I sat down with Ana Mandri, Executive Director of Biome Conservation, to explore these questions through the lens of environmental conservation. Our conversation went far beyond environmental issues. It revealed profound connections between how we manage our personal lives and how we can contribute to any cause we care about.

Nature as Teacher

One of the most powerful insights Ana shared was about learning from nature itself. When you walk through a forest, you’re witnessing perfect optimization in action. Nature produces what it needs and keeps reserves for difficult times. It doesn’t waste. It doesn’t believe more is always better.

“When you think about your body and your mind like a planet,” Ana explained, “it’s easy to see how often we spend all our energy chasing economic resources just to survive, without leaving any reserve.”

The mangroves she described offer a perfect example. Their fallen leaves aren’t waste—they’re reserves that nourish recovery after hurricanes. What reserves are you building in your own life?

The Overwhelm Paradox

Many of us care deeply about environmental issues but feel paralyzed by their scale. Ana calls this the doom feeling: the sense that the problems are too big for our actions to matter.

Her response? “Sometimes perfection is the enemy of good. You don’t have to suddenly become vegetarian 100%. You cannot just go right now to Peru and fight illegal mining yourself. But you can take small steps in the right direction.”

This mirrors what I’ve seen in productivity work. People often don’t start because they think they need to have the perfect system in place. But small, consistent steps create real change and foster a sustainable life.

Hope as Fuel

Ana emphasized something crucial: in environmental work, you have to be an optimist. Hope isn’t naive. It’s essential fuel for sustained action.

Just as we need to be mindful about what we put in our bodies, we need to be intentional about what we put in our minds. Are you consuming stories of doom, or stories of people making a difference?

“When you share stories of hope,” Ana said, “even if you cannot support a project directly, you’re doing a lot of good. Hope is what moves the world in the right direction.”

Boots on the Ground

Ana shared inspiring examples of conservation heroes most of us will never hear about in mainstream media:

Rangers in Peru fighting illegal mining without weapons, risking their lives to protect ecosystems that create environmental services for all of us.

Nora in Madagascar, leading conservation work in challenging conditions, choosing this work despite countless obstacles.

The team at Mukutan Conservancy in Kenya (supported by Learn OmniFocus members last year), demonstrating extraordinary resilience through setback after setback.

These aren’t stories of perfection. They’re stories of persistence. “It’s not about always having it perfect,” Ana explained. “It’s about trying and not giving up.”

Financial Support IS Environmental Action

One of the most liberating points Ana made: not everyone needs to be planting trees.

“When someone donates to Biome Conservation, what does that enable?” I asked.

The answer: it funds the people doing the frontline work. It provides scientific expertise to projects where biodiversity is most threatened. It ensures that rangers in Peru, conservationists in Madagascar, and teams in Kenya can continue their vital work.

Financial support isn’t a lesser form of contribution. It’s essential infrastructure that makes on-the-ground conservation possible.

Thriving vs. Surviving

Ana distinguished between two modes: surviving and thriving.

“NGOs are all the time in surviving mode,” she noted. “We’re always struggling for resources, thinking we need to do more and more. When in reality, it’s not about doing more. It’s being clever about what you do.”

This resonates deeply with productivity work. The goal isn’t to pack more tasks into your day. It’s to create space for what truly matters.

Thriving requires optimism. It requires building reserves. It requires being intentional about how you spend your energy.

The 80/20 of Environmental Impact

When I asked Ana what people can do today, she pointed to the 80/20 principle: 20% of efforts create 80% of results.

“If you’re wondering what can create the most impact possible,” she said, “look at programs where nature needs us most, where dollars go furthest, where there’s the greatest biodiversity. Put your small effort into something that creates the greatest impact.”

Organizations like Biome Conservation identify these high-leverage opportunities. They’re the mycelium in the forest: small but connecting and supporting vital work happening worldwide.

Choosing What You Consume

Ana’s advice for today is simple but profound:

Choose your friends. Build a tribe that inspires you.

Choose what you put in your body. Nourish yourself physically.

Choose what you put in your mind. Be intentional about the information you consume.

Ask for help. You need collaboration. You even need competition. Build community.

And if you’re working on building capacity in your own life, remember that nature teaches us it’s not about doing everything—it’s about doing your part. That’s good enough.

Taking Action

If this conversation resonates with you, here are some ways to engage:

Share hope. Forward stories of environmental progress to friends and family. Hope spreads.

Support strategically. Consider where your financial contribution can have maximum impact. Anyone can donate through Biome Conservation. Canadian donors will receive a tax receipt. If you’re in the USA, donate through Biome Friends to receive a US tax receipt.

Build your reserves. Notice what recharges you. Swimming, hiking, time with loved ones—whatever fills your tank. You need reserves to face challenges.

Start small. You don’t need to be perfect. Small steps in the right direction create real change.

Choose your media diet. Subscribe to channels sharing stories of people making a difference, not just doom.

The Connection

In our January 1st theme announcement, I talked about how sustainable productivity creates capacity to engage with causes beyond your immediate obligations. This conversation with Ana shows what that engagement can look like.

It’s not about adding “environmental activism” to an already overwhelming to-do list. It’s about building a sustainable life, one with reserves, with optimism, with intentional choices about where your energy goes.

And when you have that foundation, contributing to something larger becomes not another obligation, but a source of profound fulfillment.

