December 2014

Welcome!

Hello, and cheers from Omni! After a bit of a hiatus (8 years!) our newsletter is back. It’s low-traffic—we expect to put one out a few times a year. It’ll be filled with all the usual content found in newsletters, like sneak peeks, maybe a feature or two, and news. And we’ll do our best to make sure the content is worth your time.

So instead of the product announcements we sometimes sent to this mailing list over the past few years (we forgot a few!), we’re switching to the “newsletter” style. Of course, keep watching our blog for more frequent, timely updates, or follow us on Twitter for all of our goings-on.

Prefer those sources over email? We understand! There’s an easy link to unsubscribe at the very bottom of this message.

Mega-news

OmniFocus 2 for Mac: Public Test is Open!

Today, we’re starting the Public Test of OmniFocus 2. We’ve had an extremely successful Private Test, and we’re ready to get it in front of everyone before we release it. Download a copy of OmniFocus 2 and let us know what you think. Your feedback and bug reports are a huge help; thank you so much. Discussion is welcome.

App Updates

Major iOS Upgrades

With iOS 7’s major visual design changes, we worked hard to get three of our iOS apps out the door. OmniOutliner 2 for iPad, OmniPlan 2 for iPad, and OmniFocus 2 for iPhone—we’re equally proud of each (you can’t play favorites!) and added new features to all three.

OmniOutliner 2 adds templates, style themes, the oft-requested keyboard shortcuts, folder organization, background syncing, and more.

OmniPlan 2 adds support for importing Microsoft Project files, an interface to view scheduling influences, and iOS 7 AirDrop support!

And OmniFocus 2. A beautiful design, background syncing, and the “Save +” button for even faster entry.

OmniGraffle 6

Late in 2013 we released a huge update to OmniGraffle—version 6. It added quite a few new things. Briefly: A totally redesigned interface, resource browser, image masking, nondestructive shape combinations, artistic styles, Retina-awareness, Photoshop export… so much stuff! Browse some of these new features via GIFs, too.

You can watch our introduction video, download a trial, and learn more about OmniGraffle.

OmniOutliner 4

In January, we announced the biggest update to OmniOutliner ever. We spent a lot of time getting OmniOutliner 4 just right, and we hope you’ll love it as much as we do. Features like text zooming, an easier style system, and theming support are all compelling reasons to upgrade, but a new sidebar, easier-to-understand Inspector, and Resource Browser make it a no-brainer!

Watch our introduction video and check out videos—for free—by ScreenCastsOnline, check out a trial, or learn more about OmniOutliner.

Documentation and Light Reading

In 2013, we started submitting our manuals to the iBooks Store. It turned out to be a hit. We opened with OmniGraffle 6’s manual, and in February of this year continued with three more: OmniOutliner 4’s manual, its tutorial, and the OmniFocus 2 for iPhone manual.

And just last week, OmniOutliner 2 for iPad manual hit the iBookstore.

People of Omni

Meet Mark Boszko and The Optical

Mark joined the Omni Group as Video Producer in late 2013, and just released episode 3 of his new podcast on movies, the people who make them, and the technology around it. Mark has a background in television production, loves film and technology, and knows what he’s talking about.

Check out The Optical.

Thanks for Reading

And that’s the issue, folks. How was it? Is there anything you’d rather see more of? Less of? Email us.