That's interesting.

Meanwhile Applescript is now returning "Missing value" for the [I]OutlineLevel[/I] property of Word paragraphs ...

[COLOR="White"]--[/COLOR]

As a stop gap, here is a very rough first draft of an Applescript which aims to pull an outline from a currently open Word document into OO3.

No error checking yet, but may suffice for simple cases.

[CODE]-- Rough sketch - no guarantees (explicit or implied) of how it will behave
-- Ver 002

on run
tell application "Microsoft Word"
if (count of documents) < 1 then
display dialog "Open an outline in Word, and try again"
return
end if
end tell

set lstParas to GetWdParas()

tell application "OmniOutliner Professional"
set oDoc to make new document
end tell

Paras2OO(oDoc, lstParas)
end run

on Paras2OO(oDoc, lstParas)
-- Loop through paras maintaining list of level parents
set lstLevelParents to {"", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", ""}
using terms from application "OmniOutliner Professional"
tell oDoc
repeat with lstPara in lstParas
set lngLevel to item 1 of lstPara
if lngLevel > 0 then
set oParent to item lngLevel of lstLevelParents
end if

if lngLevel > 1 then
set oRow to make new row at end of children of oParent with properties {topic:item 2 of lstPara}
else
if lngLevel > 0 then
set oRow to make new row at end of children with properties {topic:item 2 of lstPara}
else
tell oRow
set note to note & item 2 of lstPara
end tell
end if
end if
if lngLevel > 0 then
set item (lngLevel + 1) of lstLevelParents to oRow
end if
end repeat
set expanded of every row to true
end tell
end using terms from
end Paras2OO


on GetWdParas()
tell front document of application "Microsoft Word"
-- get list of paras and their outline levels
set lstParas to {}

set oParas to paragraphs
repeat with oPara in oParas
-- Get heading level from style name
set strStyle to name local of style of oPara
set my text item delimiters to " "
set lstParts to text items of strStyle
if length of lstParts > 1 then
if item 1 of lstParts ≠ "Heading" then
-- not an outline header
set strText to (content of text object of oPara)
set lstParas to lstParas & {{0, strText}}
else
set lngLevel to (item 2 of lstParts) as integer

-- Get text without trailing /r
set strText to (content of text object of oPara)
set my text item delimiters to ""
set lngChars to length of strText
if lngChars > 1 then
set strText to (characters 1 thru (lngChars - 1) of strText) as string
end if
set lstParas to lstParas & {{lngLevel, strText}}
end if
else
-- not an outline header
set strText to (content of text object of oPara)
set lstParas to lstParas & {{0, strText}}
end if
end repeat
end tell

-- Ensure that highest level paras are level 1
set lngMin to 9
repeat with lstPara in lstParas
set lngLevel to item 1 of lstPara
if lngLevel > 0 then
if (lngLevel < lngMin) then
set lngMin to lngLevel
end if
end if
end repeat

if lngMin > 1 then
set lngDelta to lngMin - 1
repeat with lstPara in lstParas
set item 1 of lstPara to (item 1 of lstPara) - lngDelta
end repeat
end if

--Attend to over-indentations in Word by inserting bridging paras

return lstParas
end GetWdParas
[/CODE]

I compiled and ran the script and it churned through the Word doc, but stalled when it tried to create a new OO document with an error. "The variable oRow is not defined".

I don't know very much about AppleScript, so I'm not sure if this stuff is useful.

This is the text in the bottom window of the script editor when the hairball occurs.

tell application "OmniOutliner Professional"
make new document
document id "c-guTw8kzJV"
"The variable oRow is not defined."

This was the highlighted occurrence of oRow in the upper script window when it snarled -

else
tell [I][B]oRow[/B][/I]
set note to note & item 2 of lstPara
end tell


Thanks so much for working on this, Rob. If it doesn't work out, it's not a show-stopper for me.

I really do wish that outliner documents were more portable between implementations. I've been using them since the days of More in OS7, and then I used Inspiration for years. Now, Omni Outliner is my current favorite. I'm hopeful that they can keep developing the capabilities of the program.

I still miss More.

Billy

Sounds as if your document may contains a non-heading (ordinary text) paragraph which is not preceded by a heading para.

