Those clever folks at outline.ws have just launched their fully enabled OneNote editor for Mac (Outline for Mac), which looks really rather good: http://outline.ws/mac

If the quality of their iOS offering is anything to go by (Outline+), it should be a seriously nice piece of software.

The big pluses their apps have over OneNote itself (and its various clients) are: drawing, rearranging of text boxes, multiple synchronisation with e.g. Dropbox, Box, SkyDrive etc. In this sense their apps are even more powerful than Microsoft's own (although I would be the first to admit that OneNote for iOS and Android isn't bad).

Of all Microsoft's Office applications, OneNote is perhaps the most entertaining to use (once you've got to grips with its ridiculously over-redundant interface = billions of ways of doing the same thing, at least on Windows). Also, it's a great place to store seriously huge amounts of data, including documents, images, etc. My various OneNote databases take up around 1GB on my iPad, and they're growing rapidly!

The Outline versions streamline the concept, while preserving important features like a very powerful search function and adding drawing (which you can't do in OneNote for iOS, Android etc.).

... also, you've got to love any software that has a category called "RECENTS" on its navigation bar. Sounds like the meerkat stars of all those comparethemarket.com ads...

Thanks, madabout. Now it has an editor, it's definitely worth considering.

Outline is an great option for OneNote users who want access to their notes on their Mac (and iPad), but for those who don't use OneNote but are looking for an app that replicates its powerful features, Outline is NOT the app for you... at least that's my view. It does lists and text okay, and you can add a photo or an attachment. But so many of the great features of OneNote are absent in the Mac version of Outline. Anyway, I just want to make sure people understand what they're getting with Outline: A handy way to view and make textual edits to their OneNote notes. If you get it hoping to have found the "Mac OneNote," you'll be disappointed. At least I am. Curio and Circus Ponies Notebook are better options right now, I think, and I am hopeful that the Mac version of Magical Pad will be a nice option when it comes out (supposedly in February).

Steve Z.

I would just point out that the new Outline software for Mac can be useful if one wants to have outlines synced between a Mac and an Android device (or an iOS device for that matter). I had been looking for a way to take notes in a "one-pane" outliner style and have them synced across my Mac and my Android, and the new Outline fits the bill far better than anything else I've found. Outlines don't collapse, but there are some other useful organization features (tabs, tags, etc).

I don't entirely agree with you Stephen: certainly Outline for the Mac is not as powerful as OneNote, but it's still a very powerful application, with a number of interesting features. There's the multilayered structure, for starters. There's the whiteboard-style page, on which you can place a wide variety of elements. There's support for attached files. There's a good search function.

It's capable of creating OneNote files from scratch - it's not just a way of viewing/editing existing OneNote files.

But there are also a few other things that make it attractive: tagging, for example, not to mention styles, password-protected encryption, web clipping, checkbox lists, support for images and screenshots, etc. Sadly, it doesn't have the powerful in-page OneNote folding, but then, neither do any of the other OneNote clients apart from the Windows desktop version. I'm not sure if it supports OneNote's very intuitive table creation feature (using the tab key) - probably not (yet). It does allow you to switch to a full-screen view. In fact, it offers more features than many competing outliners, even if you leave the OneNote compatibility out of the equation.

All these features together make it very powerful. And aesthetically, it's a good-looking app (better looking than OneNote for Windows, in my view). Finally, it's only version 1.0, from a developer who's shown enormous competence and enthusiasm in recreating OneNote for a variety of platforms. I'll be interested to see what version 2.0 looks like! In this sense, I would rate it more highly than Circus Ponies NoteBook, which has been languishing for a long while now.

So I think one could realistically use it as a OneNote for the Mac, especially in conjunction with the iOS version. Plus, it isn't constrained to SkyDrive - it also supports Dropbox and Box (and I believe they're looking at WebDAV, too - convenient for Apple Server users), which means you don't have to have a Microsoft account.

Just my thoughts!
Cheers,
Bill

Hi, Bill,

I'm not trying to trash the program. It does what it does well, and if you need that, it is a great choice... probably the best choice. I just think there are better options as an outliner, info manager (or OneNote alternative for Mac) if you don't care about the OneNote synching.

