Setting start dates and due dates

Actions and projects can have start dates and due dates. A start date determines when an action or project becomes available, while a due date determines when something is considered overdue. You can also use the Dates & Times section of the Data preferences to set how long before its due date an item should be considered “due soon”.

Also in the Dates & Times section of the Data preferences, you can choose which time of day to use for when you enter a due date with no time. By default it is 12:00 AM, the very beginning of the day; you could for instance enter 11:59 PM to make new items due at the very end of the day, or 5:00 PM to make new items due at the end of the workday.

Start and due dates can be entered either in the main outline (if you have the date columns turned on in the View menu) or in the inspector.

To group and sort by start or due dates, use the grouping and sorting menus in the view bar.

You can be pretty creative with the way you enter dates; OmniFocus is rather smart about guessing what you mean. For example:

2d, -3w, 1h, 1y1m, and so on — Relative dates and times put the date at a certain amount of time from right now. Negative numbers represent times in the past.

2 days, -3 weeks, 1 hour, 1 year 1 month, and so on — You can use the full names of units too.

yesterday, tomorrow, next thursday, last month, this friday, and so on — You can refer to relative dates using common words. “This”, “next”, and “last” have specific meanings: this friday always means the Friday in this week, next friday always means the Friday in the next week, and last friday always means the Friday in last week, regardless of what day today is. Other units work in the same way.

september, thurs, 2019, and so on — If you enter the name of a specific time period, the date will be at its beginning. So september means September first.

5/23/08 10a, 9.30.09 2:00 PM, and so on — You can use the short date format as defined in your International system preferences.

2w sat, 4d @ 5p, tues 6a, aug 6 tues 5p, and so on — Mix the available formats however you like.

now, 9, 14:00, tom, and so on — OmniFocus makes its best guess at things like bare numbers, times, and word fragments. If you think something might work, give it a try.