1. Documents — tap here to exit the current document and view other documents in the current folder.

2. Undo/Redo — tap to Undo the last change, or press and select Redo from the popup menu to replicate the previous task.

3. Document Title — tap here to change the name of the current Outliner document. New files are named My Outline by default, so be sure to change the title to something that’s specific to the project you’re working on.

4. Find — tap here to search within the current document. The search field is dynamic, which means that OmniOutliner starts to look for results as soon as you start typing. When you see the item you’re looking for, just tap it in the results and you’re taken to that location in your Outliner file.

5. Contents — tap here to add more depth to the contents of your document. Options include:

   • Columns — Add and remove a column, configure its style properties, and specify the type of content that can go into the column (such as rich text or a checkbox for things you want to tick off).
   • Styles — Apply a theme for your document, as well as for the individual rows and notes.
   • Document — Set the zoom level, assign a background color, as well as set an optional color for alternating rows.

   Tip
   You’ll also find the Expand All and Collapse All buttons in Document settings. This comes in handy for big documents when you want to either see every fine detail or just the main rows.

6. Text Style — select a row and tap here to set the text styles for that row. Tap Customize style to set the type size, specify the font and color of the text, add a background color, set a numbering style, change the alignment and more.

7. Edit — tap here to bring up the editing controls along the bottom of the screen. Tap a Row Handle to select the row, and then use the controls at the bottom of the screen to Cut, Copy, Delete, Group, or Move the items you’ve selected. When you’re finished, tap Done in the upper-right.

   

8. Column Headers — hidden by default with a single-column outline, you can add columns and rename column headers to further define the content of your outline.

9. Row Handle — tap and hold on these to drag rows around in your outline. These come more into play when using the Edit features in OmniOutliner; when you tap a row in Edit mode, the empty circle fills to indicate that the row has been selected for some action. To deselect the row, tap it again.

10. Disclosure Triangle — items that are grouped together have a disclosure triangle as their Row Handle. A disclosure triangle is open when it points downward and a closed when it points to the right; tap to open the row and see what’s hiding inside.

11. Outdent — tap to reduce the indent level of a selected row; Outdent isn’t available if a row is not indented.

12. Indent — tap to indent the row.

13. Record — tap to open the voice recorder and start recording. The Record button changes to an audio level indicator with a pause button on the left and a checkmark to the right. Tap Pause to stop recording and the circle fills with red to indicate that recording has stopped. Tap the Pause button again to continue recording, or tap the Checkmark button to finish and save the recording to a new row in your document.

    

    

    

14. Notes — tap to add a note, if one doesn’t exist. If there is already a note attached to this particular row, a single tap to the Notes button will hide or show the existing note. If you touch and hold the Notes button, you’ll notice that two buttons fly out. The one on the left hides all Notes in your document, while the one on the right reveals all Notes.

    

15. Add/Plus — tap here to create a new row directly beneath and at the same level as the current row and start entering some text. Similar to the Notes button, if you touch and hold the Add button, four additional buttons fly out:

    

    • Insert Parent — Inserts a new row at the next-highest level from the selected row.
    • Insert Above — Inserts a new row above and at the same level as the selected row.
    • Insert Child — Inserts a new row beneath and at one level lower than the selected row.
    • Insert Aunt — Inserts a new row beneath and one level higher than the selected row.
16. Column Width Handles — drag these left or right to adjust the width of a column.
17. Status Checkboxes — use status checkboxes for things like checking things off as you complete them, or to indicate a binary state for items in your outline.

As you can see, there’s more than meets the eye when it comes to a quick glance at OmniOutliner for iOS. You will learn more about how to master OmniOutliner while working through the step-by-step tutorials in Chapter 4 and Chapter 5.

But before you jump ahead to those chapters, be sure to read the next two chapters so you can learn how to configure OmniOutliner to sync your files, as well as all the fine details of how to use the Document Browser.

You can add as many cloud accounts as you’d like. For example, you could add cloud accounts for personal- or work-use, a group-accessible account for your book club...pretty much whatever you need. The only real limitation is the amount of available storage space on your iOS device.

sync.omnigroup.com

Just go to that page, enter your email address, and click Sign Up. We’ll send you an email with instructions on how to set up your Omni Sync Server account.

When everything is ready to go with your Omni Sync Server account, return to the Locations screen in OmniOutliner and then follow along.

1. To create a Cloud Account, start on the Locations screen and tap Add Cloud Account.

   

2. Next, choose the type of cloud account you would like to use; you can choose between Add Omni Sync Server Account or Add WebDAV Server.

   

The difference between the two is that we host and maintain Omni Sync Server, whereas you would need to find a third-party WebDAV server (or host your own) and entrust them to maintain and backup the server.

On the Account Info screen that appears:

1. Enter your Account Name
2. Enter the Password for your account
3. Optionally, enter a Nickname to be used as the name for your synced folder
4. Tap Save to authenticate with Omni Sync Server

The next message you’ll see is Testing Server for Compatibility along with a progress bar. If everything checks out okay, OmniOutliner lets you know that it has successfully connected to Omni Sync Server.

