Switching between edit mode and selection mode
 

The previous outlining engine used to allow the ESC key to toggle between edit mode and selection mode.

Edit mode -- the arrow keys move the cursor in the current line; when I hold shift and arrow to the right, contiguous letters are highlighted

Selection mode -- the arrow keys move the cursor around in the outline. When I hold shift and arrow, I can select whole lines of the outline

Is this coming back, or is it gone? Right now, the only way to toggle is with the mouse, which isn't as efficient as just pressing the ESC key.

I noticed that this is the same in the OmniFocus beta, too.

You can use the Enter key (fn+return on MacBooks) to toggle between editing and selection mode in OO4.

Oh wow. Thanks! I see that <command>+enter works, too!

I am aware that I can toggle the mode via Fn+Return, but this really bothers me. I'm used to the ESC key (years of muscle memory training!) and it adds friction, since you now have to press two keys instead of one, and these two keys are in the middle of the keyboard instead of its edge.

Is there any way -- editing a plist or casting a spell -- to get the old behaviour back?

I wrote the support team two months ago and they said that they haven't made a final decision this one yet, so there's hope. :-)

Man, I hope so. I can't get used to this new way. It's really tiresome.

This was bugging me, as well. Turns out, you can change this behavior in Preferences:

1. Go to Preferences > Keyboard > When pressing Escape
2. Select the radio button that says "Begin or end text editing".

Have fun!
-Adam

Adam, thanks for your reply. I'm glad that OmniGroup added a pref setting for that!