A Directory Of Outliners

Update Feb 16 2007: Added a new, simple open source outliner called The Guide. Put together by Indian programmer Mahadevan R, The Guide is commendably light and simple, though once again I'm disappointed that it doesn't support full drag and drop. You can drag and drop into the program, but not into the left hand pane to create new items. To me this is the basic test of an outliner's quality. Without it, productivity plummets.

A directory of outliners, or programs that organise data in a tree-like format. Not everyone's cup of tea, but a great way to organise data quickly in one place.

All are for Windows unless otherwise stated. This is just a beginning; I'm sure to have missed some, so please let me know. (Thanks Petko of MyInfo for the extra names. I think we're nearing comprehensive...)

• MyBase
• Maple
• The Guide 
• Info Angel
• TreeDBNotes
• ActionOutline
• Coolbase
• Golden Section Notes
• MyInfo
• Jot + Notes
• TexNotes
• FaveNotes
• WikidPad
• Skwyrul
• KeyNote
• InfoRecall
• NoteMap
• Zoot
• TreePad
• InfoSelect
• AceNotes - no longer in development
• ADM
• AlfaPad 
• AnyNotes
• Inform4
• InfoHandler
• InfoPro
• Info Select
• InfoTree
• Ovation
• Personal Knowbase
• WinInfo
• OmniOutliner (Mac)
• NoteTaker (Mac)
• Tinderbox (Mac)

Some assorted resources on outliners:

• An overview of outliners by John Buckman
• Outlining on the Mac
• Another good piece on different Mac outliners

Comments

[Tom Foote]

Congratulations on your excellent directory of outliners.

Which ones do you like most?

Best,

Tom

[Alex]

Would you know which of these support OPML?
(Private email would work best)

Thanks!

[Mike Rohde]

Another to consider would be Natara's Bonsai, which offers a PC Application and syncs to a full Palm OS application for carying your outlines on the go.

http://www.natara.com/Bonsai/index.cfm

[Kyle]

Also there's vimoutliner (http://vimoutliner.org), which is an add-on to vim or gvim and is platform-independent (I run it in both Windows and Linux, and I'd expect it to work in OS X as well). There's another outliner for vim called TVO (http://bike-nomad.com/vim/vimoutliner.html), which is somewhat confusing, but it looks cool. I've not used it but lots of folks do.

[anonymous]

There is also Leo (http://webpages.charter.net/edreamleo/front.html): open source, in active development.

[Donna]

I would be interested in knowing which outliners are best to use for OPML as well. I've just been reading an article on optimizing for Google that mentioned OPML.

[Kyle]

Also check out VimOutliner (http://www.vimoutliner.org), which relies on vim (both of which are available for Windows). The install process for Windows is complicated, so it's not for the faint of heart, but it's pretty cool nonetheless. And if you're running some flavor of Unix or Linux, it's even smoother to install.

[-]

The installation of vimoutliner isn't complicated anymore.

[H. Sener]

Hi,

I like allso My Notes Keeper. Visit www.mynoteskeeper.com.

[Ron]

You might want to look at Bliner - it is an outliner with spreadsheet-like features (i.e. sum up the quantities in my ancestors..) You get the idea. Just google bliner.

[Tomas]

There is still one information manager is missing - general knowledge base
http://www.baltsoft.com/product_gkb.htm

[anonymous]

"The Guide" is a nice, unbloated open-source outliner for windows. Two pane. Supports rich text, and export as RTF.

http://theguide.sourceforge.net/

[Craig Hall]

Hey man, you also might want to check out TKOutline. Open source project, it's a script based single-pane outliner.

You might also want to group those outliners into Single and Double pane. I've been looking all over for a decent single pane outliner, and I finally found NoteMap 2. Thanks!

[Bart]

I did a little research on Windows outlining software myself and thought you might be interested in this open source Project:
www.seonote.info
I use it and like it a lot.

[Thomas]

There is also an other outliner called ScribblePapers which can be found at http://www.scribblepapers.de.vu

I like it very much for its rich set of features AND for its portability (USB thumb stick!). But there could be a problem for hugh parts of its possible (not German speaking) userbase: there is only a German localization.
But maybe you want to try it never the less ;-)

Cya Thomas

[Hikmet]

I like My Notes Keeper. www.mynoteskeeper.com

[Dale]

How about using the best? do-Organizer by GemX...

http://www.gemx.com/doorganizer.php

[Deb]

There is also www.treepad.com (I use the business edition), and www.sqlnotes.com which I am about to try.

[Chuck C.]

Yes, indeed! -- "SqlNotes" is now a major player & a major omission from your list!

(Do note, however, that the SqlNotes author said that he will probably change the app's name to better reflect its use:: a free-form outlining notes/info-manager that appears might pack even more power than MyBase!) -Chuck

[PPLandry]

I'm the developper of SQLNotes. Just wanted to correct the web address: www.sqlnotes.net . It is (I believe) the only outliner that is both 1-pane and 2-pane at the same time. Inspired by awards-winning Ecco Pro

What about Notecase Pro (http://www.virtual-sky.com/)

[sasha]

If you consider online outliners for your review, please, look at http://checkvist.com - it's simple, yet supports all "natural" desktop interaction, like keyboard shortcuts, plus sharing, notifications, and adding notes to tasks.