OmniFocus is probably the best note-taking app I’ve ever found.
In fact, my OmniFocus inbox, not Simplenote, has become my preferred place for taking general notes, especially any circumstance where I’m likely to record a combination of thoughts and actions, which happens to be every circumstance these days.
The OmniFocus inbox just seems like the best “don’t think about where to put it, just get it down” place.
If a non-actionable thought is truly worth saving, you can always move it to a better saving place later. There should be no rules around what you write to your inbox, only rules about what stays in OmniFocus.
iOS quick entry FTW
Normally, my note taking happens on an iOS device because I’m more likely to have an iPhone or iPad in my hands during the day than my Mac.
The quick entry button on both the iPhone and iPad version of OmniFocus lets me get things down instantly in situations where I might only have seconds to capture a piece of information. The quick entry button is even faster than Simplenote (in my experience).
Some specific examples:
Constructive calendar procrastination. Sometimes I make notes to schedule something on my calendar when I don’t have time to schedule it right away. “Call Joe tue 2p re project Qs” can be captured much faster than it can be entered onto a calendar—correctly with invitation, call-in number, full description, etc. And it doesn’t have to be entered now; it just needs to be entered before Tuesday at 2:00 pm.
Capturing new contacts. I’ve never owned a mobile device, including the iPhone, that made it easy to create a new contact entry in a social situation. Getting into the Contacts app and navigating fields as someone dictates information to you is always an awkward, error-prone process. It’s much easier to use the OmniFocus quick entry button to tap out “Sarah 555 555 1234 sarah@domain.com”. You can easily add her to your address book later.
Conference call notes. When I’m on a conference call, I usually create a single action with a brief description of the call. During the call, I record notes in the note field. Now that the note field in the iPad version is ginormous, filling the entire screen, this is super practical. The entire call gets encapsulated in a single inbox item that I can process later.
“Distraction-free” mobile writing. I’ve even written full articles within the note field of OmniFocus tasks while they sat in my inbox—and I sat in a waiting room.
Forced filtering
The biggest advantage of putting note-ish things into a regularly-reviewed inbox of any kind is that the notes always get a second look. I process my inbox nearly every day.
As I process inbox notes, actionable items are parsed from note fields into true OmniFocus tasks, while reference material is sent to nvALT (Simplenote), mind maps, Google Docs, or other appropriate places. And honestly, a lot of it just gets deleted.
This kind of filtering leads to a higher ratio of information to trash in my searchable repositories (e.g. Simplenote). Repositories don’t get reviewed; my inboxes do.
I normally do the heaviest inbox processing on my Mac at the end of the day, but given that my OmniFocus data file is in sync across all my iOS devices, I can just as easily do it there.
The practicality of unification
This is really a message about the power of inbox unification. I’ve always been a believer in minimizing the number of inboxes I have to juggle. The inbox in OmniFocus is one of the best all-purpose inboxes I’ve ever had the pleasure of juggling.
It’s become an efficient single point of entry for nearly everything in my electronic information ecosystem that doesn’t come from email. Even if you don’t use OmniFocus, you might want to think about how you can create a common funnel for the mixed bag of information you invite into your ecosystem.
{ 17 comments… read them below or add one }
I’m glad I’m not the only on one this. The quick entry feature of Omnifocus is amazing, fast and gets the job done.
Sounds like OmniFocus is become the Lotus 123 of the twenty-first century. In the 1980s, some people liked Lotus 123 so much that they did almost everything in it, including business correspondence. If it could be made to do something, it was used for that.
How well does OF handle many notes? I use SimpleNote for my many meetings, and it handles them fairly well. I usually consider OF for quick jot downs, but can you/have you taken notes for an entire 1 hour meeting (about 30-100 lines)? How much does it slow down the sync?
Just to clarify, I don’t store notes in OF. I just use the inbox to capture notes. I still move reference material to Simplenote — if that’s a better place for them.
As for sync time, I usually archive about once a month to keep my database as lean as possible. I rarely have a need to look at completed tasks.
I’ve been doing this kind of thing unconsciously lately simply because it’s really quick to get to the OmniFocus quick entry screen… But now you’ve made me aware of the fact that this is actually the first step in a very effective workflow — and I should intentionally be doing things this way. The “forced filtering” part is just so valuable… Cool. Thank you! ~yuvi
Now that’s a new thought for me. I’m going to read this more carefully later and see how to incorporate your idea.
This is the natural workflow for me as well. But I get frustrated with the difficulty of getting notes out of the system. Originally I wanted to drag and drop them into OmniOutliner, but that doesn’t work. How do you get them out of your inbox? Do you cut and paste them into another program by hand or do you have some sort of script?
It would be silly of me to disagree with your article, since if it’s the best note taking app for you, there’s no arguing that point.
However, in general, I think saying it’s the best note taking app hyperbole. I find it to be, and I’m know I’m not alone in this, a terrible note taking app, and definitely the weakest part of OF.