As Ana put it: “For me, Biome is my dose of optimism every day. I don’t have another option than to say, ‘I want to keep doing this because I’m part of something big.'”

What would your life look like if you had that kind of clarity? What reserves do you need to build? What stories of hope do you need to consume?

The forest teaches us everything we need to know about sustainable living. Maybe it’s time for a walk.

About Ana Mandri: Ana is the Executive Director of Biome Conservation, a Canadian organization protecting nature where it’s most urgently needed. Born in Mexico City, she has over 20 years of experience in environmental and social projects, including 15 years creating financial mechanisms for nature reserves in Chiapas, Mexico.

About Biome Conservation: Biome supports conservation projects in regions where biodiversity is richest and most threatened. 100% of donations go directly to conservation work. Learn more at biomeconservation.org.

Related: Our 2026 Theme: Sustainability in Practice

Highlights From 2025

Before looking to the future, I’d like to acknowledge Omni’s progress in 2025. The foundational work of adopting SwiftUI in OmniFocus 4 paid significant dividends in 2025, enabling Omni to add new features across Mac, iPhone, iPad, and Apple Vision Pro.

OmniFocus 4.6 brought enhanced note and attachment functionality, including image attachment resizing and paste behaviour refinements across platforms. iPhone, iPad, and Apple Vision Pro users also gained support for custom fonts, along with a new contextual shortcut menu for links and attachments in the notes field.

OmniFocus 4.7 was a particularly significant release, introducing three major features: Planned Dates, Mutually Exclusive Tags, and improved Repeats. Planned Dates let you specify when you intend to work on an action without deferring it arbitrarily. Mutually Exclusive Tags allow you to configure a tag group so that only one tag from the group can be assigned to an action at a time. The improved Repeats functionality adds the ability to set a repeat to end on a specific date or after a specified number of repetitions.

OmniFocus 4.8 brought Liquid Glass to OmniFocus, adopting the new visual design language introduced with macOS Tahoe 26, iOS 26, and iPadOS 26. This release also marked OmniFocus’s debut on CarPlay. Other additions included the ability to run OmniFocus Shortcuts actions directly from Spotlight on macOS Tahoe 26 and support for flexible window resizing on iPadOS 26.

Several of the above-mentioned features are highlighted in Why OmniFocus? – 10 Features That Set It Apart. This video also highlights previously introduced features that are unique to OmniFocus.

Kanban View Coming to OmniFocus

Omni plans to add a Kanban view to OmniFocus. Kanban is a Japanese word (看板) roughly translating to “card you can see” or “signboard.” The use of Kanban as a visual management method stems from the lean manufacturing system, which Toyota refined and adopted. While viewing actions as a list can be very useful, presenting them as cards on a board is especially beneficial for visually oriented people.

Ken notes that Omni has spent significant time thinking about how Kanban will work within OmniFocus. This was also mentioned in last year’s roadmap, so it’s great to see it still firmly on the horizon.

I’m looking forward to exploring specific use cases once Kanban lands in OmniFocus, and will be covering it in depth here on Learn OmniFocus.

Omni Links Coming to OmniFocus

Omni Links are planned to be supported in OmniFocus in 2026. Omni Links launched with OmniOutliner 6 earlier this year, allowing you to create deep links to specific items within a document that work across all your devices and can be shared with others. I’ve long been a proponent of connecting productivity tools and reference materials together, and Omni Links represent a significant step forward for this kind of interconnected workflow.

Apple Intelligence

Omni’s thoughtfully considered approach to Apple Intelligence remains a differentiator. Rather than adding AI features that run in the cloud or that are on by default, Omni has built its integration around Omni Automation and Apple’s on-device Foundation Models framework. Everything is private, offline, opt-in, and under your control.

This means that if you install an Omni Automation plug-in that leverages Apple Intelligence, it runs entirely on your device. That’s a refreshing approach, and one that aligns well with the kind of intentional, sustainable productivity I advocate for.

Keep an eye on the OmniFocus Plug-In Directory as more Apple Intelligence-powered plug-ins become available.

Faster Syncing Outside the US

This is a quieter improvement, but one that will matter a lot to a significant portion of our community. Omni is testing new sync servers in Amsterdam and Singapore to improve performance for OmniFocus users outside the United States. As always, OmniFocus data will remain encrypted with keys known only to your devices.

Thanks, Omni!

Ken and the team at Omni continue to develop software with a level of care and thoughtfulness that’s rare in today’s landscape. 2025 brought significant enhancements to OmniFocus built on Omni’s investment in SwiftUI. I’m looking forward to what 2026 holds, especially Kanban and Omni Links for OmniFocus.

As always, new features will be highlighted in future content in our content library, which includes a growing library of in-depth courses. If you have questions or want to explore how to apply any of these features to your workflow, join us at an upcoming Office Hours session.

This theme connects two forms of sustainability that might seem separate at first, but are deeply related: sustainable productivity and environmental sustainability. Watch the video below to learn why these aspects of sustainability belong together and what they make possible.

What Does Sustainability Mean?

When you hear the word “sustainability,” you might immediately think of the environment. Environmental sustainability is an essential aspect of sustainability, and by nature, global in scope. The principles of sustainability can also be applied at a personal level across all areas of life and work.

Sustainability gives you valuable criteria for evaluating your choices. Instead of asking whether something is right or wrong, good or bad, consider asking: Is this sustainable?

