Outliner, List Manager
Developer: The Omni Group
Shareware: $39.95, $24.95 (Educational)
Version: 3.6.2
Release Date: 2006-12-13
Last Updated: 2007-02-04
Pros: Very good outlining features; Multi-columns; Easy-to-use and flexible user interface; Exports to Keynote.
Cons: No summarising outline panel; No integration or file exchange with Mellel.
Description
OmniOutliner helps you to organize and outline thoughts, tasks and information. The output in form lists and tables is clean and often colourful, yet visually consistent. It can even be used as an extended outliner for word-processing, a presentation planner or a project manager.
The Omni Group is known for their skills in user
interface programming, which have been fully applied to
OmniOutliner. The software looks, feels and behaves very
Mac-like and takes advantage of some of the most useful
attributes of MacOS X, such as Spotlight integration.
Restructuring and fine-tuning an outline is made easy
through the use of "inspectors" for the look and feel of a
document, while at the same time auto-numbering and styles
ensure that it remains consistent. All this is useful but
not unusual for any notes-taking tool; what sets
OmniOutliner apart from the crowd is the possibility to
store information in multiple columns and add checkboxes or
pop-up lists. Another immensely useful feature is the
possibility to add notes and attachments either "inline",
that is directly embedded into the outline, or in a
separate panel. Combined with the possibility to show
attachments of certain file types such as PDFs directly in
the outline, one can use OmniOutliner as a basic word
processor for brainstorming and gathering information and
ideas in one place. It also exports into Keynote, using
each row's first-level entry as a separate slide and the
descendants as hierarchical bullet points.
One feature that is missing is an outline panel. While
in the "Professional" version you can use "sections" in
order to navigate through your outline, in the basic
(affordable) one you will have to scroll your way through.
And oh, you cannot open its files in Mellel - but maybe
it's not the Omni people to blame...
Other Reviews
Macworld
The Mac Observer
Useful Links
Wikipedia Entry