OmniOutliner 5 4+

I really want to love this app.. but

I've been trying to use Omnioutliner for a couple years. I love the idea of it. I certainly see the potential. However, if you want to hear a user cussing at his Mac, come by when I'm trying to do somethign in this tool. It might be the least intuative piece of software I try to use.
- Promoting and demoting- easy tab and shift tab, unelss it defaults for some reason to makeing every return a child. .and then I have search teh manual to figure out why.
- Open a OPML Doc. and half the functionaliy is missing. Can not figure out how to update or save as the right file..
- Formating is clugey, have to figure you inspector or formatting window you want,
It's a long list for me. Maybe I'm just not that saavy or have a block when it comes to this tool, .. here we are.
The good news, and why it has three stars, when I do finally figure out how to make it work, it's great. Sadly that's about 1/2 the time

Sadly, I'm Done

I used to be an Omni fanboy. I lived my life in OmniFocus. I ran my work in OmniOutliner. I told all my friends about it. But that was then.

In the past few years, other apps have caught-up to the Omnigroup. Other apps aren't this expensive. Other apps dont require me to spend another $50 for the iOS version after spending about the same for the Mac version, which is after upgrading from the previous version, which I also had paid for.

I've been spending more of my time in Linux lately as well (which isn't Omni's fault), but alas I can't use OO on my Linux box (but I do have access to a plethora of other tools that provide the same functionality across all devices, for less cost).

But the coup d'etat is the dreadful sync experience with OmniPresence. When I'm on my Linux I use the iPhone version to access and edit outlines, and coming back to my Mac this evening I have (again) four different files with sync issues! I made multiple changes in several spots to these outlines, which meant I had to go through all four line-by-line and compare the two versions of each to piece together a solid outline. Not using iCloud for default sync at this point is untenable, as is the position taken by Omnigroup that somehow their software needs this special sync agent.

I need a trustworthy cross-platform tool. I will certainly miss OO, but I'm done.

Developer Response ,

With the iOS 13 update for OmniOutliner for iOS which adopts Apple's document browser, iCloud Drive is our recommended solution for cross platform syncing. OmniPresence was released in 2013 before iCloud Drive even existed, but times have changed. It's now easy to both open and create new documents directly on iCloud Drive or any compatible file provider via Apple's document browser. However, using iCloud Drive does not prevent sync conflicts but can provide a better experience under certain conditions. If anyone has questions about this or anything else, our support team is available to assist you at omnioutliner@omnigroup.com or by phone Mon - Fri, 10am - 5pm Pacific at 1 (206) 523-4152. Thanks!

Cannot believe the makers of omnifocus are behind this product

This outliner app is just clunky and awful compared to other Omnigroup products. Try editing an outline at all or dragging parts of the outline around. You just can’t. Or at least I couldn’t drag a subheading from one top-level heading to another. Also, Select all doesn’t work, but you can hold down shift and select multiple items individually? Not great to introduce friction into an outlining app.

I feel like I’m back in the early/mid-nineties when drag and drop wasn’t universal and people were just figuring out intuitive elements of the UI. For $10? No thanks. I’d rather outline things in Omnifocus, as silly as that sounds, but it’s actually way superior app for the task. Save your money and just get OF and export as taskpaper.

Developer Response ,

Sorry for the late reply. All the things mentioned here are abilities of the app. You can drag rows around to any location and select rows with Select All. These interactions work the same as they do in OmniFocus. If you’re interested in trying out OmniOutliner again please contact us at omnioutliner@omnigroup.com or by phone Mon - Fri, 10am - 5pm Pacific at 1 (206) 523-4152 and we’ll be happy to help you get set up and answer any questions you have. Thanks!