I see from the Zengobi web site the next version of Curio (Mac only) will support something like transclusion.

A text snippet (a text figure, in Curio's lexicon) can appear like a Devonthink replicant in many places. The source text can be edited from any instance.

I believe a text figure can be instantiated as either another text figure or as a node in a mind map, and probably other forms as well.

My current use of Curio is as a notebook of math whiteboards. I study math with the same understanding of a preschooler studying crayons, but I get the same joy, too. Life's good. Might want someone else to plot trajectories through wormholes.

The new feature will probably make it my go-to app for outlining/blocking/story-boarding creative writing.

There is no mobile version of Curio. That doesn't bother me, my mobile writing platform is a Macbook, and I like being cloud-independent.

If I did most of my work on my MacBook, I'd use Curio a lot. I think it is a fine app. Unfortunately, most of my workday is spent on a Windows PC, which excludes Curio. But I am glad to learn the app continues to evolve.

Steve Z

The development is aggressive. It's on version 21 now, 22 soon.

I've been able in the past to find layout irregularities, but they were never all that bad. The current version has no bad habits I'm aware of.

There are also some hidden features. For instance, anything in Curio can have a note attribute. That means a hierarchical list can serve as a two pane outline. Just open the note inspector and move it beside the list. Each entry in the list gets its own note attribute.

A long time ago I wrote a Python script to convert a Curio export to Aeon Timeline. I believe the method was to export a Curio search as a csv, which was then easy enough to format for Aeon. That was back in the days of the previous version of Aeon. I'll have to update my script.

The development is aggressive. It’s on version 21 now, 22 soon.

The *numbering* is aggressive but I'm dubious about features matching such accelerated numbering.

v.21 came out less than a month ago, v.20 came out 4 months ago, v.19 came out 6 months ago, v.18 two months before that, v.17 one month before that, v.16 two months before that, and 14 and 15 both came out only a year ago.

Good point. Each one has brought some features. Better, though, that earlier quirks seem to be under control.

I'm currently using Curio as a corkboard/story outliner. It won't replace Devonthink, for example. Curio is not a data warehouse.

It could replace other outline tools. Not sure I'm ready to give up OmniOutliner, but life could go on without it.

An additional new feature in Curio 22 (still in beta) is "file-backed text figures". Unfortunately a clunky name for the feature, but what Curio is doing here is displaying the contents of a file as though it were a block of text that can be edited directly in Curio. Previously, Curio only showed files as previews using the QuickLook feature of macOS.

Here's one way I am using the "file-back text figure": I sync Readwise with Obsidian. I index Obsidian's Readwise folders in Curio using the Local Library feature. With Curio 22, I can drag a Readwise file into Curio, as an alias to the original, and view and edit the file in Curio. The original file remains in the Obsidian vault. This is essentially the same as indexing files in DEVONthink and editing the files inside DEVONthink.

https://www.zengobi.com/curio/releasenotes/?v=22

Hm, I find OmniOutliner very, very irritating, but appreciate you've probably got a lot of stuff on it!

However, you might want to keep an eye on the wonderful Dashword, the most recent and effective answer to Trees 2... (macOS and Windows)

There's still quite a lot of stuff on their roadmap (iOS app, more functional search, tags, reminders, collaboration...), but it's already a nice app.

Cheers,
Bill

Amontillado wrote:

Good point. Each one has brought some features. Better, though, that
earlier quirks seem to be under control.

I'm currently using Curio as a corkboard/story outliner. It won't
replace Devonthink, for example. Curio is not a data warehouse.

It could replace other outline tools. Not sure I'm ready to give up
OmniOutliner, but life could go on without it.

I used Trees 2 a long time ago. I mourned its loss. Dashword looks nice.

Omnigroup has somewhat sidelined its outline offering, I think.

OmniOutliner bugs me most by its implementation of styles. For someone happy to write in vim, I get cranky about styles.

OO custom columns are a redeeming feature. I've used those to make outlines that import directly to Aeon Timeline.

Outlines will always be a reasonable way to codify the structure of a story or document. I can do the same thing in more of a storyboard, though. My interest in Curio has definitely reawakened.

MadaboutDana wrote:

Hm, I find OmniOutliner very, very irritating, but appreciate you've
probably got a lot of stuff on it!

However, you might want to keep an eye on the wonderful Dashword, the
most recent and effective answer to Trees 2... (macOS and Windows)

There's still quite a lot of stuff on their roadmap (iOS app, more
functional search, tags, reminders, collaboration...), but it's already
a nice app.

Cheers,
Bill

Amontillado wrote:
Good point. Each one has brought some features. Better, though, that
>earlier quirks seem to be under control.
>
>I'm currently using Curio as a corkboard/story outliner. It won't
>replace Devonthink, for example. Curio is not a data warehouse.
>
>It could replace other outline tools. Not sure I'm ready to give up
>OmniOutliner, but life could go on without it.

It's going to be pretty cool, I think.

I've been more eager for the synched text figures, but I've also thought indexing a directory in Devonthink and also importing the same directory into Curio could be powerful. Best of both worlds sort of stuff.

Paul Korm wrote:

An additional new feature in Curio 22 (still in beta) is "file-backed
text figures". Unfortunately a clunky name for the feature, but what
Curio is doing here is displaying the contents of a file as though it
were a block of text that can be edited directly in Curio. Previously,
Curio only showed files as previews using the QuickLook feature of
macOS.

Here's one way I am using the "file-back text figure": I sync Readwise
with Obsidian. I index Obsidian's Readwise folders in Curio using the
Local Library feature. With Curio 22, I can drag a Readwise file into
Curio, as an alias to the original, and view and edit the file in Curio.
The original file remains in the Obsidian vault. This is essentially
the same as indexing files in DEVONthink and editing the files inside
DEVONthink.

https://www.zengobi.com/curio/releasenotes/?v=22