Searching without hope of finding, and holding on for dear life.

Posted by Chris Thompson
Aug 14, 2007 at 03:44 PM

If you’re looking for a really hardcore pure outliner, with all the major features of More as well as a swath of new ones, be sure to check out TAO:
http://artec-software.com/products/neo/en_index.html
(Note that this is a completely different and unrelated program from TAO Notes for Windows.) TAO doesn’t get the press of OmniOutliner, partly because it is a little harder to use, but if you’re looking for something more sophisticated than OmniOutliner (a pretty good program in its own right, IMHO) or Opal, it’s worth looking at. I’ve used all the major outlining tools for both Windows and Mac, and it’s definitely the most feature rich, and the truest to the spirit of old outliners like More and Grandview.

As an alternative to DevonThink for managing PDFs, also look into Yep. Yep has a much better UI and is very strong at handling tags (DevonThink’s main weakness), but it doesn’t have some of the bells and whistles of DevonThink.

If you’re looking for a hierarchical, outline-based task manager similar to Ecco, try to get in on the OmniFocus beta. I use that program every day and now consider it essential, but I’ve always liked the outline metaphor for managing todos, tasks, and projects.

Also, be sure to read Ted Goranson’s semi-regular ATPO column online. He does a thorough job surveying all manner of Mac outliners.

Whichever way you go, have fun! There’s no shortage of either outliners, information management, or writing tools for OS X. In particular, outliners are a real strength of the platform.

—Chris

Jonathan Probber wrote:
>For straight outlining, OmniOutliner Pro seems
>to be the bomb. I’ve been on my MacBook now for 2 months after years of Windows, and I’m
>really enjoying it.