One-pane outliner for academic writing

Posted by Alexander Deliyannis
Aug 25, 2014 at 04:56 AM

Hi Charlie, and welcome to the forum (as far as I understamd this is your first post here)

I’ve started a new thread as I believe that the question you posted under Mindscope merits a separate discussion; also more people are likely to notice it under a relevant title.

Posted by Charlie, Aug 24, 2014 at 08:20 PM
> Hi Alex,
> Thank you for introducing the the Aibase, my first time to know it, another German cool.
> By a quick browsing, I like it.
> I am seeking a one pane outlining tool. I need to add tables,equations,and short analysis
> under each bullet most often and at last make it a content outline for my thesis writing.
> Have you played with the Aibase ? If so, do you think it fit my need ?
> Thanks, Charlie

It’s easy for me to answer that Aibase is _not_ the tool you are looking for. It’s logic is multidimensional and non-conducive to developing a linear text as output. Also, learning the intricacies of the sui generis interface would probably consume more time than would be advisable during thesis writing—unless your subject is Aibase itself! That said, if you are an engineer, Aibase may be one of the best knowledge recording software you’ll ever find.

It’s much harder for me to suggest a tool for what you want, but here’s a fist attempt (I assume you are on Windows):

- Since you meed tables and equations, I think the best candidate is MS Word (versions from 2010 onwards, where the navigation pane is much improved); I know this may sound banal, but it is the only solution I can think that fully fits the bill. In addition, it will probably save you a lot of time and frustration when preparing the final draft, as it integrates references (very few outliners do) and you won’t need to bother with imperfect importing from another programme.

- A second candidate may be Outline 4D (formerly Storyview), but I don’t think that it can handle tables and equations; you may need to use placeholders and edit them externally. See more in this thread http://www.outlinersoftware.com/topics/viewt/4446/0/outline-4d-formerly-known-as-storyview-20 as well as Dr Andus’ excellent blog http://drandus.wordpress.com/

- A third is the Sense editor; this is my personal favourite Windows outliner for writing, see e.g. http://www.outlinersoftware.com/topics/viewt/3909/0/sense-editor-recent-updates However, here again you’ll have to work with tables, equations and images externally.

You might also want to take a look at this relevant thread http://www.outlinersoftware.com/topics/viewt/1265/0/looking-for-pim-thesis-writing-software-for-the-pc

I hope others will contribute their own suggestions.