How to filter out tasks starting today but at a future time, using an advanced rule?

[Nishant Tharani]

Hi,

I'm having trouble using the advanced rules system to filter out a specific type of task - one that starts today, but at a time in the future (eg at 11pm today, when it's 6pm right now).

If I use the 'general' panel of the Filter window, I notice that this action disappears when I select 'Actions: Active', and reappears when I select 'Actions: All'. It also appears in black text instead of the green text for other actions with a start time in the past. This leads me to believe that the action is not an active action, so I can filter it that way.

But, when I used the advanced rules panel to add a rule specifying that only Active Actions be shown ('ActiveAction is true'), the task remains visible. So does the advanced rules section have a different definition of 'Active Action' than the general section of the Filter panel?

(Due to other filters I have set up, I can't simply use the General 'Actions: Active' setting to filter this action out, but I assume the same functionality should be possible using the more powerful Advanced rules window).

Hopefully that made sense - any help appreciated!

[Dwight]

Hi, Nishant. You have focused in on what is probably the most confusing aspect of Advanced Rules and you have done a surprisingly accurate analysis of it.

The ActiveAction advanced filter is different from the Actions:Active general filter. One of the seven conditions tested by Actions:Active is start date/time, if any, must not be in the future. ActiveActions does not include this test, it tests only six of the seven conditions that can make an item inactive. Put another way, the Actions:Active general filter tests for tasks that are active now, while the ActiveActions advanced filter tests for tasks that will become active in the future.

If you want to filter for items that are active right now, using advanced filters, the spec is ((ActiveAction) AND ((StartDateTime onOrBefore Now) OR (StartDateTime doesNotExist)))

A work on constants: NOW is the exactly current time and date. TODAY is today's date but the time is midnight as of the beginning of today. TODAY+1 is tomorrow's date but the time is midnight as of the beginning of tomorrow. TODAY+1 is essentially the same thing as the end of today.

So,

To include tasks that will start between now and the end of today, the spec is

((StartDateTime onOrAfter Now) AND (StartDateTime onOrBefore Today+1))

-Dwight

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[Nishant Tharani]

Hi Dwight,

Apologies for the extremely late reply. The length of time it took me to get around to fixing this shows you how ineffective I am at getting through my MLO task list. (Or, well, the relative priority I assigned to this task..)

Your answer makes perfect sense and your suggestion worked. Thanks!