This edit should handle such cases:

[CODE]-- Rough sketch - no guarantees (explicit or implied) of how it will behave
-- Ver 003

on run
tell application "Microsoft Word"
if (count of documents) < 1 then
display dialog "Open an outline in Word, and try again"
return
end if
end tell

set lstParas to GetWdParas()

tell application "OmniOutliner Professional"
set oDoc to make new document
end tell

Paras2OO(oDoc, lstParas)
end run

on Paras2OO(oDoc, lstParas)
-- Loop through paras maintaining list of level parents
set lstLevelParents to {"", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", ""}
using terms from application "OmniOutliner Professional"
tell oDoc
repeat with lstPara in lstParas
set lngLevel to item 1 of lstPara
if lngLevel > 0 then
set oParent to item lngLevel of lstLevelParents
end if

if lngLevel > 1 then
set oRow to make new row at end of children of oParent with properties {topic:item 2 of lstPara}
else
if lngLevel > 0 then
set oRow to make new row at end of children with properties {topic:item 2 of lstPara}
else
tell oRow
set note to note & item 2 of lstPara
end tell
end if
end if
if lngLevel > 0 then
set item (lngLevel + 1) of lstLevelParents to oRow
end if
end repeat
set expanded of every row to true
set note expanded of every row to true
end tell
end using terms from
end Paras2OO


on GetWdParas()
tell front document of application "Microsoft Word"
-- get list of paras and their outline levels
set lstParas to {}

set oParas to paragraphs
repeat with oPara in oParas
-- Get heading level from style name
set strStyle to name local of style of oPara
set my text item delimiters to " "
set lstParts to text items of strStyle
if length of lstParts > 1 then
if item 1 of lstParts ≠ "Heading" then
-- not an outline header
set strText to (content of text object of oPara)
set lstParas to lstParas & {{0, strText}}
else
set lngLevel to (item 2 of lstParts) as integer

-- Get text without trailing /r
set strText to (content of text object of oPara)
set my text item delimiters to ""
set lngChars to length of strText
if lngChars > 1 then
set strText to (characters 1 thru (lngChars - 1) of strText) as string
end if
set lstParas to lstParas & {{lngLevel, strText}}
end if
else
-- not an outline header
set strText to (content of text object of oPara)
set lstParas to lstParas & {{0, strText}}
end if
end repeat
end tell

-- Ensure that highest level paras are level 1
set lngMin to 9
repeat with lstPara in lstParas
set lngLevel to item 1 of lstPara
if lngLevel > 0 then
if (lngLevel < lngMin) then
set lngMin to lngLevel
end if
end if
end repeat

if lngMin > 1 then
set lngDelta to lngMin - 1
repeat with lstPara in lstParas
set item 1 of lstPara to (item 1 of lstPara) - lngDelta
end repeat
end if

--Attend to over-indentations in Word by inserting empty bridging paras at intermediate levels
set lngPrevLevel to 0
set lstBridge to {}
set lngParas to length of lstParas
set lstAllParas to {}
repeat with iPara from 1 to lngParas
set lstPara to item iPara of lstParas
set lngLevel to item 1 of lstPara
if lngLevel > 0 then
if lngLevel > lngPrevLevel then
set lngDelta to lngLevel - lngPrevLevel
if lngDelta > 1 then
repeat with iLevel from (lngPrevLevel + 1) to (lngLevel - 1)
set lstBridge to lstBridge & {{iLevel, ""}}
end repeat
set lstAllParas to lstAllParas & lstBridge & {lstPara}
set lstBridge to {}
else
set lstAllParas to lstAllParas & {lstPara}
end if
else
set lstAllParas to lstAllParas & {lstPara}
end if
set lngPrevLevel to lngLevel
else -- Level = 0
if lngPrevLevel > 0 then
set lstAllParas to lstAllParas & {lstPara}
else -- text para has no preceding header para
set lstAllParas to lstAllParas & {{1, ""}} & {lstPara}
set lngPrevLevel to 1
end if
end if
end repeat
return lstAllParas
end GetWdParas
[/CODE]

Thanks so much, Rob.

I went back to the original Inspiration document and removed the notes fields and re-entered them as outline items. Then I re-exported to Word and ran the script and it worked great.

I owe you a soda pop.

Billy

Using the "Plain Text of Active Outline" option works for me. The "Active Outline" option didn't work when I tried it back in July either, should have mentioned something then.

That makes sense.

The applescript does much the same as the "Plain Text of Active Outline" and does at least cut out the OPML stage.

[QUOTE=RobTrew;64345]That makes sense.

The applescript does much the same as the "Plain Text of Active Outline" and does at least cut out the OPML stage.[/QUOTE]
The Scrivener forum has a programme script for download that converts Word docs to OPML or multimarkdown. Search Literature and Latte forums for: "Oultline Converter 080322"

Rob, this is great. I'm excited to try it out. But I'm trying to go the other way --- use an OO outline in Word, and retain the levels and structure. Is there anything you're aware of that will do this? Can't seem to figure it out, and I'm not a programmer (or scripter). Thanks!

Reporting back: Word 12.2.3, OS 10.6.2 and OO 3.95. -- works perfectly. Now if only I can get some way to go the other direction. OO 4.0 is supposed to do it, I guess.