At a personal level, some patterns aren’t sustainable. For example, working twelve-hour days seven days a week, getting four hours of sleep, constantly saying yes to every request, and never taking time to review and reflect on commitments. These patterns might work for a while, but they eventually break down.

At an environmental level, depleting the ozone layer and cutting down rainforests result in an ecosystem that’s not sustainable for the diversity of life on our planet, not just human life, but all the animals and plants we share this world with.

Sustainable Productivity Creates Capacity

When overwhelm becomes your default state, everything shrinks to the immediate crisis at hand. Strategic thinking disappears, presence with loved ones suffers, and engagement with larger issues (like the state of our environment) becomes nearly impossible.

This is where sustainable productivity practices come in. The key is designing a system tailored to your life and work, and using it consistently.

I teach people how to implement productivity practices using OmniFocus and complementary productivity apps. Focusing on common tools makes it much easier to move from abstract principles to practical implementation.

When you have a sustainable system and consistent productivity practice, something shifts. You create capacity. This gives you the ability to think beyond what’s immediately due, focus on what matters most, show up for the people and causes you care about, and engage with the bigger picture.

Our Environmental Commitment

Starting this month, I’m making monthly donations to Biome Conservation on behalf of our Learn OmniFocus community to support their environmental conservation work around the world.

I chose Biome Conservation because they, and their sister organization in the USA, Biome Friends, combine financial support with scientific expertise, strategically targeting regions where biodiversity is most threatened. I appreciate that 100% of donations go directly to conservation projects.

The number of active Learn OmniFocus members determines the amount of each donation. As our membership grows and members stay engaged in building sustainable productivity practices, our collective environmental impact grows.

The Connection Between Personal and Planetary Sustainability

Personal sustainability and planetary sustainability are connected. Overwhelm and unsustainable productivity systems consume a significant amount of mental and emotional bandwidth. Environmental concerns and other meaningful priorities get crowded out by the constant struggle to keep up.

A sustainable productivity practice gives you the capacity to care about and engage with causes beyond your immediate obligations. It frees up space for you to think about what kind of world you want to leave for future generations and how to contribute to creating that future.

This is the gift of a sustainable productivity practice: not just getting more done, but creating the capacity to serve others, the environment, and what matters most to you. Being in service is a profound source of happiness and fulfillment.

What’s Coming in 2026

Throughout 2026, we’ll be weaving this sustainability theme into our content and workshops.

One of our initiatives is a new workshop called Design Your OmniFocus Setup and Workflows, with more to come throughout the year. This workshop guides you through designing a system you can sustain, one tailored to your life and based on principles you understand.

If you’re already a member of Learn OmniFocus, thank you for being part of this community. Your continued engagement supports both your own growth and our collective environmental impact.

If you’re not currently a member, consider joining Learn OmniFocus to create a more sustainable 2026. You’ll gain access to workshops, community support, and our full content library, including a growing collection of in-depth courses. These help you build a sustainable productivity practice that creates capacity for what matters most in your life. By joining Learn OmniFocus, you’ll also be contributing to Biome Conservation’s efforts to protect ecosystems around the world.

Here’s to a Sustainable 2026

Sustainability, in all its forms, is worth focusing on. Building sustainable systems and practices creates capacity to engage with what truly matters.

Here’s to a sustainable 2026, in every sense of the word.

You’ll have instant access to our growing library of content, including in-depth courses for OmniFocus 4 to support you in making productive use of OmniFocus and complementary productivity apps. As a Learn OmniFocus Member, you’ll also be able to attend upcoming LIVE sessions, including Office Hours, Virtual Coworking and Workshops.

How to Apply the Promotional Discount

To apply the promotional discount, sign up for an Annual Membership and enter the coupon code SAVEGIVE2025 at the top of the Checkout page. Our membership comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Giving Tuesday Donation to Biome Conservation

I believe in sharing the wealth and supporting projects that benefit humanity and the planet. A portion of our November membership income will be donated to Biome Conservation (formerly ICFC). Biome works with local partners and communities in regions where biodiversity is the richest and most threatened. We’re honoured to support their mission to protect and restore nature worldwide.

Why Biome Conservation?

I was motivated to support Biome after learning that they provide both financial support and scientific expertise to strategically chosen environmental projects. Their approach acknowledges that biodiversity loss and climate change are global issues. Their work strategically targets areas where biodiversity is most threatened. For example, 95% of deforestation occurs in the tropics.

A core group of donors covers Biome’s administrative and fundraising costs, so 100% of the money I donate on behalf of Learn OmniFocus will be applied to projects. A generous donor will be matching this contribution, doubling Learn OmniFocus’s impact.

How to Donate to Biome Conservation

Beyond financial support, my goal is to spotlight Biome’s excellent conservation work worldwide, including their project to maintain and enhance the Mukutan Nature Conservancy in Kenya (read on to learn more).

I encourage you to donate to Biome Conservation in support of their work and, by extension, the health of our planet. Canadian donors will receive an income tax receipt, while U.S.-based donors can contribute to this and other projects and receive a tax receipt by contributing through Biome Friends – U.S. Donors.

Mukutan Nature Conservancy in Kenya

The contribution Learn OmniFocus is making on behalf of our community will be in support of the work that Biome is doing in the Mukutan Nature Conservancy in Kenya. This land is located in the Great Rift Valley, a region of Kenya I had the pleasure of visiting in 2011.

