OmniFocus 4: What’s New in Omni Automation?
Since Automation is an essential component of all Omni products, as the abilities of OmniFocus increase, so does its repertoire of automation features and tools. This page highlights some of the new elements of automation control for OmniFocus 4. Enjoy!
(New to Omni Automation? Here’s how to enable the Automation tools in OmniFocus.)
⭐️⭐️⭐️ Automation Updates in OmniFocus 4 ⭐️⭐️⭐️
⭐️ Beginning with OmniFocus 4, the textual content of project and task notes supports Rich Text formatting. This means that text in notes can be sized, colored, and styled, and may also contain specialized text objects such as links and inline attachments.
Documentation:
⭐️ Also new in OmniFocus 4, access to the hierarchal outline of OmniFocus elements displayed in a window is accessible via Omni Automation.
An outline is a hierarchical structure comprised of ordered nodes, each of which may contain other nodes, each of which may contain other nodes, and so on.
A node is an organizational wrapper for an instance of the OmniFocus DatedObject class, such as a folder, project, tag, or task.
Access is provided for both the window “content tree” and “sidebar tree” of nodes.
Documentation:
⭐️ Also new in OmniFocus 4, robust support for Apple’s built-in Voice Control, including “speakable menus” (macOS) and hundreds of installable custom commands (iOS · iPadOS · macOS)
Documentation:
⭐️ In OmniFocus 4, you can now use “Quick Open” to locate, select, and launch installed Omni Automation plug-ins (iOS · iPadOS · macOS)
Videos
The following videos highlight some of these new automation abilities by demonstrating some common use-case scenarios.
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▶︎ Text Objects, Style Attributes, and Inline Attachments
The ability to format note text and to access its component elements (“text objects”) enables countless new ways to refine and enhance the expression of your data. Here’s an example involving changing the text formatting in a project or task note:
| Video 8: Text Style Attributes |
| Example: Formatting the text of a note |
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Related Plug-Ins
Here are links to the plug-ins demonstrated in the video:
- Set Paragraph Attributes
- Reset Paragraph Attributes
- Set Character Attributes
- Reset Character Attributes
Including Tabbed Data
The ability to format note text and to access its component elements (“text objects”) enables countless new ways to refine and enhance the expression of your data. Here’s a practical example involving the use of tabbed data in a project or task note:
| Video 1: Text Objects, Style Attributes, and Inline Attachments |
| Example: Adding spreadsheet data to a note |
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Related Plug-Ins
Here are links to the plug-ins demonstrated in the video:
- Append Copied Spreadsheet
- Set Paragraph Attributes
- Reset Paragraph Attributes
- Set Character Attributes
- Reset Character Attributes
- Append Generated Chart Image
And here’s a link to the example Numbers spreadsheet:
Inline Map Image
In the next example, an Omni Automation plug-in uses the online Mapbox service to generate and add a static map image using the first map URL stored in the notes of the selected project or task.
The plug-in uses the Rich Text support in OmniFocus 4 to first scan the note of the selected task or project for map links, and if one is found, it’s latitude and longitude coordinates are extracted and used to generate a static map of the location. The generated map image is then added as an inline text attachment to the note.
| Video 6: Text Objects, Style Attributes, and Inline Attachments |
| Example: Adding static map to a note |
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Related Resources
Here are links to the automation tools demonstrated in the video:
▶︎ Link Objects
Links are “connection points” to related data, media, or information. Oftentimes they are expressed in the form of intricate URLs that needlessly take up space and are confusing in their appearance.
Creating “Link Objects” that encapsulate a link’s complexity within a container represented by a chosen word or phrase is often a time-consuming process.
However, using the new text manipulation abilities in Omni Automation in OmniFocus 4, Link Objects can be quickly and easily created and edited using standard Markdown constructs. Here are a couple of examples in use:
| Video 2: Text Objects and Style Attributes |
| Example: Links to Markdown | Markdown to Links |
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Related Plug-Ins
Here are links to the plug-ins demonstrated in the video:
Sometimes links are the fastest way to navigate between OmniFocus elements, including: Folders, Project, Tasks, and Tags! Here’s an example:
| Video 3: Text Objects and Style Attributes |
| Example: “Jump Links” |
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Related Plug-Ins
Here are links to the plug-ins demonstrated in the video:
▶︎ Window Sidebar and Content “Node Trees”
The new sidebar and content properties of the Window class enable scripts to “see” and “interact” with the hierarchical node trees displayed in OmniFocus windows.
In practical terms, this means that folders, tags, projects, and tasks can be revealed, selected, focused, expanded, and contracted using automation.
| Video 4: Window Content Outline |
| Example: Reveal Select and Adjust Tasks |
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Related Plug-Ins
Here are links to the plug-ins demonstrated in the video:
▶︎ Voice Control Support
Dramatic enhancements to Omni Automation provide Voice Control with the ability to interact with OmniFocus 4 through spoken commands and dictation, on iPhones, iPads, and Macs.
| Video 5: Voice Control Support |
| Example: Dictate Grocery List (macOS) |
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Related Documentation and Resources
Here are links to OmniFocus Voice Control documentation, plug-ins, and installable Voice Control command sets:
- Omni Automation and Voice Control
- OmniFocus Voice Control Menu Commands
- OmniFocus Custom Voice Control Commands Collection
- OmniFocus Voice Commands iPhone Video Carousel
- Download Plug-In for Accessing Voice Control
Window Panel Controls
The OmniFocus 4 scripting API includes two new properties of the Window class for controlling window panels: inspectorVisible and sidebarVisible
These properties can be used to manage the window view. For example, here’s a video showing them used with Voice Control:
| Video 7: Window Panel Controls |
| Showing and Hiding Inspector and Sidebar |
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Related Documentation and Resources
Here is the link to OmniFocus Voice Control documentation and installable Voice Control command set for these commands:
▶︎ Quick Open Integration
In OmniFocus 4, you can now use “Quick Open” to locate, select, and launch installed Omni Automation plug-ins.
| Video 9: Launch Plug-Ins with Quick Open |
| Example: Create “Jump Link” to Folder |
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