OmniPlan 4 for Mac
OmniPlan 4 introduces interval cost and effort tracking, new scheduling features like recurring and manually scheduled tasks, and a new assistant to help set up project schedules. In addition to these powerful new features, a wide range of improvements have been made throughout the app, making OmniPlan easier than ever to use for day-to-day project management tasks, no matter how complex your project is.
A note about backwards compatibility: OmniPlan 4 for Mac contains changes to OmniPlan’s scheduling logic and file format. While some versions of OmniPlan 3 are able to open projects created in OmniPlan 4, those versions of OmniPlan will not use the same scheduling logic when computing project schedules, so you may notice scheduling inconsistencies. We do not recommend syncing OmniPlan 4 projects with OmniPlan 3; if you’d like to sync OmniPlan 4 projects with an iOS device, sign up for the OmniPlan 4 for iOS TestFlight.
Version 4.0.1
- Interval Tracking — Cost and effort tokens can now be added as labels below tasks in the Gantt or displayed in the Gantt header. These tokens display the total cost or effort for each time increment, or the cumulative total cost or effort up to that time increment. Interval tracking data can be configured and included in CSV and OmniOutliner exports.
- Recurring Tasks — Tasks can now be scheduled to occur at daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly intervals.
- Task Roll Up — Group tasks can now to be set to “When closed, roll up children” in the Task Inspector. When this option is set, sub-tasks and milestones are displayed as individual task bars on a single line, rather than a single encompassing task bar.
- Manual Task Scheduling — Tasks now support manual scheduling. Tasks which are set to be scheduled manually will use the start and end dates you provide—OmniPlan will not attempt to automatically reschedule them. (Manual task scheduling replaces the “locked” task date functionality offered in previous OmniPlan versions.)
- New Project Assistant — OmniPlan now presents a setup assistant when creating a new project, making it easier to create projects with desired configurations and less likely that common settings will be overlooked.
- Templates — Three new built-in templates replaced the templates used in prior versions of OmniPlan-Standard Project, Standard Project (Styled), and Simple Project. Projects created by importing content are now created in the default template.
- File Type — OmniPlan projects can now be saved as flat files or package files. Flat files are safer for certain cloud services and network storage systems like Dropbox and Box, while package files can be more efficient for projects using baselines.
- Automatic Light/Dark Mode— Projects created with default OmniPlan templates now automatically switch between light and dark mode when your system does.
- Project Outline View — New, dedicated top-level project outline view.
- Unified Resource View — Project and resource work hour customization have been consolidated into an enhanced Resource View. This view provides easier access to existing functionality and introduces a new schedule exception popover and customized day list, which allow for titling schedule exceptions and creating exceptions that span any length of time.
- Inspectors:
- Inspector Appearance — Appearance, layout, and organization of all inspectors have been updated to increase discoverability and improve access to functionality.
- Inspector Behavior — Inspectors now switch automatically between tabs in a more logical manner.
- Updated Task Schedule Inspector — Support for scheduling tasks manually has been added to the Task Schedule Inspector, and the workflow for setting up task constraints has been updated. Task baseline information has been separated into a new Task Baseline Inspector.
- New Task Scheduling Influences Inspector — The functionality previously offered by the “Show Scheduling Influences” popover is now displayed in a dedicated Task Inspector.
- Overhauled Styles Inspector — The Styles Inspector has been redesigned to offer easy access to all of OmniPlan’s advanced styling functionality in one place, replacing OmniPlan 3’s Styles View.
- Unified Custom Data Inspector — Notes, Key/Value Data, and Linked Files are now managed in a unified Custom Data Inspector.
- Gantt & Timeline:
- Dependency Lines — Dependency lines can now be selected and deleted in the Gantt view.
- Gantt Selection — The entire row is now highlighted when a task is selected in the Gantt view. You can also click anywhere in a task’s row to select a task in the Gantt, and some dragging and selection behaviors have been adjusted.
- Resource View — The “Unassigned” swimlane in the Resource timeline can now be hidden.
- Outlines:
- Task Type Column — A Task Type column can now be added to task outlines.
- Violation Column — The Violation icon is now displayed in the Violation column when a collapsed group contains a task with a violation.
- Outline Behavior — Documents now remember when “Collapse When Not Editing” outline behavior has been selected.
- Scheduling & Leveling:
- Leveling — Completed and partially completed tasks are now included when leveling resources.
- Resources — Work calendars for material and equipment resources are now respected when scheduling tasks.
- Scheduling — Various scheduling improvements have been made for more efficient and accurate project schedules.
- Styles:
- Conditional Styles — Conditional styles, like Overdue and Completed, now affect all task types.
- Default Styles — It’s now possible to specify a default style for hammock tasks. Default task style groups now support strikethrough text styling.
- Change Tracking [PRO] — Change tracking has been updated for improved reliability.
- Export — OmniGraffle export has been replaced by Graphviz (DOT). Graphviz files can be imported by OmniGraffle, as well as by a range of third-party applications. Exporting projects as OmniOutliner 5 .ooutline files is now supported.
- Notice Bars — The appearance of the Change Tracking, Filtering, Monte Carlo Simulation, and Import notice bars has been updated.
- View Customization — View customization options have been reorganized to make them easier to find and adjust.
- Reports Window [PRO] — The appearance and layout of the HTML Reports window have been updated.
- Omni Automation [PRO] — Support for Omni Automation has been updated, and detailed notes about automation enhancements and changes can be found in the
API Reference Release Notes.