Biome is helping transform Kenya’s Mukutan Nature Conservancy through a comprehensive approach that combines wildlife protection, community development, and ecosystem connectivity. By recruiting and training rangers equipped with EarthRanger—a high-tech monitoring system that tracks patrols and wildlife movements in real-time—Biome has dramatically improved security, leading to rebounding populations of elephants, lions, leopards, and buffalo.

Photo Credit: Mukutan Conservancy

Local communities are also benefiting from sustainable livelihood programs, including improved avocado cultivars for farmers and livestock fattening initiatives that build entrepreneurial skills.

Photo Credit: Mukutan Conservancy

Mukutan Conservancy: Where People, Wildlife, and Nature Thrive Together

Take a minute to watch this video and get a taste of the beautiful Mukutan Nature Conservancy.

Here’s a summary of the key additions and enhancements. We’ll be covering these in more detail in articles, videos, and courses on Learn OmniFocus.

Scheduling Tasks Using Planned Dates

OmniFocus has had defer and due dates since the beginning. The defer date allows you to specify when something will become available to be worked on, and the due date can be used to track a required completion date and time.

Historically, people have used the defer date to specify when they want to work on a task. This can be problematic, as there will inevitably be instances where the deferred date doesn’t line up with the date you want to accomplish the task.

For example, let’s say you have an action to “Shop at Home Depot”. You don’t plan on being at Home Depot until Saturday, so you defer the action to Saturday to avoid cluttering your active actions. However, if you happen to be driving by the store on Thursday, you might miss the opportunity to do your shopping, as the “Shop at Home Depot” action hasn’t become active yet.

This is where planned dates come in. You can specify the date, and even the time, you plan to do something without having to defer it arbitrarily. Going back to the Home Depot example, you could set the planned date to Saturday while still keeping this action available.

Watch the following video to see Planned Dates in action. Also, check out our updated Custom Perspectives for OmniFocus resource; it contains new perspectives that take advantage of planned dates, including On Deck, Today: Later, and Future Plans.

Mutually Exclusive Tags

OmniFocus allows you to group related tags. For example, you might have a tag called “Communications” that includes nested tags like “Email”, “Message,” and “Phone.” It may also be helpful to have a tag called “Home” that includes “Inside” and “Outside”, so you can easily separate rainy day actions from those best done when the sun is shining.

In some instances, it only makes sense that one tag in a group be selected at a time. This is where mutually exclusive tags become useful. To create a mutually exclusive tag, select the tag group and enable “Mutually Exclusive” in the inspector. Mutually exclusive tags have a solid purple background to distinguish them from other tags.

For example, let’s say you have an action to “Contact John about hiking on Saturday” that’s tagged with “Phone.” You don’t get to this action earlier in the day and, as you’re reviewing your actions for today, realize that it’s probably too late to call John. If you apply the “Email” tag to this action, OmniFocus will automatically remove the “Phone” tag so you don’t end up with an action that’s tagged with both “Phone” and “Email.”

Watch the following video to see Mutually Exclusive Tags in action.

Repeat Enhancements

The repeat feature in OmniFocus has become increasingly flexible over time. For example, in previous versions of OmniFocus, you could specify that an item repeat on the first Monday of every month or each week on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

The repeat user interface has been reimagined in OmniFocus 4.7. Repeats are now configured in a more intuitive interface. As before, OmniFocus uses progressive disclosure to only reveal options that make sense. If you specify a frequency of “Week,” you’ll see options that make sense for tasks that repeat weekly. Different options will appear if the frequency is set to “Month”.

OmniFocus 4.7 adds a new “End” option. If set to “On Date,” you’ll be prompted to specify the date the repeat ends. If you select “After”, you’ll be prompted to specify how many times this item should repeat.

To share a practical example, suppose your neighbour, Jean, is going to be out of town from September 1 to September 8, and you’ve agreed to feed Jean’s cat while they’re away. You could create a “Feed Jean’s Cat” action that’s deferred until September 1 and repeats daily with an end date of September 8. The repeat will end automatically when Jean’s back in town.

Other enhancements to the repeat feature include an option to “Catch up automatically”, improved flexibility for items that repeat on a specific schedule, and a summary of the configured repeat settings in the inspector.

Watch the following video to see Repeat Enhancements in action.

Forecast Enhancements

The Forecast perspective got some love as well.

You can now configure the Forecast perspective to show items on their planned date. This helps ensure that you’re not planning too many (or too few) actions on a given day.

You can set aside time for these tasks by dragging your planned items into your calendar app of choice. If you drag something from OmniFocus to Apple’s Calendar app, a new appointment will be created with a link back to OmniFocus. Fantastical and BusyCal take this a step further; the length of the appointment is adjusted automatically based on the estimated time you specify in OmniFocus.

You can change the defer, planned and due dates by selecting one or more items and dragging them to a new date in the Forecast perspective. Hold down ⌘ when dragging to change the due date, ⌥ to change the defer date, and ⇧ to change the planned date.

If you drag to a date without holding down any modifier keys or add an item to the selected day in the Forecast, OmniFocus will set the due date by default. There’s now a “Add or drag to assign” option in Settings > Organization that allows you to make the defer or planned date the default.

There are also new settings that allow you to specify what’s displayed in the Forecast calendar. Historically, the number shown in this calendar corresponded to the number of items that were due on that day. If you choose, this count can now display a count corresponding to all of the items that are shown in Forecast. Go to Settings > Notifications and uncheck “Only count due items” if you want the count to include everything that’s enabled in the View setting, “In Forecast, include”.

