Help Guide

Introduction

Flowcus is a powerful task management application for macOS that helps you visualise your your tasks as a kanban board. It seamlessly integrates with OmniFocus, Apple Reminders, and supports plain text tasks, bringing a visual workflow to your existing task management system.

Unlike traditional task managers that presents tasks as lists, Flowcus organizes your tasks into columns representing workflow stages (like "To Do," "In Progress," "Done") and swimlanes for categorization. This visual approach makes it easier to see what you're working on, what's coming next, and what you've accomplished.

Key benefits of Flowcus include:

• Visual Workflow: See your tasks organized by status and category
• Multiple Task Sources: Works with OmniFocus, Apple Reminders, or standalone plain text tasks (Flowcus Pro subscription required)
• Customisable: Configure columns and filters to match your workflow. Configure swimlanes too (Flowcus Pro subscription required).
• Task Insights: Analyze task throughput and identify aging tasks (Flowcus Pro subscription required)
• Prioritization Tools: Use the Eisenhower Matrix to prioritize effectively (Flowcus Pro subscription required)
• Keyboard Navigation: Efficient keyboard shortcuts for power users

Whether you're a productivity enthusiast or just looking to visualize your workflow, Flowcus provides a powerful, yet intuitive interface for managing your tasks.

Getting Started

System Requirements

• macOS 14.0 (Sonoma) or later
• For OmniFocus integration: OmniFocus 3 or later
• For Reminders integration: macOS permission to access Reminders

Installation

1. Download & install Flowcus (coming soon)
2. Launch Flowcus from your Applications folder or Launchpad

Connecting to Task Sources

Flowcus works with three task sources:

OmniFocus Integration

1. Ensure OmniFocus is installed on your Mac
2. In Flowcus, go to Settings → Task Manager
3. Enable "OmniFocus Integration"
4. Grant permission when macOS asks if Flowcus can control OmniFocus
5. Your OmniFocus tasks will appear in the kanban board

Apple Reminders Integration

1. In Flowcus, go to Settings → Task Manager
2. Enable "Reminders Integration"
3. Grant permission when macOS asks if Flowcus can access your Reminders
4. Your Reminders will appear in the kanban board

Plain Text Tasks

1. In Flowcus, go to Settings → Task Manager
2. Enable "Plain Text Tasks"
3. You can now create and manage tasks directly in Flowcus without an external task manager

You can enable multiple task sources simultaneously to manage all your tasks in one place.

Core Concepts

The Kanban Board

The kanban board is the central visualization in Flowcus, representing your workflow as a series of columns with tasks moving from left to right as they progress.

Key components:

• Columns: Vertical sections representing workflow stages
• Swimlanes: Horizontal rows for categorizing tasks
• Task Cards: Individual cards representing tasks

Columns and Workflow Stages

Columns represent stages in your workflow. By default, Flowcus includes:

• To Do: Tasks that haven't been started
• Doing: Tasks you're currently working on
• Done: Completed tasks

Each column has a type:

• Queue columns: Hold tasks waiting to be worked on
• Active columns: Contain tasks actively being worked on
• Completed columns: Hold finished tasks

Tasks move from left to right as they progress through your workflow. You can customize columns to match your specific process.

Swimlanes

Swimlanes provide horizontal organization across your kanban board. They can represent:

• Projects
• Categories
• Priority levels
• Custom groupings

Each swimlane contains its own set of tasks across all columns, allowing you to track progress within specific categories.

Note, adding swimlanes is a Flowcus Pro feature.

Task Cards

Task cards represent individual tasks and display key information:

• Task name
• Project (if applicable)
• Tags
• Due date
• Task age
• Flags and indicators
• Block status

Cards are color-coded and include visual indicators to help you quickly identify important information.

Main Views

Flowcus offers four main views, each providing a different perspective on your tasks:

Visualize (Kanban)

The primary kanban board view where you can:

• See tasks organized in columns and swimlanes
• Move tasks between columns to change their status
• Drag tasks between swimlanes to categorize them
• Filter tasks by various criteria

This is where you'll spend most of your time managing tasks.

