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looking for Dynalist alternative, for JUST outlining
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Posted by Tiggerlou
Mar 3, 2026 at 10:42 PM
I’ve been using Dynalist for a few years now and I’ve had gripes with it for a long time, specifically with its really clumsy syncing process. Every time I open a document, it goes through the spin-spin-spin-spin cycle for 15-20 seconds, BEFORE it displays the document, before I’ve added add any edits. This happens when I go from one document to another, spin-spin-spin-spin. Unfortunately, it doesn’t let me sync on mobile, AFTER I’ve added edits. Backwards!
The only reliable way to sync it is on my computer, and there is a sync button on the tablet version, which works but only sometimes. There isn’t any way to choose sync on my phone. I’ve wasted so much time, turning my phone upside down and sideways, randomly and repeatedly sliding my finger up and down and sideways, before that spinning infinity symbol finally shows up.
Even after I have clicked sync, I can never be entirely sure that my edits have been reliably saved. On a number of occasions, I clicked sync three times, then I came back to the document only to discover my recent edits were not there. Not saved, not saved, not saved. So I have to memorize what I just typed in, go to another document, then check back to find out if my edits are still there. Unreliable!
The computer version doesn’t even work right. It randomly flips from the view where the folders are visible alongside my typing pane, into the view where they’re not, putting the plus and minus signs wayyyy over to the side. The only way to get that to work is to fiddle with the width of the window. So frustrating.
Anyway… I’m looking for something else.
I don’t need an outliner with a task manager, I’ve already got Remember the Milk. I don’t need any bells and whistles, no fancy display graphics. Just a straight up outliner where I can indent and unindent, collapse and expand groups of text and drag them around. An outliner that lets me reliably SAVE my work.
Any suggestions?
P.S. the outliner in Word is not an option, for lots of reasons.
Posted by Dr Andus
Mar 3, 2026 at 11:57 PM
Well, Dynalist was kind of a WorkFlowy imitation, so WorkFlowy springs to mind, which has evolved since then, and has none of the problems you’re describing…
Posted by Stephen Zeoli
Mar 4, 2026 at 12:40 AM
I second the Workflowy recommendation. Although I haven’t had the bad experiences with Dynalist you have had. There is also Checklist:
It has task features, but you don’t need to use them.
I’d be interested in learning about other options.
Steve
Posted by Tiggerlou
Mar 4, 2026 at 03:24 AM
Workflowy is looking great, although I have a question: can I put documents inside of folders? Dynalist has folders, even nested folders, but I’m not finding any results online when I search about folders in Workflowy.
I would be transferring tons of documents into it, and I’d definitely need to group them into folders. Search wouldn’t be sufficient.
Posted by satis
Mar 4, 2026 at 05:22 AM
Tiggerlou wrote:
> can I put documents inside of folders?
Yes. Search is your friend!
https://workflowy.com/learn/files-images/
You can upload files (PDFs, docs, images, etc.) directly into Workflowy by dragging and dropping them into a bullet or using the upload command.
Every every item (‘bullet’) in Workflowy can be nested infinitely so you can create a structure that *acts* like folders and documents using nested bullets. A top-level bullet can be like a folder and sub-bullets underneath can be like “documents” or sections of content. When you upload a file, it becomes an attachment inside that bullet; if that bullet is nested under another it effectively lives “inside” that project or folder-like structure, and some filetypes like PDFs can be previewed inline.
Free users have a 100MB total file cap, while Pro subscribers get unlimited uploads with a 5GB per-file size limit.
You mention “the computer version” but don’t say what OS you’re using. If you specify your setup and additional specific uses you need to replicate in Dynalist you might get additional app suggestions.