In Settings > Notifications, you’ll also find a “Hide summary dots” option. If it’s unchecked, dots will appear in the Forecast date tiles to give you an idea of what’s in store for the future. Yellow dots indicate items that are due soon, and red dots draw your attention to overdue items.

Thanks, Omni!

Many thanks to The Omni Group for all of the hard work that went into these thoughtfully designed new features and enhancements.

Every January, Omni Group CEO Ken Case shares a roadmap for Omni’s apps. The January 2025 roadmap (which we summarized in a blog post) gave us a glimpse of what’s in store for 2025. Ken recently shared an update to this roadmap, which incorporates innovations introduced by Apple at the 2025 Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC).

Progress in 2025

Before looking at what’s coming, I’d like to take a moment to acknowledge the progress that Omni has made so far this year.

Omni released OmniFocus 4.6 just before WWDC. This release makes it easier to paste in content from outside of OmniFocus and enhances inline attachments. Additionally, OmniFocus 4.6 introduced font customization to the iPhone, iPad, and Apple Vision Pro, similar to the font customization added to OmniFocus for Mac late last year.

This year’s releases included welcome bug fixes, performance enhancements, and behind-the-scenes work to prepare for what’s next. This work includes laying the groundwork to enhance sync performance for OmniFocus users worldwide and implementing improvements to purchasing options for new customers.

Plans for OmniFocus 4.7

Based on what Ken shared in the 2025 update, here are some of the features that OmniFocus users can look forward to with OmniFocus 4.7.

Most notably, there are three new features planned:

1. Planned Date – A new “Planned” date field will allow you to schedule items. This makes it possible to earmark work for a specific date without arbitrarily deferring the task.
2. Mutually Exclusive Tags – For example, you could have a group of communications tags that include message, phone and email. The phone tag on an action such as “Contact John about hiking on Saturday” could be switched to an email tag with minimal effort.
3. Enhancements to Repeat – You’ll be able to specify when a repeat ends and set the number of repetitions. For example, let’s say you’re taking care of your neighbours’ place while they’re on holiday from November 1 to 8. You could create a “Check neighbours’ home” action that’s deferred (i.e., becomes available) until November 1 and repeats every day until November 8.

These features require an update to OmniFocus’ database structure. In preparation for this migration, Omni has been working diligently to refine the migration process.

Would you like to test OmniFocus 4.7 before its official release? Public test builds are coming soon!

Preparing OmniFocus for macOS, iOS, iPadOS, watchOS and visionOS 26

Omni is preparing OmniFocus and its other apps for macOS, iOS, iPadOS, watchOS and visionOS 26.

Omni has a reputation for leveraging new OS features and user interface elements. They’ve invested a significant amount of time in adopting SwiftUI. This Apple technology continues to evolve, and Omni’s adoption will make it easier to, for example, integrate Apple’s cross-platform Liquid Glass interface elements and add widget support to visionOS and CarPlay.

I also look forward to using OmniFocus for iPad in the windowed environment that’s being introduced in iPadOS 26.

Automation and Apple Intelligence

Omni Automation is also poised to take a step forward. OmniFocus will be able to leverage Apple Intelligence’s new foundation models on device in a way that provides control while protecting privacy. For example, you could use Apple Intelligence to create a first draft of a new project.

OmniFocus Kanban View

Ken also reiterated their plans to add a Kanban view to OmniFocus.

Kanban is a Japanese term. “Kan” (看) means sign or visual, and “Ban” (板) translates to board or card. Kanban views have become popular in task and project management apps. I look forward to viewing my OmniFocus tasks on a visual board as a complement to the current list format. I’ll be sharing examples of scenarios where this view is especially helpful.

Thanks, Omni Group

I’m grateful to the talented folks at Omni for their continued commitment to OmniFocus and their other productivity apps. I look forward to showcasing their efforts on Learn OmniFocus and sharing practical ways you can use these innovations to enhance your productivity.

Over the past eleven years, people from more than 90 countries have joined Learn OmniFocus, and our online community continues to thrive. While our community spans a wide range of cultures and professions, we all share one commonality: we all use OmniFocus.

Expanded OmniFocus 4 Course Library

Courses remain at the heart of our self-guided content offerings. Over the past year, our library of in-depth courses has expanded to include Using OmniFocus 4 with Note-Taking Apps and Taming Email with OmniFocus 4.

Additional courses are in development. The “Travelling with OmniFocus 4” course is well on its way to being complete. This course will show how to use OmniFocus and complementary apps to manage everything from a weekend getaway to an epic international trip. I’m also working on a course called “Personal Ask Management with OmniFocus”; a key premise of this course is the importance of distinguishing an “ask” (something you’ve been asked to do) and a “task” (something you’ve committed to doing).

A portion of each of our OmniFocus 4 courses is free. Join Learn OmniFocus to gain access to all of our content and services.

Workflow Guests

I’ve been inviting seasoned OmniFocus users to share their setups and workflows since the early days of OmniFocus. These sessions demonstrate how OmniFocus can be tailored to accommodate virtually any life or work scenario.

Guests who graced Learn OmniFocus’ virtual stage over the past year include Jason Atwood, Myke Kirkham-Jones and Lee Garrett (recording coming this week). I also had myself on as a guest and showcased my own workflows.

