Hi there,

after a while, I finally found the time to create a new version of OutlineEdit for Mac. And I think, it turned out rather nice!
It starts out with the design and concepts of OutlineEdit 2, but includes a whole new editor core and many new features.

You can find it here: https://outlineedit.com

OutlineEdit 3.0 highlights:
⋅ All about outlines: Create hierarchical, structured documents fast and easy
⋅ Fully native application: Great look and feel, ease of use and integrations
⋅ Drafts, home and fast access menu for instant creation and access to documents
⋅ [New] Editor themes & dark mode: Choose from 10 light and dark themes with colorful accents
⋅ [New] Add inline images to your outlines — for example photos, charts, diagrams, formulas, ...
⋅ [New] Hoisting and Folding with advanced settings
⋅ [New] Custom outline templates: Speed up the creation of frequently used documents
⋅ [New] Color category tags + filter: highlight and connect information, now up to 10 tags
⋅ Customizable live statistics give you an overview of your document
⋅ [New] Faster, smoother thanks to the re-engineered 3.0 editor core. Updated for the latest OS & M-chips, to fit in, work seamlessly
⋅ Biggest update ever: 100+ improvements, touching every feature of the application

As always, looking forward to your feedback on the new version.

Best,
Robin

Version 3 looks pretty nice, and the examples on your website are great.

I think I have v2.0.2 from the MAS.

Before I download the free trial how long is it good for?

Robin,

Congratulations on version 3. I always admired your previous versions and am looking forward to trying out the new one.

Steve

Thanks! Oh, I should probably put that on the website, important point :) The trial version is good for 10 days of use, so if you try it three days in as row for example, you can wait as long as you want to use the seven remaining days, no need to hurry.

Thanks Steve! I feel like 3.0 is nearly where I always imagined OutlineEdit to be, from the beginning. But there is so much going on behind the scenes of the application, it took me two large iterations on the initial concept, to get it right. And especially with the newly added themes, hoisting and inline images features, I think that it still all fits together in the interface quite nicely, as if it had always been there. That was one of my most important design goals. And beyond that, it is a lot faster and smoother, especially when editing large documents with hundreds or even thousands of items. I hope it will turn out to be a well received update.

Bravo Robin, I liked OutlineEdit before, and have already downloaded the trial.

But – important question, sorry! – are you also planning an iOS version (I know, I know, I ask you every time! ;-))

Robin wrote:

Thanks Steve! I feel like 3.0 is nearly where I always imagined
OutlineEdit to be, from the beginning. But there is so much going on
behind the scenes of the application, it took me two large iterations on
the initial concept, to get it right. And especially with the newly
added themes, hoisting and inline images features, I think that it still
all fits together in the interface quite nicely, as if it had always
been there. That was one of my most important design goals. And beyond
that, it is a lot faster and smoother, especially when editing large
documents with hundreds or even thousands of items. I hope it will turn
out to be a well received update.

My goal for the moment is to make interoperability with other editor software work as well as possible, including on iOS. For example, the built-in automatic OPML exports feature in combination with Dropbox or iCloud sync can offer a nice setup, to work with OutlineEdit documents on other devices seamlessly. If there is enough demand, I will not rule out a future iOS version, but for now, OutlineEdit remains a Mac app first and foremost :)

http://bicycleforyourmind.com/outlineedit_3_evolves

Thanks for the review @satis!

And for everyone still interested in learning more about 3.0, MacStories has also published a new review: https://www.macstories.net/reviews/outlineedit-3-offers-a-fast-keyboard-driven-way-to-outline-your-thoughts/

Best,
Robin

Due to popular request, I am thinking about adding more linking features to OutlineEdit. I would really like to understand who people use it - do you want to primarily link content inside outlines or globally, too? Global linking (i.e. between documents) is a harder challenge, due to OS sandboxing restrictions. But after all, with hoisting there is no hard limit to working with very long documents, too, making linking within outlines more interesting. I have different ideas around this, so I would appreciate your feedback on linking generally!

Robin

Hi,

check out this latest update to OutlineEdit 3, coming with a bunch of nice improvements: https://outlineedit.com
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/outlineedit-3/id1608887438

This update improves usability & accessibility. It is recommended for all users.
⋅ Ready for the newest operating system versions
⋅ Hide item indicators
⋅ Category name labels and improved display of categories
⋅ High-contrast notes option
⋅ Unfold hoisted item group automatically
⋅ Shortcuts for easy traversal and selection of item groups
⋅ Improved plaintext import and export, from apps and files
⋅ Improved OPML import from specialty apps
⋅ Further performance improvements and bug fixes

Looking forward to any feedback.

Best,
Robin

The high contrast notes feature is very welcome.

I got OutlineEdit because Devonthink is rude to Bike outlines. If you let Devonthink edit a Bike file, it changes the extension to .html which causes it to open by default in Safari.

One thing that I didn't like about OutlineEdit was misunderstanding on my part. The tags are shown in an abbreviated form on the bottom status line. I didn't notice until this morning that if you hover over a tag it shows the full name of the tag and how many outline items carry the tag. I didn't realize the full tag name was revealed on hover.

If you're looking for more improvements to make, it would be nice to be able to edit the displayed text of a hyperlink. Devonthink links do not contain the title of a document, for example, so those links look messy.

The best workaround for Bike in Devonthink, if any are interested, is a smart rule that marks Bike files as locked if DT opens them. This doesn't lock them in the Finder, just in DT. Bike outlines are viewable in DT and open normally in Bike on double-click. The lock prevents DT from making any change, including changing the file extension.

Vexing, though. Devonthink is in all other respects, at least as far as I can find, a safe repo for files.

Thanks for sharing your impressions Amontillado!

One quick point on links: Good news, you can actually edit the display text as well as the link URL. It might be a little bit hidden, but this is a default Mac behaviour when inserting links into a text area – enter the link, then select it and type the new display name. The URL will remain the same. To replace the URL, right click on the link and select Edit link. Hope that helps, however you are totally right, should be made more easily discoverable.

Let me know any further ideas and feedback.

Best,
Robin

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%27oh

Seriously, thanks for the tip. I didn't realize that was a convention on Macs.

OutlineEdit is a very pleasant app to use.

Thank you, very happy to hear that!

As of now the website for OutlineEdit is blank.

https://outlineedit.com/

I regret to note OutlineEdit is no longer in the Apple App store. I believe this one fell by the wayside.

Hopefully, I'm wrong. It was pleasant to use.

Amontillado wrote:

I regret to note OutlineEdit is no longer in the Apple App store.

Thanks. I just did a search and found an old Mac App Store article on outliners where it's mentioned, but in which there are no longer links to either it or to Outlinely (whose website is up, but whose download links are dead).

https://apps.apple.com/sn/story/id1467791038

https://glamdevelopment.com/outlinely