Prioritize (Eisenhower Matrix)

The prioritization view uses the Eisenhower Matrix to help you categorize tasks by importance and urgency:

• Do Now: Important and urgent tasks
• Schedule: Important but not urgent tasks
• Delegate: Urgent but not important tasks
• Eliminate: Neither important nor urgent tasks

Drag tasks between quadrants to assign priorities. You can filter tasks by priority in the kanban view.

Note, this is a Flowcus Pro feature.

Analyze (Metrics)

The analytics view provides insights into your task flow:

• Task completion rates over time
• Lead time analysis (how long tasks spend in each column)
• Throughput charts showing productivity patterns

Use this view to identify patterns and optimize your workflow.

Note, this is a Flowcus Pro feature.

Optimize (Task Aging)

The optimize view helps you identify and address aging tasks:

• See tasks grouped by age
• Identify tasks that have been stuck in a column for too long
• Take action on aging tasks to keep your workflow moving

This view helps prevent tasks from getting stuck or forgotten.

Note, this is a Flowcus Pro feature.

Task Management

Creating Tasks

Flowcus offers multiple ways to create tasks:

Quick Task Entry

1. Press ⌘N or click the "+" button in the toolbar
2. Enter your task description using natural language
   • Example: "Submit report by Friday #work in project Quarterly Reports"
3. Flowcus will parse your input to extract:
   • Task name
   • Due date
   • Tags
   • Project assignment
4. Review the parsed details in the confirmation dialog
5. Click "Create" to add the task

Importing Tasks

1. Go to File → Import Tasks
2. Enter or paste plain text tasks (one per line)
3. Review the parsed tasks
4. Click "Import" to add them to your board

Moving Tasks Between Columns

Moving tasks between columns updates their status in your workflow:

Using Drag and Drop

1. Click and hold on a task card
2. Drag it to the desired column
3. Release to drop the task in the new column

Using Keyboard

1. Select a task by clicking on it
2. Press the Space key (or ⌘-]) to move it to the next column
3. Press ⌘-[ to move it to the previous column

When a task is moved to a completed column, it's automatically marked as complete in the source application (OmniFocus or Reminders).

Completing Tasks

There are several ways to complete tasks:

1. Move a task to a completed column
2. Select a task and press ⌘⇧↩ (Command+Shift+Return)

When you complete a task:

• The task is marked as complete in the source application
• A completion animation plays
• The task moves to a completed column (if available)
• A sound effect plays (if enabled)

Blocking and Unblocking Tasks

When you're waiting on something external before you can continue a task, you can block it:

Blocking a Task

1. Right-click on a task and select "Block Task"
2. Enter a reason for blocking (optional)
3. Click "Block"

Blocked tasks display a visual indicator and can include a note explaining why they're blocked.

Unblocking a Task

1. Right-click on a blocked task
2. Select "Unblock Task"

Working with Task Details

Editing Task Name

1. Double-click on a task name
2. Edit the text
3. Press Enter or click outside to save

Working with Due Dates

• Tasks with due dates show a calendar icon and the date
• Overdue tasks display in red
• Upcoming due dates display in yellow

Tags and Flags

• Tags appear on task cards as colored labels
• Flagged tasks display a flag icon and have a highlighted appearance
• Toggle flags via the context menu or by pressing ⇧⌘L with a task selected

Customisation

Configuring Columns

Customize your workflow by configuring columns:

1. Go to Settings → Columns
2. From here you can:
   • Add new columns
   • Edit column names and colors
   • Reorder columns by dragging
   • Set column types (queue, active, completed)
   • Delete columns

Creating a New Column

1. Click "+" to add a new column
2. Enter a name
3. Choose a color
4. Select a column type
5. Click "Save"

Setting Up Swimlanes

Customize swimlanes to organize tasks horizontally:

1. Go to Settings → Swimlanes
2. From here you can:
   • Add new swimlanes
   • Edit swimlane names and icons
   • Reorder swimlanes by dragging
   • Delete swimlanes

