Still looking to get Grandview or a workalike. Unending quest.

How difficult would it to duplicate Grandview? So many people still think GrandView was the best outliner, and I don't understand why nobody can recreate something just like it. I don't have the technical capability to do so, or I would.

I finally got it installed and running on VMWare7, but cannot share the documents I created in the VM with Windows.

Is there an outliner that works just like Grandview out there?

patsaison@gmail.com

I know of three, none of which matches GV's outlining versatility:
1. NoteMap - had hopes for it, but even simple bugs weren't fixed and development stopped. When it permanently lost lot of material I had typed into it, I stopped using it.
2. NoteLiner: Relatively new and free (for now). Relatively simple.
http://www.noteliner.org/i/Main.html
3. Inspiration: Best one-pane outliner I've found for current Windows environments. Some of the commands are a bit quirky, but I've grown accustomed to them. So far, I've found no bugs. It can also be used to diagram and it will automatically convert outlines to diagrams.
www.inspiration.com

I've given up on using GV in Win XP. (It did work pretty well in Win 2000.) Also, without the paper manuals, it might be difficult to learn.
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Backbutton wrote:

Still looking to get Grandview or a workalike. Unending quest.

How difficult would
it to duplicate Grandview? So many people still think GrandView was the best
outliner, and I don't understand why nobody can recreate something just like it. I
don't have the technical capability to do so, or I would.

I finally got it installed
and running on VMWare7, but cannot share the documents I created in the VM with
Windows.

Is there an outliner that works just like Grandview out
there?

patsaison@gmail.com

P.S. If you can convert GV documents to Word, you can convert them to rtf which Inspiration can then do a pretty good job of putting them into an Inspiration format. If you decide to use Inspiration and want the conversion details, post request here and I'll post procedure.

For me Ecco Pro was a complete replacement for Grandview. Official development stopped in 1997, but there is an active community and "Slang" has developed an Ecco Extension which greatly extends the capabilities of Ecco.

Download this, unzip, and run:

http://forums.eccomagic.com/forum/Attachments/pre-release-Manual_Install_001.zip

I have the paper manual, in case anyone needs. I have the complete package, and even bought an extra set of disks on eBay.

Thanks for the tips, will look into Scrivner.


GV runs fine on VMWare (under Vista 64 host--just don't have nouse), but I just can't get the documents created on the VM (Virtual Machine) seen on Windows--when I look at the folder I created to store the GV outline documents via Windows, the folder is indicated as being blank, but I know I put the document there while using the VM. If I go back to the VM, I see the document in the indicated folder and location.

If I am able to subsequent access the outline documents I write using GV on the VM, under Windows, whereby I can take the outline and convert to WordPerfect and subsequently to Word, then my problem would be solved.

I would have no problem writing the outline in GV, and when I am done, go to Windows, and access the outline, and convert it to WP and then into MS Word, to work on it further.


The value of GV, or rather using GV, is to help me in my thinking and organization of the subject matter, and the drafting of a full-bodied outline, which I can then convert and flesh out.

Using MS Word to outline is too tedious, and not conducive to clear thinking. My best writing was done using GV--I am not talking about minor documents, but major business documents, as much as 100 pages, such as investment proposals, business plans. (I am not a fiction writer).

Readers have applauded my writing in my GV days--as cogent, very clear, concise and understandable--this I attribute to having used GV to organize my thoughts.

Using MS Word, as I have been doing since, has been quite difficult, and laborious, and when I use MS Word, I keep thinking how nice it would be to have GV at my disposal.

It someone could port GV over to Windows, that would be "eriter's nirvana"--I would do it if I could, but I do not have the technical expertise, or know where to start.

All these other outliners may have some elements that are good. What we need is an exact clone of GV, with minor adjustments and enhancements--definite improvements, tweaks, but nothing that impairs its basic functionality.

Have you tried changing the directory settings under Windows to "show all files?" Maybe Windows thinks the outline is some kind of system file and is automatically hiding it. Also, when you're in VM, can you copy the outline file to a thumb drive? Maybe you could get it over to Windows that way. Another thing: I've never used VM, but if the Windows folder you're using is set to show all files and the file isn't there, maybe the VM folder is actually located somewhere else (even though it appears to have the same name). Have you tried searching your entire hard drive for the file?

Just out of curiosity, what can Grandview do that other outliners can't do? I'm just asking because I've never used Grandview before.

Don't you have to set up some kind of shared folder in VM in order to transfer files between VM and Windows?

Gary Carson wrote:

Just out of
curiosity, what can Grandview do that other outliners can't do? I'm just asking
because I've never used Grandview before.

I think that this post by Steve Z. http://welcometosherwood.wordpress.com/2009/10/10/grandview/ sums it up very nicely, and I say this as someone who never actually experienced GrandView for himself.

In brief: one-pane outliner with switchable inline view of detail text, hoisting, categories/filtering/metadata, dates/priority for task management, all in one well integrated package.

I can't remember for sure, but I think it was Grandview that I loved as an outliner/PIM (and like another person posting her replaced it with ECCO).

But if Grandview is the software I am remembering correctly, I just found a web-based outliner that comes as close to Grandview as anything I've found. (A friend sent me the link today: www.WorkFlowy.com )

I don't think I am going to use it because I pretty much do everything in Evernote these days, but I sure wish Evernote's outlining functioniality work like this (or Grandview).

It's 2015 and I still miss Grandview. It's been so long since I used it back in the DOS days I don't even remember its exact functions, but it sure worked great.

I remembe rafter Symantic bought it and then stopped publishing it, burying it, I was at a computer store, where Symantic was selling its security software. I good naturally pleaded with the people in the Symantic booth to revive Grandview. They were pleasant about it -- but were clearly now in the security business and had no interest in supporting a non-security software.

Ah, Gradview, RIP, but maybe some programmer will take up the project and recreate it for WIndows 7 and maybe even an app.....

Yes, I tried ECCO for awhile but ECCO was not Grandview.

Rowby