Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with omnioutliner

Why now, Omnioutliner?

electric_counterpoint — Thu, 08 May 2008 08:01:02 -0800

Why did Omnioutliner start bugging me about registration only after I reinstalled Leopard? I've been using Omnioutliner since I got my MacBook last July. I seem to recall it was bundled with OS X 10.4, but I might be wrong about that. Anyway, I used it fine, dandy, and free for two semesters of law school. It continued to work even after I upgraded to 10.5 in January.

Then last week (right before exams, oh noes!), my hard drive died. I wound up reinstalling OS X 10.5 and all my software by hand, and now Omnioutliner refuses to save anything in a document of more than thirty lines. This is irritating to say the least.

I don't refuse to pay the forty bucks to register, though it's not an expense I planned for (especially after the costs of getting back up and running from my HDD crash, and especially as I prepare to move to the land of doubled prices). Also, after using it for so long, I'm really not that in love with Omnioutliner. If I know it's going to cost me forty bucks, I'll probably make the jump to a free/cheaper alternative before fall term. Until then, though, I've got three exams in the next week, and I can't change any of my notes. So, am I missing something obvious about a free Omnioutliner trial, or should I just export everything to .rtf and go from there?

Software Reccomendations: Writing a Paper While Keeping An Outline

rossination — Fri, 09 Mar 2007 12:19:44 -0800

Need toms help finding a good program or method for maintaining an outline structure within an essay. As you can tell, I'm having a hard time describing my problem. Basically, I want to be able to write a paper in an outline format, and then expand that outline out into paragraphs. At any time, though, I'd like to be able to go back to the outline "view" of the paper and be able to do things like drag sections around, reorder them, etc.

It seems like Omnioutliner, Word, or Pages should include something like this, but they don't seem to (I'm on a mac, obviously). Basically, I'm just looking for some embedded structure to be preserved when I go from outline -> double-spaced MLA style paper.

I'm not writing dissertations here, either. This is mostly for simple, easy-peasy 5-10 page papers.

Any ideas? Obviously, free or cheap programs are appreciated. I'm seeing some of these types of features in "novel writer" programs like Ulysses and Scrivener, but those still seem like overkill for the small scale that I'm working at. Plus, they're a bit more than I'd like to spend (even Scrivener). But, if you can convince me that it's worth a second look, go for it.

[Also, should this go in "writing & language", or "computers and internet"?]

Recommendations for Windows outlining tool similar to Omni Outliner.

specialk420 — Tue, 20 Apr 2004 13:22:43 -0800

In need of a recommendation for an Windows outlining tool that has the same functionality as the Omni Outliner that ships with Mac OSX? Need to document a software testing plan and can't find a program for the Windows that works as well as Omni does for the Mac. All suggestions are appreciated.