Creating a New Swimlane

1. Click "+" to add a new swimlane
2. Enter a name
3. Choose an icon
4. Click "Save"

Adjusting General Settings

Flowcus offers several general settings to customize your experience:

1. Go to Settings → General
2. Adjust settings like:
   • Work age warning threshold (1-14 days)
   • Completed tasks history (how many days to show)
   • Project information display
   • Column header background colors
   • Flagged item effects
   • Audio feedback
   • Keyboard shortcuts

Filtering Tasks

Tag Filtering

Filter tasks by their associated tags:

1. Click the tag filter button in the sidebar
2. Select one or more tags to show only tasks with those tags
3. Use the "Untagged" option to show tasks without any tags
4. Clear filters by clicking the "Clear Filters" button

Source Filtering

Filter tasks by their source application:

1. Click the source filter button in the sidebar
2. Select one or more sources (OmniFocus, Reminders, Plain Text)

Priority Filtering

Filter by Eisenhower priority quadrants:

1. Click the priority filter button in the sidebar
2. Select one or more priority levels:
   • Do Now (Important & Urgent)
   • Schedule (Important)
   • Delegate (Urgent)
   • Eliminate (Neither)

Keyboard Navigation

Flowcus offers comprehensive keyboard navigation for efficiency.

Board Navigation

• Tab: Move focus to the next task
• Shift+Tab: Move focus to the previous task
• Arrow keys: Navigate between tasks in different directions
• ⌘] or Space: Move selected task to the next column
• ⌘[: Move selected task to the previous column
• ⇧⌥ up arrow: Move selected task to the next swimlane
• ⇧⌥ down arrow: Move selected task to the previous swimlane
• Escape: Clear selection or focus

Task Card Navigation

• Tab: Navigate between elements within a card
• Return: Edit task name when focused
• ⌘F: Toggle flag on selected task
• ⌘⇧↩ (Command+Shift+Return): Complete selected task

Keyboard Shortcuts

• ⌘N: Create new task
• ⌘,: Open settings
• ^1: Switch to Visualize view
• ^2: Switch to Prioritize view
• ^3: Switch to Analyze view
• ^4: Switch to Optimize view
• ⌘K: Toggle project information display
• ⌘F: Toggle flag on selected task
• ⌘⇧↩: Complete selected task

Advanced Features

WIP Gauge

The WIP (Work In Progress) Gauge helps you monitor and manage your workload by providing a visual indicator of your current work in progress levels.

Understanding the WIP Gauge

The WIP Gauge appears in the toolbar as a horizontal bar with color zones:

• Green: Work in progress is at a healthy level
• Amber: Work in progress is approaching your defined warning threshold
• Red: Work in progress has exceeded your maximum threshold

Keeping your WIP within appropriate limits helps:

• Improve focus by reducing context switching
• Increase throughput by limiting multitasking
• Identify bottlenecks in your workflow
• Maintain a sustainable workload

Configuring the WIP Gauge

1. Go to Settings → WIP Gauge
2. Enable the WIP Gauge toggle
3. Configure your thresholds:
   • Warning Threshold: When exceeded, the gauge turns amber
   • Maximum Threshold: When exceeded, the gauge turns red
4. Choose whether to include Queue columns in WIP calculations:
   • When enabled, tasks in Queue columns count toward your WIP
   • When disabled, only tasks in Active columns count toward your WIP

Using the WIP Gauge

The WIP Gauge helps inform your task management decisions:

• If your gauge is green, you're maintaining a healthy workload
• If your gauge turns amber, consider completing some tasks before starting new ones
• If your gauge turns red, focus on completing tasks and avoid starting new work until your WIP decreases

The gauge updates automatically as you move tasks between columns, complete tasks, or add new tasks to your board.

When you exceed your maximum threshold, Flowcus will display a notification reminding you to focus on completing existing tasks before starting new ones.

