Hidden Omnifocus Settings

I’m a long time Omnifocus user but only recently discovered that there are hidden settings you can tweak to further customize how Omnifocus works.

I could not find a definitive list that wasn’t out dated. I did a little spelunking through the Omnifocus application bundle and found them all.

I don’t know how all of these work so you use them at your own risk.

If you find out how they work, feel free to shoot me an email describing what you’ve learned.

If you’re not familiar with the layout of a PLIST file, look at for the name of the preference and the field immediately after shows the default value.

Changing Preferences

You can change these by opening the following

omnifocus:///change-preference?KEY=VALUE

For example:

omnifocus:///change-preference?AutomaticBackupLimit=5

If you want to go back to the default remove the value.

omnifocus:///change-preference?AutomaticBackupLimit

When you open that URL, you should see a dialog like the following in Omnifocus.

omnifocus:///change-preference?AutomaticBackupLimit

Preference list

<dict>
    <key>AllowInspectionOfSidebarObjects</key>
    <true/>
    <key>AutoCloseTemporaryPerspectives</key>
    <true/>
    <key>AutomaticBackupFolder</key>
    <string>~/Library/Application Support/OmniFocus/Backups</string>
    <key>AutomaticBackupLimit</key>
    <integer>100</integer>
    <key>AutomaticBackupMinutes</key>
    <integer>120</integer>
    <key>AutomaticallyHideCompletedActionsDelay</key>
    <real>0.25</real>
    <key>BuiltinPerspectiveShortcuts</key>
    <dict/>
    <key>ClippingTaskTitleSummaryLength</key>
    <integer>140</integer>
    <key>ClippingsGoToQuickEntry</key>
    <true/>
    <key>ClippingsIgnoreAttachments</key>
    <false/>
    <key>ClippingsIgnoreEntireEmailMessages</key>
    <true/>
    <key>ClippingsIgnoreTextBackgroundColor</key>
    <true/>
    <key>ClippingsIgnoreTextForegroundColor</key>
    <true/>
    <key>ClippingsSimplifyStyle</key>
    <false/>
    <key>ContentOutlinePreservesVisibleSelection</key>
    <true/>
    <key>ContentOutlinePreservesVisibleSelection:ByID:ProcessForecast.v2</key>
    <false/>
    <key>CopyAsTaskPaper</key>
    <false/>
    <key>CustomColumnsLayoutEstimatedDurationWidth</key>
    <integer>58</integer>
    <key>CustomColumnsLayoutMaximumWidthTags</key>
    <integer>180</integer>
    <key>CustomColumnsLayoutMinimumProjectWidth</key>
    <integer>72</integer>
    <key>CustomColumnsLayoutMinimumTitleWidth</key>
    <integer>110</integer>
    <key>CustomColumnsLayoutMinimumWidthTags</key>
    <integer>80</integer>
    <key>CustomColumnsRatioOfMaximumColumnWidthToMinimum</key>
    <integer>3</integer>
    <key>DataStoreProbesList</key>
    <array/>
    <key>DebugOpenURL</key>
    <false/>
    <key>DelayIntegrationOfSyncedChangesWhenUserIsActive</key>
    <true/>
    <key>ExpandRowsByDefault</key>
    <false/>
    <key>ExtraColumns</key>
    <array/>
    <key>FeedbackAddress</key>
    <string>omnifocus@omnigroup.com</string>
    <key>ForecastBlessedTagPrimaryKey</key>
    <string></string>
    <key>ForecastCalendarCollapsed</key>
    <false/>
    <key>ForecastDragSetsDeferDate</key>
    <false/>
    <key>ForecastEventTimelineIncludeOffHoursEvents</key>
    <true/>
    <key>ForecastIncludesInboxEvenWhenFocused</key>
    <false/>
    <key>ForecastIncludesProjectsOnHold</key>
    <true/>
    <key>ForecastShowDeferredItemsSection</key>
    <false/>
    <key>ForecastShowEventTimeline</key>
    <true/>
    <key>ForecastTimelineEndHour</key>
    <integer>17</integer>
    <key>ForecastTimelineStartHour</key>
    <integer>9</integer>
    <key>ForumPageURL</key>
    <string>http://www.omnigroup.com/forward/omnifocusforums</string>
    <key>HiddenForecastCalendarIdentifiers</key>
    <array/>
    <key>InsideOmniFocusPageURL</key>
    <string>http://inside.omnifocus.com</string>
    <key>KinklessImportPath</key>
    <string></string>
