OmniOutliner 3 for iOS

Posted by Amontillado
May 26, 2019 at 11:48 AM

Scrivener is awesome. The companion Scapple is a great example of how creative simplicity can sometime surpass complexity. It doesn’t have many features, but it’s a great tool for shotgunning ideas.

I don’t use either at the moment, but I’m probably a fool not to. They are great tools.

Ulysses was my favorite editor for a long time, but the one-library-to-rule-them-all concept bugs me. I like to have a per-project dumpster, either a folder or a Devonthink database, rather than one huge overstuffed hall closet. Ulysses on the iPad is very close to the same as on the Mac. They did an outstanding job of porting the desktop to the iPad.

The linked article didn’t mention my favorite Scrivener feature, which I think is called locked outline mode. Put the left hand editor window in outline mode and the right window in document mode, and click the lock icon (I think it’s a lock) to turn on locked outlining.

The left window will display text and synopsis, and the right window will follow what you click on the left side, accessing the related document.

You can save that setup as a stored layout, so it’s just a click or two to bring it back.

I wish I could make some changes in the way Scrivener works. I wouldn’t sacrifice a single capability, but there are different ways to get the same results. Ulysses always fascinated me because so much of Scrivener’s power was there even if it didn’t appear to be.

Unfortunately, if I could mold Scrivener to my fondest wishes, the Scrivener faithful would want to lynch me. Probably not a bad thing I’m not calling the shots at L&L.

Actually, I think I’ll have another go with Scrivener.

>I recently came across the following review of OO from an author who
>also uses Scrivener and Ulysses, and the review looked to see if he
>could integrate OO into his workflow so he could use it with Ulysses
>instead of using the integrated outlining in Scrivener.
> >https://chrisrosser.net/posts/2018/08/11/review-omnioutliner/
> >What surprised me most was how apparently useful the outlining mode is
>in Scrivener. And the conclusion to the review was that OmniOutliner
>(under the *old* price) was too much for what it offered.
> >I found this very interesting. I also own Scrivener, but have used it
>only a couple of times for some longer-form writing, but I may look into
>its outlining capabilities now.