A few comments about your comments, from my observations after using Outline for a couple of days now:

MadaboutDana wrote:

I don't entirely agree with you Stephen: certainly Outline for the Mac
is not as powerful as OneNote, but it's still a very powerful
application, with a number of interesting features. There's the
multilayered structure, for starters. There's the whiteboard-style page,
on which you can place a wide variety of elements. There's support for
attached files. There's a good search function.

It's capable of creating OneNote files from scratch - it's not just a
way of viewing/editing existing OneNote files.

Agreed! That's all good. (Although, if you're looking for a white-board-style notebook for Mac, I still think Curio is the best choice, though more expensive and without the iOS companion app.)

But there are also a few other things that make it attractive: tagging,
for example, not to mention styles, password-protected encryption, web
clipping, checkbox lists, support for images and screenshots, etc.
Sadly, it doesn't have the powerful in-page OneNote folding, but then,
neither do any of the other OneNote clients apart from the Windows
desktop version. I'm not sure if it supports OneNote's very intuitive
table creation feature (using the tab key) - probably not (yet). It does
allow you to switch to a full-screen view. In fact, it offers more
features than many competing outliners, even if you leave the OneNote
compatibility out of the equation.

The tagging is a nice feature, but it is limited to the pre-packaged tags. I don't see any way to create your own custom tags. That will probably come along in a future release.

The web clipping is simply a cut and paste operation. Most apps can handle that okay.

It does NOT allow you to capture screenshots from within the app, as OneNote does.

No, it does not support the table-building function that OneNote has. In fact, you can't create a table from within Outline (at least I can't find it).

All these features together make it very powerful. And aesthetically,
it's a good-looking app (better looking than OneNote for Windows, in my
view). Finally, it's only version 1.0, from a developer who's shown
enormous competence and enthusiasm in recreating OneNote for a variety
of platforms. I'll be interested to see what version 2.0 looks like! In
this sense, I would rate it more highly than Circus Ponies NoteBook,
which has been languishing for a long while now.

Agreed that improvements and additional features will likely be included in the future.

So I think one could realistically use it as a OneNote for the Mac,
especially in conjunction with the iOS version. Plus, it isn't
constrained to SkyDrive - it also supports Dropbox and Box (and I
believe they're looking at WebDAV, too - convenient for Apple Server
users), which means you don't have to have a Microsoft account.

The sync via Dropbox works fine, with a few small glitches (e.g. a "w" replaced a bullet in a bullet list). I have also had Outline crash on me when I tried to delete an image... it worked fine when I reopened it and went to delete the same image, so I don't know what happened. Usual issues with 1.0 releases, I suppose. Those will undoubtedly get cleared up.

Just my thoughts!
Cheers,
Bill

I don't want it to sound like I'm trying to talk people out of getting the app. I just don't want them to get it thinking it will come close to matching all the great and powerful features of OneNote.

Cheers in return!
Steve Z.

A quick follow-up regarding syncing:

Since I was also using OneNote on Android, which syncs via SkyDrive, I chose to use SkyDrive sync method in the Outline (Mac Onenote) program. However, I have now had the experience of losing information I had writting in Outline, because it eventually replaced the note with the (older) SkyDrive version. So I've stopped using the program for now.

(Incidentally, I've also lost data with the Android version of SimpleNote, so I still haven't settled on what the best method is to sync notes, and preferably outlines, between Android and Mac.)

Lucas wrote:

(Incidentally, I've also lost data with the Android version of
SimpleNote, so I still haven't settled on what the best method is to
sync notes, and preferably outlines, between Android and Mac.)

Having had similar experiences, I have to say that I've settled on Dropbox for such work. For me it suffices if a format can be consistently read/written in my various platforms (Windows, Linux, Android). Rather than expect from my apps to do the syncing themselves, I am happy with Dropbox handling it. Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's...

Some exceptions apply: Evernote is excellently self contained and efficient in syncing, and trying to correctly/quickly sync its database of several gigs via Dropbox would be pushing one's luck to say the least.