Filter for hidden todo items

[Jorgen Bodde]

Hi,

I would like to make a separate view for my work items
They are in a folder named "Work" and that folder is a hidden todo branch, so that not all my work related issues are shown in my main view.

So, I made a new todo filter, where I set the advanced filter option "hideInToDo" is set to true. I expect the hidden todo items to appear, but they are not.

How can I show hidden items in a separate view? I would love to use the dependency management as I have many tasks that become important after other tasks are done, but I cannot get an active filter with hidden todos.

Any ideas?

[Dwight Arthur]

Hi, Jorgen.
There are seven different conditions, documented in the MLO Users Guide, that stop a task from being considered  "active". One of the conditions is being hidden. So the Active Tasks  view will never show hidden tasks.

One way to address this would be to change the Action filter from "Active" to "Available".

I think that a better idea would be to stop hiding your work tasks. You could then build two views, let's call them Work and nonWork.  For Work, start with the Active Actions view, and add an Advanced Filter for TopLevelFolderName is Work. For notWork add TopLevelFolderName isNot Work.
-Dwight

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[J Smith]

As ever in MLO, there are more than one ways of doing things(!)

A) Folders

The slight problem with using MLO Folders to define Area of Life (Work, Recreation, Family etc) is that you need to move every single item you add into the correct Folder. If like me you have several hundred tasks that can be a lot of tasks scroll & click past.

B) Flags

Another way you could think of doing this would be with Flags. When you create sub-tasks, the 'child' tasks Flags do not automatically inherit from their Flag setting from their 'parent' task.

C) Context/Tags

Another thing you could try would be using tags (AKA contexts), which do inherit from parents.  It gets slightly messy if you are using tags for actual Context but it works.

Fwiw, if you want something more advanced, at present I am experimenting with using a combination of A) and C) whereby each of my Folders has the relevant context-tags I want already set up. 

Then when I insert a task into a folder, it will automatically default to having the same context-tags.

And if I add tasks via the Inbox, I can then there is a useful command in MLO to make sure that all subtasks contain at least those of the parent in question. What is clever is that it does not over-write the context-tags (that may be genuine real-world contexts) that each child task may have . If you are interested, the command is found here: 

View > Advanced > "Add context to all subtasks".  For convenience I have set it up on a hotkey. 

I still find moving stuff around to be pain, and where possible I just insert new tasks where I want them. 


Another thing that I am experimenting with and so far am finding to be extremely it to mark tasks up with colour depending on: 

a) their context-tags

b) whether or not they are a task with no children (i.e. this means that each item is an 'Action' or is an MLO Project that has no Actions [in which case the implied action is decide what new action is required or else mark the project as complete!] )

e.g. I am finding it really nice for my items that are both Active (i.e. of status "do ASAP") and are actionable Actions (rather than Project Outcomes) to leap out at me in a specific colour. 

J

[Jorgen Bodde]

Hi,

It is not so much as that it might have been a good idea or not, it is a discrepancy. When I can filter in MLO2 on "hideFromTodo" as a condition for a specific todo list, I expect the HIDDEN todo items to be at least visible there 😀. What use is that flag if you can filter on it, but the result is always an empty view?

With regards,
- Jorgen

[Jorgen Bodde]

Hi,

Thanks. I solved it by making another profile (the one that says My Tasks at the bottom on the side menu on the left). I added one called Work Tasks, set it up to sync with the same cloud as my "My Tasks" profile, but in the one I added a filter that Context @Work should not be present, and the other @Work should be present. This works pretty well, and is a hybrid of what you suggested. I can now separate work projects and active todos from my personal projects. The good thing is, since it is the same list I still get notified when personal tasks are due on a workday, like when I need to make a personal call.

I recently discovered workspaces, I might be able to set up two workspaces, but this eens to work for now, which does not require me to context or tag everything to either be present in one or the other project.

Thanks fall for your kind replies! Sorry for the late reply as I didn't expect this to be a 1998 style discussion group/email list, I thought Google+ would pick up my subscription. But I am sure glad a lot of capable users are here, and willing to help.

With regards,
- Jorgen