[LSlugger]

OmniOutliner helps me organize data for which I would previously use a spreadsheet. I like the combination of hierarchy and columns, but I sometimes have difficulty deciding whether to represent something with a column or a heading level. For example, I have a list of books that I want to categorize (programming, business, games, etc.). In a spreadsheet, I would put this category in a column, giving me the option of sorting (and, in a database, grouping). In an outline, I can put the category in a heading level, which is more dramatic, but less flexible.

What I would like to see is a way to move back and forth from columns to heading levels. That is, each outline would essentially be a flat table, but any column could be promoted to a heading level, thereby hiding the column. Rows added under a heading would have the value for the corresponding column set accordingly.

I'm not sure how this will look in a forum post, but the idea is that an outline might start like this:

BOOK,CATEGORY
The Intelligent Investor,business
Chess Fundamentals,games
Super System,games
Learning Ruby,programming
Programming Perl,programming

When I make category a heading, it will look like this:

BOOK
business
.The Intelligent Investor
games
.Chess Fundamentals
.Super System
programming
.Learning Ruby
.Programming Perl