the dealmaker for me. I guess I have until January 8 to decide.

Can it sync up with the iPod yet? That would be the killer feature for me, and then I would be interested in getting into GTD..

The article here is a little misleading... It looks like OmniFocus is more than just a "GTD" app - it's a general task management app which can work within a GTD system, but it's useful even if you're not one of "those" people.

I've been using the "sneaky peek" pre-beta version of this for about five months now, and it's great (and no, I don't work for omnigroup). Eager to plunk down some cash for this app. I've gone from kGTD to iGTD to Actiontastic (and probably others), but I think this is going to be best in class for GTD apps.

@mucx:

It's as complex as you want it to be. Don't need folders for your projects? Fine. Don't want to sweat start and due dates for actions? Fine. (that was one of my frustrations with another one of those GTD apps -- I couldn't set an arbitrary order for actions without using due dates, and that's just too much work)

One of the tenets of GTD is that to-do lists are good, but items on your to-do list need context. My contexts include email, phone, online, errands, etc. What Omnifocus and other GTD apps allow you to do is then see all of the to-do items you've got for a particular context across all projects, so you could (for example) go into "phone mode" and knock out all of the phone calls you need to make.

The cost is turning me off but I'm sure it's of value to anyone who needs it.

Currently, I'm happy with Actiontastic.

What's with the striped title bar? Is that a temporary "beta" indicator, or something more sinister?

Oh dear god I wish this company would build a timesheet/time reporting/accounting type software package. They're just the right company to pull off such a challenge.

This looks incredibly complex (well judging by the video on their site at least)...
What's wrong with writing a todo list on a post it note or piece of paper like the rest of the world?