Quickly Add Files to OmniFocus with Alfred

Have you ever created a task in OmniFocus that needed a file attached? Sure you have and there are a million different ways to make that happen. But how do you track down the file that you need? I instinctively rely on Alfred because it is the path of least resistance. Alfred will find that file in any directory as fast as I can type, so why not use Alfred to send that file to OmniFocus?

This Alfred extension is intended to be used as an Action and lets you send a file to whatever task is currently selected in OmniFocus. It will even ask you if want to embed the file or just create and alias to the file and add that to the task.

Download the extension here: Send File to OmniFocus

Only tested on Mac OS X Lion (current version) and OmniFocus on MAS (current version)

 

Now enjoy some action shots!


File embed choice:


Result:


Enjoy!

  • http://simplicityisbliss.com/ Sven Fechner

    Awesome piece of work, again. Thanks, Do.

  • http://twitter.com/davidpanzarella David Panzarella

    How do you get the file to add to omnifocus? I don’t see that screenshot in my version of Alfred (latest and on Lion)

  • Anonymous

    Once you install the extension simply browse to a file within Alfred, hit the right arrow to display the actions menu and select Send File to OmniFocus.

    - Don S.

  • Alan

    You’ll need the powerpack to do the right-arrow context menus.

  • http://pharmastrategyblog.com maverickny

    I get exactly what David is saying as I downloaded the extension to my Lion desktop and clicked on it, opened with the Alfred app but nothing happens. If I search for a PDF file in Alfred, it appears, but hitting the right button doesn’t do anything.

    Once downloading the extension how do you activate it?

  • Anonymous

    Do you have OmniFocus open and a task selected?

    - Don

  • http://pharmastrategyblog.com maverickny

    I did indeed. Nothing :(

  • http://pharmastrategyblog.com maverickny

    Thanks do much for the email suggestions – the Powerpack made all the difference!!  It works beautifully now :-)

  • http://twitter.com/djaneb Deborah

    Thanks for this. One question: to find a file I use “find” but I don’t know how to make that file the focus for the Omnifocus action. Once I find the file and hit enter it just goes to the file in Finder. What step am I missing?

  • Anonymous

    Did you purchase a PowerPack license? I apologize but I have to ask because the last few people that have “had issues” were simply unaware that in order to use Alfred extensions, you need to pay for a proper license.

    Here is a link to PowerPack info:
    http://www.alfredapp.com/powerpack/

    - Don S.

  • sayho

    Hi Don. Love your extension and used it a lot for months now.

    Is there any chance you release an update to it that supports adding multiple files to OmniFocus with Alfred 1.3 soon?

  • binaryghost

    That is a great idea! I will definitely do that soon.

    - Don S.

  • Sean Mackesey

    Sweet.  Thanks for making this

  • binaryghost

    Thanks for using it :)

  • John

    Thank you! This is brilliant. Is there any way to first MOVE the file to a particular folder and then alias it? 

    I have lots of little things that I’d like in my OmniFocus database, but I don’t want to bloat the database by embedding them all. (If the database gets too large, it doesn’t open on my iOS devices.) So instead, I move the folders to an “omnifocus slush” folder and alias them from there. Once a year or so, I clean out that folder. It isn’t idea, but until the OmniFocus sync system offers the option to exclude embedded files i the sync, it’s the best workaround I’ve come up with. 

    If this script could move the file and then pass the alias to omnifocus, I would be thrilled. 

    Unfortunately, I’m an applescript noob. I’ve just banged my head against the wall for an hour and gotten nowhere. :(

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