[LizPf]

Like some others in this thread, I used More 3.1 decades ago. I wasn't a heavy user of cloning, but it is very, very handy. I would like to see it in OO.

For those not familiar with More, cloning was simply a dynamic copy of a row (and it's children). The clone could be moved anywhere in the outline, and an edit to either the original or the clone would update all instances.

Clones are most useful when you need the same info to appear in several places within your outline. As a simple example, let's say you are outlining the steps in a complex woodworking project. You may be cutting mortise and tenon joints in a number of sub-assemblies, so you would clone your "make mortise" step, along with the specifications for the mortises.

After cutting the first mortise, you decide the method you used didn't work well, so you change the method. With a clone system, you could change all your "make mortise" rows at once, by editing only one clone.

If you decide one mortise needs special treatment, you can un-clone that outline row only, so changes to it don't affect the other clones.


I think clones are essential to an outline program, and OmniOutliner is less useful because it doesn't have them. However, it may be a Pro feature.

--Liz