OO compatible iPad data format?
 

OK. Maybe weird question of the day. I LOVE OmniFocus on the iPad, and have been a huge OmniFocus user on Mac and iPhone for over a year. It changed the way I run my job. Literally.

I have a huge writing / outline project that I need to start ASAP. Doing a lot at home and while I travel so I want to work on it on my iPad. I am sure OmniOutliner for iPad will be perfect, but sounds like that is months away.

I need an outliner that does many level nesting, and have a strong preference for scientific outlining (1.1.1.1, 1.1.1.2...)

If I have to find a substitute until OOiPad is released, is there a data format I should look for the my temporary tool with export to. The outline will be all text but long and complex with many nested levels. Will OO be able to import a text (?) or CSV(?) or some other format pretty safely and still retain all the levels?

Any suggestions on data formats (or apps) that I can use on an iPad now but switch to OOiPad would be greatly appreciated. Have become a real fan of the Omni Group through my experiences with OmniFocus. You are not cheap, but the functionality, quality and support are so high I am very willing to pay for good quality.

The safest option would be a format that can be imported to OO Mac, which would mean OPML if you're looking to use another app for the time being.

There is an app available now that should be able to hold you over.
It can do many level nesting and export in OPML. In the app store:

Outliner - by CarbonFin

That's what I'm going to use (have it on my iPad already) until OO for iPad comes out. Like you, I prefer to use OG apps for the very same reasons that you provided.

[QUOTE=atreinke;82527]
Outliner - by CarbonFin
[/QUOTE]

That sounds interesting... but it seems that you can export to OPML only using their cloud-based service. Is this really the case?

I just tried it and you can email your outline in OPML format. I am at work so I don't have access to my Mac or OO. I assume that once you get it you can import it into OO but I wont be able to check until later.

Thanks for the help! Will try Carbonfin tonight while I wait for OO.

CarbonFin Outliner will definitely do what you need. It's a very simplistic outlining tool that has a few annoyances in its UI implementation (I can't wait for OO for iPad!), but works well and can email OPML files that can be opened in OO.

One thing to note is that, if you don't have any items checked in CarbonFin Outliner, when you open the OPML file in OO, the items are not in a check box type (they appear as non-checkable list items instead). I don't know if the cluprit is CarbonFin or Omni -- it's just a behavior that I noticed.

[QUOTE=atreinke;82730]I just tried it and you can email your outline in OPML format. I am at work so I don't have access to my Mac or OO. I assume that once you get it you can import it into OO but I wont be able to check until later.[/QUOTE]

Yes, I bought the app and I can confirm the exported OPML works fine in OO. Unfortunately, at the moment Carbonfin does not support a standard (i.e. through iTunes) way to import files. So, to use your OO files in Carbonfin you'll have to upload them (or rather their OPML version) to their server.
It'll do for now, but please Omni try to have OO on our iPads ASAP!!!
:-)

I use CarbonFin's outliner as well, though less and less as time goes on. I have found its best use is for finite checklists that you'd like to have around. Repetitive task lists, for example. The only reason I say this is because the sync mechanism is convoluted, just like Apple's Pages. It's an import-export scheme, where if you want to use OO on the desktop and Outliner on the iPad, you need to keep creating new versions of the document. So adding, deleting and ticking off items becomes a pain because you have to keep track of all the subsequent files. That being said, CarbonFin didn't [I]have[/I] to build in OPML support, so in that sense it's a brilliant workaround.

I'm very excited to see where Omni goes with OmniOutliner for iPad. I sincerely hope they start offering WebDAV syncing, perhaps over Omni Sync Server. Better yet, with a DropBox type scheme, where you have one folder full of .oo3 files that sync.

Just some thoughts.