Quote:
Originally Posted by DerekM
For those that want to import your data to another app on the iPad, would you mind explaining what you're looking for in the export format? Do you need styling to be preserved? The outline structure? Multiple columns? What file format that supports your needs are supported by the app you want to use?
For those that have OO3 Pro, does the docx exporter provided there meet your needs if it was available on the iPad?
We'd like to make sure we fully understand what people need before we try addressing them.
Thanks!
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Thanks Derek,
I'll start with Word and give you an ideal world scenario if you don't mind.
Basically what I'd want with a doc export (or docx, though I'd prefer doc personally) would be for outlines to match word outlining. What this means, anything on a branch would be a Heading, starting at Heading 1 at the top and moving through to Heading 9. After 9 levels it's probably satisfactory to convert subsequent headings into body text. Any notes would be converted into body text as well (Normal style, in word).
These would then be VERY easy to convert into documents in word as one could just convert headings that one wanted to body text quickly.
The reason for this is clear (to me). Converting everything into word's outlining takes FAR more time than converting a few items out of Word's outlining. Since we're coming from an outliner I would expect the metaphor of outlining to be maintained across the two platforms.
As to how to handle multiple columns...I don't use multiple columns. Actually I do but they are not usually items I'd want carried into a final document. If they were to come into a document perhaps a new style applied to them (the column name?) and as such:
Heading Line with text in it
March 10, 1999 <- date column on separate line
Edit: This would be FANTASTIC for references, though I usually put them in-line in my notes...
I wouldn't want them to come in as a table necessarily (i.e. columns, as in the outliner) because again, that would take more time to undo. Part of the problem with HTML import into word is converting that HTML file and getting rid of all the extra columns.
Pages is a whole 'nuther ball of wax. I would test both of these exports with ONLY an iPad (email the export and open with...) into Pages and the three Office emulators to make sure they worked there.
I guess the question you need to ask is: why would someone want to move an outline into a word processor? For me the answer is simple: I write many, many papers. I move from mind map to outline to document. My interest is in not having to 'think' about the process. I would like OO to export into Word (and Pages) as if it looked like the document was built in those tools. iThoughtsHD and OO work beautifully this way (grats!) and I'd expect the same from OO/Pages/Word.
Hope this was useful and thanks again. Sorry for the late-night, stream-of-conciousness style writing!