Copying outline format from web page to outliner

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Posted by Mitchell Kastner
Oct 23, 2009 at 01:19 AM

I have an admission: I have been addicted to outline software since CP/M. The outliner I used was called KAMAS. “Knowledge Acquistion….” I forgot the rest.

My problem nowadays is straightfoward: how to copy a tree-like structure from a web page to my outliner. My outliner of choice now is Mindsystems Abode, only because it exports to mindmapping software. I highlight the outline on the web page, copy it to the clipboard, but when I paste it to Abode, only one level gets paste with the balance of the contents contained within one level. I also license Notemap. But when I copy and paste from the web page outline to Notemap, voila, perfection all the all levels and sublevel and subsub levels get pasted perfectly. The problem is that Notepad is is a pure outliner with no ability to attach a note to a level. Virtually all outliners permit this nowaday; indeed what use is a level if you cannot attach a note to it?

So my question is: what outliner that supports notes attached to level will permit the accurate pasting of an outline from a web page.

Posted by Alexander Deliyannis
Oct 23, 2009 at 06:51 AM

Hi Mitchell,

First a clarification: I am not sure that “an outline from a web page” stands for a specific format, because a what shows like the same outline in a web page can have several different underlying structures.

That said, since you are happy with Notemap’s import, do a search for “tab indented text” in this forum. It will probably bring most programs that can do what you want. What’s more, tab indented text is one of the two most popular formats (the other one being OPML) for exchanging outlines between PIMS, including mindmapping programs.

Here’s an indicative list of Windows software that will read such outlines: Brainstorm, Maxthink, Natara Bonsai, Notemap, Notecase Pro (cross-platform), Treesheets, Freemind, Mind Manager, Concept Draw Mind Map, even Powerpoint. Note that not all programs will accept tab indented outlines via copy/paste; you may need to paste the outline in your favourite text editor first and then import the text file (this is the case for Powerpoint I think).

Of the programs mentioned above, at least Notecase Pro and all mindmapping programs will alow you to attach notes to each item. Treesheets as well, in its rather unique structure, i.e. as extra cells to the right.

Hope this helps.
Alexander

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