I find simplenote much better (fewer clicks, no context fields, no need to then transfer the note to simplenote, keeps trashed notes until I delete them etc. etc.). Once I review a note in simple note for the most part it will stay there, or be deleted.
If someone wants one inbox, that’s great and this works. However, I believe its much better to have as many inboxes as needed, but none more. As long as I know, for example, that I have to check email, simplenote, OF inbox every night, that works. I find it much more efficient than simply trying to jam everything into one inbox (I also like having my OF inbox specifically for potential tasks. Much cleaner, more logical).
Thanks for your thoughts, Matt. It’s really interesting to me that you prefer more inboxes to fewer. This just goes to show that everyone is different and has different needs.
As my workflows have evolved and matured, I’ve sort of developed this philosophy that any information I transfer from my brain to my computer starts on an equal footing. I’ve realized through experience that I’m not good at deciding what is actionable and what is not at the moment a thought occurs.
While it’s not a terrible thing to put “trash” reference material into Simplenote, it’s a much bigger problem (for me) to put a vague action there. In my workflows, actions in Simplenote just don’t get done. They need to be in OmniFocus.
If I dump thoughts into a regularly reviewed inbox, they have a chance to incubate a bit. It gets easier to decide what’s truly worth doing (or storing). In short, OmniFocus is just the most sensible all-purpose starting point for me.
And I can’t emphasize enough to others: This doesn’t work without review. Things do not stay in my OmniFocus inbox more than 48 hours typically. I don’t use OmniFocus as a storage facility.
Postbox – mail app for mac mail – has a “send to omnifocus” from message pane so that covers all the bases….
Like Matt, I use Simplenote as my go-to for note taking when I’m mobile (iOS)…nvALT is my choice when I’m Mac-enabled (OS X). Your post did move me to fire up OmniFocus and truly consider it for its note taking app capability. I have to admit, I had never considered it in that role before and I can see how the note field could certainly capture anything that I currently record in Simplenote and nvALT.
My biggest challenge, though, is that I’m still prone to hitting the wrong key or button in OmniFocus and then I find myself staring at a Perspectives view or facing a Context or Project select list. I am afraid I’d all too often find myself navigating my way back to my active note item and ultimately losing track on whatever I was taking notes.
Probably more an indication of my lack of OmniFocus proficiency, this is something that could be corrected with more practice in using OmniFocus. I have just grown to really appreciate the quick and simple interfaces of Simplenote and nvAlt and they have helped me become a much a better “digital” note taker – to the point now, that my Moleskine sees much less daylight than it once did.
As you so correctly stated, though, whatever app one chooses, ultimate success is contingent on regular and frequent reviews with the task items, reference materials, and trash being parceled out to their proper receptacle.
Eddie,
I totally agree. It’s a great place to put ideas you don’t quite know what to do with yet. A task could be a simple idea to show up in an already formed project, a group of tasks waiting to be fleshed out, or anywhere in between. Having to think through “where does this though go?” is something one can process out of the present workflow by having a dedicated time for inbox review. The fact that it syncs to all devices means that the thought can be captured, processed, and ultimately delivered to its relevant place with minimal fuss.
Hmmm. I’ll have to consider/try using OF to take notes in the (well) notes field. I could see how putting a double-dash “–” at the front of any action items and then emailing the entire notes page to my omnifocus email address (name+omnifocus@domain.com) would auto create any tasks written on the fly. Thanks!
For that purpose I find Evernote a much better tool. Most interesting for Evernote power use is the Evernote Essentials eBook. You may have a look here: http://goo.gl/AUb8b (affiliate link)
Eddie,
Great post. I use it this way on my iPhone too – then dumping it into other applications, including Scrivener, Elements, or others, depending upon the intent. Also, Kourosh Dini provided a link to an Applescript site the other day that had an OmniFocus to OmniOutliner export script, which is a great bridge also.
My system:
OmniFocus – Actionable Items
Fantastical – Calendar items (Quick fuzzy logic quick entry into iCal)
SimpleNote/NValt – Reference items in form of text
Evernote – Reference items in form of pictures
Each of these have quick entry features both on the Mac and in iOs
Do you use physical keyboard with your iPad? Like you, my work environment consists only of Windows computers, and I’m now in the process of migrating my GTD system to Omnifocus for the iPad (I also have a Mac at home with Omnifocus). I’d be very interested in hearing more about how you actually take notes on the iPad while at work – my typing on the iPad is not great at the moment, worse yet, I’ve been typing in DVORAK for the past few years!
In addition, I’d love to see a future article with your thoughts on how your process your email inbox. In your Windows for all post, you suggested a gmail archive like system that you use effectively. As a for Outlook GTDer, I’m so accustomed to direct mail-to-task that I’d appreciate any additional tips or insight you might be able to provide.
Thanks for the great articles!