I’m excited to announce that Mike Williams, former CEO of the David Allen Company and creator of Doing to Done, will be joining me on Learn OmniFocus LIVE next month (July 23, 10-11:30 PDT). During this 90-minute interactive session, Mike will discuss the benefits of a hybrid approach to life and work, and he and I will provide practical ways to use OmniFocus alongside pen and paper.

It Takes a Village

Personal productivity can be a lonely pursuit. Sometimes it may feel like it’s you taking on the world. That’s why we offer interactive sessions that foster community while honing your productivity skills.

Our small-group (maximum ten participants) Office Hours sessions are sometimes referred to as the “Learn OmniFocus clubhouse.” These confidential sessions allow you to connect with other OmniFocus users and ask OmniFocus-related questions. You’re very welcome to attend even if you don’t have any specific questions.

Virtual Coworking sessions offer you the opportunity to work in a focused online environment with the support of other members. They consist of three 25-minute focused blocks punctuated by intention setting and sharing with the group. There’s also an optional social component, so you can get to know the wonderful people in our international community.

We continue to offer our popular Get OmniFocus Back on Track Workshop regularly. This interactive workshop guides you through your Learn OmniFocus setup and provides guidance on making optimal use of OmniFocus.

More OmniFocus Resources

As a service to the OmniFocus community, we provide free OmniFocus resources to support everyone who’s using OmniFocus, whether you’re a member or not.

Over the past year, we’ve added more resources to our Shortcuts and Custom Perspectives libraries, including some that take advantage of new features introduced in OmniFocus 4.

We also introduced a new resource: Keyboard Maestro Macros for OmniFocus. I’ve long been a fan of Keyboard Maestro and personally use many of the macros I shared in this library regularly. Overall, these macros add convenience to OmniFocus. For example, you can assign a global hotkey to access the Quick Open feature. This macro automatically launches OmniFocus if it’s not already running. There’s also a macro that can be used to complete the current task and move on to the next using a single keystroke.

Tracking the Future of OmniFocus

OmniFocus 4 has made significant strides since its release in December 2023. And there’s lots to look forward to as OmniFocus continues to evolve. See our Omni Roadmap 2025: OmniFocus 4 Highlights post from earlier this year to get a taste of what’s coming down the pike.

I know the folks at Omni will be tuning into Apple’s WWDC (Worldwide Developer Conference) next week with great interest and exploring ways to take advantage of new and updated technologies from Apple.

We’ll continue to help you put these new and enhanced features to good use by highlighting them in new and updated content.

Many Thanks

A heartfelt thanks to everyone who’s supported Learn OmniFocus over the years. I feel blessed to be able to do work that I love and am honoured that you’ve put your trust in me. As always, drop me a line if you have requests for content and services.

A special thanks to the Omni Group and their continued dedication to OmniFocus and their other productivity apps.

Highlights From 2024

Before looking to the future, I’d like to acknowledge Omni’s progress in 2024. Apple also recognized Omni’s significant strides by including OmniFocus 4 for Mac among the Apple App Store Awards finalists.

Notable changes and additions in 2024 include launching OmniFocus on Apple Vision Pro, adding new perspective rules (I find the “Has date in range” rule particularly helpful) and adding support for Focus Filters. OmniFocus also gained support for lock screen controls, tinted home screens and Apple Watch double-tap gestures. Recently, Omni enhanced OmniFocus by adding Mac appearance settings and new actions to Shortcuts.

Omni Automation received some attention as well. I particularly appreciate the ability to create install links. Most plug-ins in our OmniFocus Plug-In Directory and the Omni Automation website can be installed with a single click or tap. Thanks of the efforts of Sal Soghoian, Kaitlin Salzke and others, you can effectively add new features to OmniFocus without any programming knowledge.

OmniFocus for the Web also got some upgrades, including a refreshed appearance and new view and sidebar options.

Kanban

Omni plans to add a Kanban view to OmniFocus. Kanban is a Jaelsese word (看板) roughly translating to “card you can see” or “signboard.” The use of Kanban as a visual management method stems from the lean manufacturing system that was refined and adopted by Toyota. While it can be very useful to view tasks as a list, it will also be beneficial to have tasks represented by cards on a board, especially for visually oriented people.

I look forward to sharing details and specific use cases once the Kanban feature has been added to OmniFocus.

Defer, Due and Do Dates

I’ve always appreciated that OmniFocus supports both defer and due dates.

A defer date specifies when a project, action, or action group will become available. The implication is that you can’t work on the task until that date and time. For example, if I’d like to buy concert tickets and they don’t go on sale until Tuesday at 09:00, it doesn’t make sense to see a “Buy concert tickets” action among my available actions until Tuesday at 09:00 arrives.

When used appropriately, due dates can be very helpful for tracking a commitment to complete something by a specific date and time. For example, if I promised to send some information to a client by Friday at 17:00, I could set a due date and time for Friday. In practice, I would probably set the due date to Friday at 14:00 to allow for some buffer.

There’s a third type of date. Let’s say you have a project to build your dog a new home that contains a “purchase supplies from Home Depot” action. You don’t plan to go to Home Depot until Saturday, but you still want this action to be available if you happen to be in the neighbourhood before the weekend. If you defer the action to Saturday, it won’t become available to work on until Saturday. And if you don’t defer it, it could clutter up your system by showing you things you don’t plan to do until the weekend.