Task Prioritization with Eisenhower Matrix

The Eisenhower Matrix helps prioritize tasks based on importance and urgency:

1. Switch to the Prioritize view using ⌘2
2. Drag tasks between the four quadrants:
   • Do Now: Important and urgent tasks that need immediate attention
   • Schedule: Important but not urgent tasks that should be scheduled
   • Delegate: Urgent but not important tasks that could be delegated
   • Eliminate: Neither important nor urgent tasks that could be eliminated

Priority assignments are reflected in the kanban view with visual indicators.

Analyzing Task Throughput

The Analyze view provides insights into your productivity:

1. Switch to the Analyze view using ⌘3
2. Review Throughput (tasks completed per day/week metrics)

NB. additional metrics will be added in a future update.

Managing Aging Tasks

The Optimize view helps identify and address tasks that have been in progress too long:

1. Switch to the Optimize view using ⌘4
2. Tasks are grouped by age:
   • Recent tasks
   • Aging tasks (based on your warning threshold)
   • Stale tasks (significantly older than your threshold)

Importing and Exporting Tasks

Importing Tasks

1. Go to File → Import Tasks
2. Enter or paste plain text tasks (one per line)
3. Review the parsed tasks
4. Click "Import" to add them to your board

Exporting Tasks

1. Go to File → Export Tasks
2. Choose what to export:
   • All tasks
   • Selected tasks
   • Filtered tasks
3. Choose the export format
4. Save the exported file

Accessibility

Flowcus is designed to be accessible to all users.

Dynamic Type Support

Flowcus supports dynamic type size adjustments:

1. Go to System Settings → Accessibility → Display → Text Size
2. Adjust the text size slider
3. Flowcus will adapt to your preferred text size

VoiceOver Support

Flowcus works with VoiceOver:

1. Enable VoiceOver (⌘F5 or triple-press Touch ID)
2. Navigate the interface using standard VoiceOver commands
3. All elements include proper accessibility labels and hints

Keyboard Navigation for Accessibility

In addition to standard keyboard navigation, Flowcus provides:

• Clear focus indicators
• Full keyboard access to all functions
• Logical tab order
• Keyboard shortcuts for common actions

Troubleshooting

Permission Issues

OmniFocus Automation Permission

If Flowcus cannot access OmniFocus:

1. Go to System Settings → Privacy & Security → Automation
2. Ensure Flowcus is allowed to control OmniFocus
3. Restart both applications

Reminders Access Permission

If Flowcus cannot access Reminders:

1. Go to System Settings → Privacy & Security → Reminders
2. Ensure Flowcus is allowed to access your Reminders
3. Restart Flowcus

Task Synchronisation Problems

Tasks Not Appearing

If tasks aren't appearing in Flowcus:

1. Check that the correct task source is enabled in Settings → Task Manager
2. Verify that OmniFocus or Reminders is running
3. Check permissions as described above
4. Restart Flowcus

Changes Not Syncing Back

If changes in Flowcus aren't reflected in OmniFocus or Reminders:

1. Check permissions
2. Verify that the external application is running
3. Try completing a different task to test synchronization
4. Restart both applications

UI Issues

Task Cards Not Displaying Correctly

If task cards appear cut off or display incorrectly:

1. Adjust the zoom level using the zoom controls in the toolbar
2. Check if dynamic type settings are very large
3. Restart Flowcus

Drag and Drop Not Working

If you cannot drag tasks between columns:

1. Try selecting the task first, then dragging
2. Check if the task is blocked (blocked tasks cannot be moved)
3. Restart Flowcus

Common Error Messages

"Cannot Connect to OmniFocus"

This indicates Flowcus cannot communicate with OmniFocus:

1. Verify OmniFocus is running
2. Check automation permissions
3. Restart both applications

"Permission Denied for Reminders"

This indicates missing permission for Reminders:

1. Go to System Settings → Privacy & Security → Reminders
2. Grant Flowcus access to Reminders
3. Restart Flowcus

FAQ

See FAQ

Additional Support

For additional help email support