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OmniOutliner, a second look at story grids
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Posted by Amontillado
Oct 4, 2025 at 07:01 PM
I was enthusiastic about OmniOutliner, then uninstalled it in a fit of pique.
OmniFocus graduated beyond the OS I could run on my 2015 iMac and OmniGroup seemed to be sidelining what I think is their greatest app.
So, to the ash heap with OO. And then I got this spiffy little Mac Mini with powers and abilities far beyond any system I’ve had before. OmniOutliner has had recent updates, a good proof of life, and OO 6 is in OmniGroup’s roadmap.
OO is now installed on my Mac Mini and I’m reminded why I liked it so much.
It’s an outliner, it’s a to-do list, it’s a poor man’s Scrivener, and today I realized I could outline in plot grid mode.
Hardly original research, but it’s cool. Add extra columns for story threads, characters, or whatever you want to watch in evolution.
For each such column, add a filter selecting rows where that column isn’t empty. You don’t need quote marks or anything, just leave the criteria value empty.
Each filter appears in the Filter tab of the Sidebar, where you can flick between filters with single mouse clicks.
The only downside I see is I don’t actually use story grids. But maybe I should give them a try. I sure know a spiffy way to put them together.
Posted by Skywatcher
Oct 4, 2025 at 08:10 PM
Yeah, the columns is what makes it unique. You can even make calculations in them like a spreadsheet !( well , only summing the numbers in the column , but it’s still surprising for an outliner )
Posted by Stephen Zeoli
Oct 5, 2025 at 11:19 AM
Omni Outliner is rare and can be worth having, but two things to note:
1. You call it the poor man’s Scrivener. Just so others don’t get the wrong idea, I believe Scrivener is a one time purchase, where as OO is a subscription, so Scrivener is the better deal.
2. It is nearly unique these days in its columns, but GrandView 37 years ago had columns (I just always like to take the opportunity to remind people how great GV was).
But your post has me checking out Omni Outliner again. So, thanks!
Steve
Posted by Amontillado
Oct 5, 2025 at 03:48 PM
You are right about price. I was thinking about features when I called OO a poor man’s Scrivener. You can write in subdocuments and re-order them. Mellel will do the same thing with full-featured word processing. Scrivener will do much more.
On the other hand, OO is a jack of all trades and probably a master of outlining. TaskPaper will archive completed tasks and Javascript will perform auto-repeat. I think Omni Automation could do the same thing. I haven’t had time to look into it.
There are lots of little touches that help OO, too.
For instance, I’ve seen outliners that use the return key to create a new topic. OO does too, but only if you’re editing a topic. If you’re editing a note, the return key is a line break. That falls in line with what I expect.
Posted by Pierre Paul Landry
Oct 5, 2025 at 06:10 PM
Stephen Zeoli wrote:
>Omni Outliner is rare and can be worth having, but two things to note:
>1. (...)
>2. It is nearly unique these days in its columns, but GrandView 37 years ago had columns (I just always like to take the opportunity to remind people how great GV was).
**Nearly unique** is the correct choice of words as InfoQube IM is alive and well. It is an outstanding outliner with columns (that support fancy equations, not just basic ones), best in class search and filtering. Add multiple view types and data access on mobile through its Obsidian integration (2-way sync), and you get a very versatile information management tool. Live collaboration will be available soon (as a separate product: InfoQube PRO)
Pierre Paul Landry
IQ Designer