Omni is considering adding a “do” or “schedule” date field. Returning to the previous example, you could schedule your task for Saturday without deferring it to Saturday. Presumably, OmniFocus would provide a mechanism allowing you to hide tasks scheduled for a future date while still considering them “available.” So, you could have a location trigger remind you to stop at Home Depot if you drove past on a Friday, even though this action was scheduled for Saturday.

In the meantime, one of my favourite OmniFocus plug-ins is Scheduling by Kaitlin Salzke. It cleverly uses tags to earmark activities for future dates. You’ll find it in our OmniFocus Plug-In Directory.

Mutually Exclusive Tags

I find it very helpful to group related tags. For example, I have a tag called “Communications” with nested tags of “Email,” “Phone,” and “Message.” If I had an action such as “Contact Ken about Omni Roadmap,” I might initially assign it a “Phone” tag to add to my list of phone calls. If it gets too late in the day to call, I might opt to remove “Phone” and put “Email” in its place.

Omni is looking at the possibility of supporting mutually exclusive tags. This mechanism would automatically remove a tag when another from the same group is applied. For example, if I changed “Phone” to “Email,” OmniFocus would automatically remove the “Phone” tag, as it doesn’t make sense to have an action tagged with both “Phone” and “Email.”

With a bit of effort, you can have this functionality today using Josh Hughes’ collection of Toggle Tags plug-ins. You’ll find an overview of these plug-ins in the OmniFocus Plug-In Directory.

Document Links

A productivity system is comprised of a variety of tools, including a task manager, calendar, note-taking app and file-management system, that work together to help you deliver on whatever you’re bringing into being, whether it’s a Q2 report or a relaxing vacation in Hawaii. Linking apps and data together essentially creates what I call the “ultimate productivity app.” Each app is a component of a larger system, and everything is interconnected.

I was pleased (and not surprised) to see Omni embrace the Manifesto for Ubiquitous Linking, an initiative by my fellow British Columbian, Luc Beaudoin. I’ve supported this approach from the beginning and am among the signatories.

Omni Roadmap 2025 includes an overview of “document links” planned for OmniFocus and Omni’s other apps, including OmniGraffle and OmniOutliner. Instead of importing a static file, you can use a document link to refer to the file. You can store this document wherever you like, for example, on iCloud Drive, Dropbox or Google Drive.

If you’d like linking capabilities right away, check out Hookmark. This clever app is available directly from the developer and as part of a Setapp subscription. I’ve featured Hookmark many times on Learn OmniFocus (and it will be featured in the upcoming “Taming Email with OmniFocus 4” course). See the Hookmark page in the OmniFocus App Directory for an overview of how Hookmark can be used with OmniFocus. This page also includes links to related Learn OmniFocus content.

Apple Intelligence

Omni is closely monitoring Apple’s rollout of Apple Intelligence features.

Omni has already added nouns and verbs to OmniFocus and its other apps. In the short term, these additions are already helpful for creating shortcut automations using Apple’s Shortcuts app. We continue to highlight some use cases in our content library.

These same nouns and verbs can be used by future iterations of Apple Intelligence to provide secure, on-device automations that don’t require the creation of shortcuts. I expect we’ll learn more at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in June 2025.

Thanks, Omni!

Many thanks to the talented folks at Omni, who continue to develop outstanding products that benefit many people, myself included. As a former software engineer, I know how much time and energy goes into creating quality software and appreciate Omni’s dedication to its products and customers.

You’ll have instant access to our growing library of content, including in-depth courses for OmniFocus 4 to support you in making productive use of OmniFocus and complementary productivity apps. As a Learn OmniFocus Member, you’ll also be able to attend upcoming LIVE sessions, including Office Hours, Virtual Coworking and Workshops.

How to Apply the Promotional Discount

To apply the promotional discount, sign up for an Annual Membership and enter the coupon code SAVEGIVE2024 at the top of the Checkout page. All of our memberships come with a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Giving Tuesday Donation to ICFC

I believe in sharing the wealth and supporting projects that benefit humanity and the planet. A portion of our November membership income will be donated to the International Conservation Fund of Canada (ICFC). ICFC works with local partners and communities in regions where biodiversity is the richest and most threatened. We’re honoured to support their mission to protect and restore nature worldwide.

I was motivated to support ICFC after learning that they provide both financial support and scientific expertise to strategically-chosen environmental projects. Their approach acknowledges that biodiversity loss and climate change are global issues. Their work strategically targets areas where biodiversity is most threatened. For example, 95% of deforestation occurs in the tropics.

A core group of donors covers ICFC’s administrative and fundraising costs, so 100% of the money I donate on behalf of Learn OmniFocus will be applied to projects.

How to Donate to ICFC

In addition to supporting ICFC financially, my goal is to spotlight their excellent work worldwide, including the Kayapo Project in Brazil (read on to learn more). You’re encouraged to donate to ICFC to support their work and, by extension, the health of our planet. You’ll receive an income tax receipt if you’re based in Canada or the USA.

Kayapo Project in Brazil

ICFC works closely with the Kayapo Indigenous people to protect a region of the Brazilian Amazon that is larger than close to half the countries in the world.

The impact of this work is well documented:

“For three decades an alliance of the Kayapo Indigenous people with international conservation organizations has resulted in one of the world’s most significant forest conservation success stories. This project has meant the survival of intact forests, a wealth of biodiversity and stored carbon, and the traditional way of life of the Kayapo people.”

