This is the first post in what will be an on-going series of posts.
Last week at work I was working on some documentation for an ongoing project. I found myself once again wishing for decent outlining software on windows. I didn’t have my laptop with me so I was forced to wing it with Microsoft Word since there are no really good Windows outlining programs. If I had my laptop I’d have just fired up OmniOutliner. OmniOutliner, developed by the Omni Group, is simply best outlining program I have ever used.
Why I Use It
I started using OmniOutliner(OO) when I got my first powerbook (a TiBook). It came with the hardware. I recall my first thought was “an outliner program? WHAT IS THIS MADNESS?!?!?!” I was soon enlightened to it’s capabilities. I now use OO for many tasks. These tasks include outlining for documentation but go beyond that. I use it for making task lists, when I create database schema, and for organizing thoughts among other things. It has quite a few capabilities to support my needs.
What Does It Do?
OmniOutliner does, as it name suggests, create outlines. But that simple sentence belies a host of capabilities to create outlines beyond what you learned in school. With it’s ability to show checkboxes and control numbering and precedence it does all the common outlining functions you’d expect. It’s other features make it very useful for other things though.
It has a column feature which I often use when organizing database schema or my thoughts. One can also drag and drop things as needed to re-arrange precedence. There is also a notes feature that lets you attach small informational notes to various items as needed. It’s a nice way to supplement bullet items. These bullets are customizable as well.
Exmple window
One of the most powerful features that I use is the ability to attach other items to an outline. These include urls, images and audio. You can even record the audio in program. I often use the recording when putting together ideas. It’s great to do a brain dump and then organize that further. And since it’s audio I can do this quickly.
Showing all the attachments
In order to support all this OmniOutliner also supports formatting of each item fully. It does this through an inspector window. You can control list styles, text formatting, coloring, and many other things
Drawbacks
While I love the application in most cases there are some drawbacks. It has an annoying knack for ignoring my telling it to not show checkboxes. Also you can’t simply drag out attachments without losing them from the outline. OOs default format doesn’t use OPML as far as I can tell. This means you have to conciously export opml documents. This is not a huge problem in most cases. Sometimes though I forget to export a doc for use on windows though.
Many features are also only supported in the “Pro” version. The pro version costs more than the standard one as well.
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