CRIMP Alert! - PowerOutlines

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Posted by Stephen Zeoli
Aug 17, 2007 at 06:58 PM

Hi, all,

I just stumbled across this somewhat new tree-based free form database. It’s called PowerOutlines. It is from the developer of the odd, but interesting Insight.

http://www.dataomega.com/PowerOutlines/index.htm

Basically, PowerOutlines manages plain text files. It has a lot of tools for managing text, and a few nice features, such as the ability to add check boxes to the items in the tree. You can also open several “catalogs” (the developer’s term for a database), which are each accessible through tabs. Searches can be made on all open catalogs.

This is not an endorsement of this application, just a note to fellow CRIMPers who feel the need to take a look at all the options. Nevertheless it does appear to be a nice piece of software, thoughtfully developed for its intended, but limited purpose.

Steve Z.

Posted by Derek Cornish
Aug 18, 2007 at 02:33 AM

Stephen Zeoli wrote:
>Hi, all,
> >I just stumbled across this somewhat new tree-based free form database.
>It’s called PowerOutlines. It is from the developer of the odd, but interesting
>Insight.

There are two versions of PowerOutlines, and I took a brief look at them recently, being interested in plain-text programs. In the end I decided to buy NoteTab Pro instead. This was mainly on your frequent good words for the Lite version. The more I use it, the more I like it.

The developer of PowerOutlines was involved with NoteTab, apparently; he developed aspects of NoteTab’s clipbook feature, I think. He sees Insight - and PowerOutlines - as complementary to, rather than in competition, with NoteTab. Both his programs extend NoteTab’s outlining feature considerably. For me, though, less is more.

I tried Insight out last Christmas, but ran into some problems with its “floating windows”. It was an attractive plain-text two-pane outliner, but very expensive I thought. I tried it again recently, but couldn’t check out if the floating windows worked as the trial excluded their use. I also thought the icons were more garish than I had remembered. That’s a trivial point, really, but somehow when you’re working in plain text it’s nice to have everything else…plain.

As for NoteTab, the Pro version (and maybe the Standard one) has a lot of decent features like automatic incremental versioned backing-up, multiple undo, and the Clipbook feature, which I haven’t used much yet except for keeping html tags close at hand. The outlining feature is really only a table-of-contents list, but it is exactly what I need when drafting something which has sections. I use html tags for basic styles (headings, bold, underline, etc) and can export the whole shebang as an html file to Word, where it loads as a Word outline. Simple but nifty :-).

For the plain-text aficionados, it’s well worth while having a look at all of these. It’s good to see new programs in this area, in addition to the many programmers’ editors.

Derek

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