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Why Omnioutliner? Why not Word or Pages? Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
Hi, I'm a happy user of Omnifocus, and I'm thinking about why do you use Omnioutliner instead Pages or Word. So here I'm looking for some real cases of how do you use Omniouliner.

I think if I use OmniFocus to my GTD system I don't need OL, but I want to see real uses of OL. I've been searching for a great ScreenCast not about how that's works ( the screencast Online does very well) I've been searching for how do you use OL.

Thank's a lot if you give me any idea, because I only read good opinions about this software.

See you
 
There's a nice set of sample documents at http://www.omnigroup.com/application...tliner/extras/

I use it for taking notes on books that I read or talks that I attend, checklists for things I want to do, etc. I also use OmniFocus, but some things I'd rather just have a single action in OmniFocus linked to an OmniOutliner template. For example, I don't really need to keep track in OmniFocus of whether or not I've reset all the clocks when Daylight Savings Time starts or ends; I just have an action that tells me to run the appropriate checklist.

When I got my first OmniOutliner license, Pages didn't exist, and Word was a steaming pile. Fast-forward almost a decade, and now Pages is on the scene, Word is an even bigger steaming pile, and OmniOutliner still satisfies most of my document creation needs :-)
 
I use OO daily in a number of ways. First, I have my To Do list in OO - I have tried OmniFocus, respect it for the elegance of its design, but the way I work requires far more flexibility (and far less adherence to GTD).

My list has items (not just actions, but also notes, reminders, odd jottings, etc.) indented under different headings (sort of like Projects), and I use color styles to flag things as overdue (on my part or others'), or things needing immediate attention.

Having them in an outline means I can easily move them around when I need to into other groupings, or nestle certain items as indents under another. I have a macro to insert a time stamp if I want to remind myself of when I called so-and-so, or ordered something, or its due date.

I also use OO as a free-form, working notepad for every kind of project management. Lists, ideas, goals, preliminary outlines for writing projects, a database to organize research (I copy and paste research into an outline so it's all in one place), etc.

Outliners are ideal for this, because you can quickly move things around, play with their grouping, promote and subordinate items easily and quickly, and collapse and expand groups to focus in on just what you want to see at one time.

Word processors like Page and Word have outlining functions, but they're very clunky compared to OO.

The great thing about a good outliner is that it's so customizable, and can be tugged and pulled to work the way you want it to. I've been a big fan of outlining since the early 90s, when a Windows program called Ecco Pro came out. It was so good it was the sole reason I stuck with Windows long after I was ready to switch to Mac. (It has since been discontinued, but there are still die-hards using it and swearing by it.)

Like OO, it was a very elegant, pleasing, reliable outliner. It did have a few features that OO doesn't have: most notably the ability to assign multiple values to an item via customizable columns) and hen the ability to filter the view based on the columnar values. This allowed you to "see" your data in different ways. For example, if it was a Project Management list, you could assign an item to several categories and several people. Then you could look at all the "Budget" Items, or just the Budget Items assigned to Fred. Etc.

I have high hopes that the next version of OmniOutliner will have comparable capabilities. If it does, there will truly be no limit to its uses.
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by rogbar View Post
I use OO daily in a number of ways. First, I have my To Do list in OO - I have tried OmniFocus, respect it for the elegance of its design, but the way I work requires far more flexibility (and far less adherence to GTD).

My list has items (not just actions, but also notes, reminders, odd jottings, etc.) indented under different headings (sort of like Projects), and I use color styles to flag things as overdue (on my part or others'), or things needing immediate attention.

Having them in an outline means I can easily move them around when I need to into other groupings, or nestle certain items as indents under another. I have a macro to insert a time stamp if I want to remind myself of when I called so-and-so, or ordered something, or its due date.

I also use OO as a free-form, working notepad for every kind of project management. Lists, ideas, goals, preliminary outlines for writing projects, a database to organize research (I copy and paste research into an outline so it's all in one place), etc.

Outliners are ideal for this, because you can quickly move things around, play with their grouping, promote and subordinate items easily and quickly, and collapse and expand groups to focus in on just what you want to see at one time.

Word processors like Page and Word have outlining functions, but they're very clunky compared to OO.

The great thing about a good outliner is that it's so customizable, and can be tugged and pulled to work the way you want it to. I've been a big fan of outlining since the early 90s, when a Windows program called Ecco Pro came out. It was so good it was the sole reason I stuck with Windows long after I was ready to switch to Mac. (It has since been discontinued, but there are still die-hards using it and swearing by it.)

Like OO, it was a very elegant, pleasing, reliable outliner. It did have a few features that OO doesn't have: most notably the ability to assign multiple values to an item via customizable columns) and hen the ability to filter the view based on the columnar values. This allowed you to "see" your data in different ways. For example, if it was a Project Management list, you could assign an item to several categories and several people. Then you could look at all the "Budget" Items, or just the Budget Items assigned to Fred. Etc.

I have high hopes that the next version of OmniOutliner will have comparable capabilities. If it does, there will truly be no limit to its uses.

Yes! This is the answer I was looking for. Thank's so much.

I have 140 themes to study, each one with it's outliner, I'm thinking to have an Outliner with links to each theme. I thought to do it with Word- Excel or Pages- Numbers, but Outliner can do it easier.

The doubt is to wait to OO4 because We are in the version 3.9.2. So is close and, hopefully, a versión with the iphone, so i can have my date in the cloud, Dropbox or MobileMe and work with it everywhere.

Thanks!

Any opinion will be great.

Last edited by shinfu; 2009-10-05 at 06:41 AM..
 
One reason to use OmniOutliner over Word (and possibly Pages) is that you can have multiple columns. Word can't. Depending on what you want it for, this can be a very simple deal-breaker when it comes to outlining in Word.
 
 


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