– Source: International Conservation Fund of Canada

Watch this video to learn more about ICFC and their work in the Amazon and elsewhere.

Over the past ten years, people from over 90 countries have joined Learn OmniFocus, and our online community is stronger than ever. While our community spans a wide range of cultures and professions, we all have one thing in common: we all use OmniFocus.

A Brief History of Learn OmniFocus

A serendipitous path led to the founding of Learn OmniFocus in 2014.

I started leading workshops and offering productivity coaching and consulting in 2009 based on insights from a journey through cancer the previous year. That same year, David Allen interviewed me on the “In Conversation” series after I wrote a post for the GTD blog.

In 2012, a couple of people from the Omni Group travelled to Vancouver to film one of my first OmniFocus courses. While they were in town, they recorded the first-ever Customer Stories video. I also had the honour of speaking at the OmniFocus Setup event in San Francisco in 2013 alongside David Sparks, Kourosh Dini, Merlin Mann, Mike Vardy and others.

Before long, I started hearing from people worldwide who wanted help with their OmniFocus setups and workflows. I soon realized I couldn’t keep up with the demand and began to think about creating OmniFocus courses or a membership site.

In the autumn of 2013, I drove to Seattle to share my Learn OmniFocus vision with Omni. I received an enthusiastic response and proceeded with my plans to launch Learn OmniFocus. The rest, as they say, is history.

New Learn OmniFocus Website

Celebrating our tenth anniversary, the Learn OmniFocus website has a new, modern look. We completely rethought the design to make the site more visual and engaging. We’ll continue to build on this new design as we add new content and make it easier to find the content and services most relevant to you.

Kudos to our web developer, Alex Levan, and the team at Deer Designer for bringing their time, energy and talents to this major design update.

Leveraging the Power of OmniFocus 4

In December 2023, the Omni Group launched OmniFocus 4, a major update to OmniFocus built on Apple’s Swift UI technology. OmniFocus 4 was a big step forward in many respects, especially for the iPhone and iPad. In true Omni fashion, there’s already a native version of OmniFocus available for the Apple Vision Pro.

Omni continues to develop OmniFocus 4, adding new features that add convenience and efficiency. For example, OmniFocus 4.2 introduced new rules to custom perspectives (e.g. date ranges) and install links for OmniFocus plug-ins. We’ve updated our Custom Perspectives for OmniFocus and OmniFocus Plug-In Directory to help you make productive use of these innovations.

We continue to follow Omni’s progress closely and regularly share feedback on behalf of the Learn OmniFocus community. We look forward to continuing to help you make good use of current and future features.

New OmniFocus 4 Courses

We’ve launched over ten hours of new content since OmniFocus 4’s release, including four new courses: Start Smart with OmniFocus 4, OmniFocus 4: Beyond the Basics, Practical Focus with OmniFocus 4 and Getting Back on Track with OmniFocus 4.

A portion of each of our OmniFocus 4 courses is free. Join Learn OmniFocus to gain access to all of our content and services.

This is just the beginning. More courses are in the works featuring foundational productivity principles and complementary productivity apps. In the meantime, most of the principles we share in our OmniFocus 3 courses apply equally well to OmniFocus 4.

Introducing Workshops

Learn OmniFocus embraces a hybrid approach to learning. Our self-guided courses allow you to engage with our course material at your own pace. And our new workshops guide you through putting what you learn into practice.

The Getting Back on Track with OmniFocus 4 course provides practical ways to get OmniFocus (and your productivity system) back on the rails. The Get OmniFocus Back on Track workshop, which will be offered for the first time on Wednesday, June 26, guides you through revamping your OmniFocus setup and workflows.

Connecting with the Community

While personal task management may seem like a solitary pursuit, it’s greatly enhanced through the power of community. Connecting with fellow travellers facing similar challenges or who have overcome some of the same obstacles you’re currently facing is highly beneficial.

In addition to fostering community through workshops, we’re continuing to offer regular Office Hours and Virtual Coworking sessions to allow you to connect with the outstanding people in our international community.

Office Hours sessions are limited to ten participants and provide an excellent opportunity to connect with other OmniFocus users and ask questions about your OmniFocus-related setup and workflows. Virtual Coworking sessions are designed to help you enter into a highly focused state and, in the process, cultivate your ability to focus.

Workflow Guests

We continue our tradition of inviting OmniFocus aficionados to join us on Learn OmniFocus LIVE. Kourosh Dini joined us in April to share principles from his Waves of Focus approach (recording), and David Sparks (aka MacSparky) graced our virtual stage last week (recording coming soon).

We’re excited to welcome more guests soon. In the meantime, we have a rich and extensive library of workflow guest recordings.

Many Thanks

Thanks to everyone who has supported our efforts by joining Learn OmniFocus (we’re almost entirely funded by membership income) and to the many guests who have graced our virtual stage and generously shared their setup and workflows.

I’m also thankful to friends, family, and colleagues who have supported me behind the scenes, offering sage advice and encouragement. Building and sustaining a membership site isn’t always easy. Hearing stories of how Learn OmniFocus has positively transformed members’ lives makes it worthwhile.

Lastly, I’m grateful to the talented folks at The Omni Group and their commitment to providing top-quality productivity apps. As a former software engineer, I know that developing world-class apps takes time and patience. It’s also a very enriching experience.