    <key>KinklessImportShouldIncludeArchive</key>
    <true/>
    <key>LastArchiveRequestTimeInterval</key>
    <real>0.0</real>
    <key>LastExportDirectory</key>
    <string>~/Desktop</string>
    <key>LastExportType</key>
    <string>HTML</string>
    <key>LastWindowPosition</key>
    <string></string>
    <key>NSShouldActivateForServiceRequest</key>
    <false/>
    <key>NotificationsDebugLogger</key>
    <integer>0</integer>
    <key>OFIAutomaticDashSubstitutionEnabled</key>
    <true/>
    <key>OFIAutomaticDataDetectionEnabled</key>
    <false/>
    <key>OFIAutomaticLinkDetectionEnabled</key>
    <false/>
    <key>OFIAutomaticQuoteSubstitutionEnabled</key>
    <true/>
    <key>OFIAutomaticSpellingCorrectionEnabled</key>
    <true/>
    <key>OFIAutomaticTextReplacementEnabled</key>
    <true/>
    <key>OFIColorApproximatelyGrayThreshold</key>
    <real>0.10000000000000001</real>
    <key>OFIColorDarkLowContrastThreshold</key>
    <real>0.40000000000000002</real>
    <key>OFIColorLightLowContrastThreshold</key>
    <real>0.80000000000000004</real>
    <key>OFIContinuousSpellCheckingEnabled</key>
    <false/>
    <key>OFIGrammarCheckingEnabled</key>
    <false/>
    <key>OFIMaximumNumberOfTitleLines</key>
    <integer>-1</integer>
    <key>OFINoteLayoutManagerReplacesLowContractColors</key>
    <true/>
    <key>OFISmartInsertDeleteEnabled</key>
    <true/>
    <key>OFMRemindersImporterLogger</key>
    <integer>0</integer>
    <key>OIInspectorDefaultTopLeftPosition</key>
    <string>{900, 53}</string>
    <key>OJSEnabled</key>
    <true/>
    <key>OOReturnInRowInsertsNewline</key>
    <false/>
    <key>OOShouldContinueDeletionAcrossCellBoundariesOnKeyRepeat</key>
    <false/>
    <key>OOShouldEditNotesOnEnterKey</key>
    <false/>
    <key>OOSplitWhenCreatingItem</key>
    <false/>
    <key>OOTabShouldNavigateCells</key>
    <true/>
    <key>OSUseFontLeading</key>
    <false/>
    <key>OZCallbackURLHandler</key>
    <string>com.omnigroup.omnifocus3</string>
    <key>OZShouldSuppressTitleBarWarning</key>
    <true/>
    <key>PaidFeedbackAddress</key>
    <string>omnifocus@omnigroup.com</string>
    <key>PerspectiveControlHidden</key>
    <false/>
    <key>PerspectiveSnapshotSound</key>
    <string>Snapshot</string>
    <key>PrelaunchQuickEntry</key>
    <true/>
    <key>ProductPageURL</key>
    <string>http://www.omnigroup.com/applications/omnifocus/</string>
    <key>QuickEntryAnimationDuration</key>
    <real>0.10000000000000001</real>
    <key>QuickEntryItemsGoToInbox</key>
    <false/>
    <key>QuickEntryLayoutMode</key>
    <string>fluid</string>
    <key>QuickEntryMultiEntryMode</key>
    <false/>
    <key>QuickEntryVisibleColumnNames</key>
    <array>
        <string>projectInfo</string>
        <string>context</string>
        <string>dateToStart</string>
        <string>dateDue</string>
        <string>noteExists</string>
        <string>flagged</string>
    </array>
    <key>QuickOpenAnimationDuration</key>
    <real>0.10000000000000001</real>
    <key>QuickOpenEnabled</key>
    <true/>
    <key>QuiescenceDelayedIntegrationLogger</key>
    <integer>0</integer>
    <key>QuiescenceTimerDuration</key>
    <real>10</real>
    <key>RestorableState</key>
    <dict/>
    <key>ShouldOpenLinksInNewWindows</key>
    <false/>
    <key>ShouldQuickOpenRevealInNewWindows</key>
    <false/>
    <key>SimpifyStyleWhenPastingInNotes</key>
    <false/>
    <key>StrikeCompletedActions</key>
    <true/>
    <key>SyncAutomaticallyOnLaunch</key>
    <true/>
    <key>SyncAutomaticallyOnQuit</key>
    <true/>
    <key>SyncDebug</key>
    <true/>
    <key>SyncFinishedSound</key>
    <string>Purr</string>
    <key>SyncShouldPublishDueDateTimes</key>
    <false/>
    <key>TitleTextFoldingForColumns</key>
    <true/>
    <key>TitleTextFoldingForFluid</key>
    <false/>
    <key>XMLTransactionGraphShouldEmailProblems</key>
    <true/>
</dict>

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