When your credentials have authenticated, you’re taken back to OmniOutliner’s Locations screen where you’ll see a new folder for your synced files.

To access the files within a document folder, just tap the folder of your choice, and then tap the file you would like to work on.

1. Enter the URL for the Location of your WebDAV Server
2. Enter your Account Name
3. Enter the Password for your account
4. Optionally, enter a Nickname to be used as the name for your synced folder
5. Tap Save to authenticate with the WebDAV server

As with connecting to Omni Sync Server, OmniOutliner informs you that it is Testing Server for Compatibility, and displays the Connected screen when it has connected to the WebDAV server successfully.

Keep an eye on this icon to monitor OmniPresence’s sync status:

• — denotes that OmniPresence is active and ready to sync files to the server.
• — denotes that a sync is currently in progress.
• — denotes that your iOS device does not have access to an active Wi-Fi or cellular network.
• — denotes that there was an error when trying to sync your files. You may see this icon if someone else is working on the same file, or if a connection cannot be made to the sync server you are using. Try tapping the OmniPresence icon again and if you get the same error icon, please contact our Support Humans for assistance.

OmniPresence checks in with your active sync servers every minute or so, and saves any updates you’ve made to the server. OmniPresence also saves a version of your file to the server whenever you close a file or switch from OmniOutliner to another app on your device. Alternately, you can tap the OmniPresence icon to force an update to the server at any time.

A quicker way to do this is to swipe left across the account name to bring up the Delete button. If you change your mind before deleting the account, tap Done and the Delete button goes away.

This chapter provides you with an overview of OmniOutliner’s Document Browser, and shows you how to manage the files you create. You’ll learn how to create subfolders, move files around between the Local Documents folder and a folder in the cloud, as well as sharing and trashing files that you no longer need.

Let’s go!

Tap Local Documents to see what’s inside this folder:

If you swipe down while viewing the contents of a folder, you’ll discover the super secret Document Organizer. By default, OmniOutliner sorts your files by the date created and displays any OmniOutliner documents in that folder. You can opt to sort by Title instead, or view the available Templates as well.

Tap Show templates to see the available templates. Take some time to scroll through the list of templates to see the types of document styles available to you. When you’ve finished, tap on Show outlines. To hide the Document Organizer, swipe up.

Let’s examine these items:

1. Locations: Tapping here takes you backwards in the folder hierarchy, eventually landing you on the Locations screen.
2. Current Folder: In the center of the navigation bar, you’ll see the name of the current folder.
3. Document Type: As you saw earlier, swiping down within the Document Browser reveals the Document Organizer. If the organizer is set to Show outlines, the text shown here is “Outlines”; if the organizer is set to Show templates, the text here is “Templates”.

   Note
   When in portrait mode on iPhone, the Current Folder and Document Type appear beneath the navigation bar, and above the files within that folder.

   

4. (New Outline/Template): Tap the plus-sign button to create a new outline.
5. (Application Menu): Tap the Gear icon represents the Application Menu, which when tapped provides you access to the following:
   • About OmniOutliner: Discover details about the build of OmniOutliner installed on your device, and details for contacting The Omni Group.
   • OmniOutliner Help: Get access to the online help and EPUB manual for how to use OmniOutliner.
   • Contact Omni: Tap this item to send us an email. We preload the Subject line of the message with details about your build of OmniOutliner, that way we are better able to assist you when you contact us.
   • Release Notes: Find out what’s new with the latest build of OmniOutliner.
   • Restore Sample Outlines/Templates: You can delete the sample outlines or templates if you would like to free up some storage space on your device. However, if you later decide that you need one of those sample files back, tap here to view the list of available outlines or templates and then choose which one you would like to restore.
   • Import: Tap here to specify a source from which you would like to import files. As with sync, you can connect to an Omni Sync Server or WebDAV repository to import files to the current OmniOutliner folder (for example, to Local Documents or a synced folder).
   • Settings: Use this screen to customize OmniOutliner’s Settings.

     

     The options on this screen are particularly helpful if you are using an external keyboard with OmniOutliner, or if you are also using TextExpander for iPad or iPhone (available separately on the App Store).

6. Select: The final option, Select is the most-used item in the navigation bar. Tapping Select allows you to choose files so you can do other things with them, such as move them from one folder to another, email a file to a coworker, or duplicate a file.

When you tap Select, the navigation bar turns into an Action Bar. At first, the buttons you see in the Action Bar are disabled (as noted by their gray color), but when you tap to select a file, those buttons become active (changing from gray to blue).

The following buttons relate to the actions you can perform on a selected file:

1. Tap to share and export files.
2. Tap to move files between folders or to create a new subfolder.
3. Tap to make a copy of the selected file.
4. Tap to move the selected file to the Trash folder.

These functions are described more in-depth in the sections that follow.

When you open a folder, such as your Local Documents folder, tap Select in the navigation bar, and then select the file that you want to share. This places a blue highlight around the file to let you know which files you’ve selected to do something with.

Now tap the Share button in the navigation bar and select from one of the following options:

• Send via Mail — lets you choose a document format for the file you want to email, and then queues up an email message for your to send.

• Export to WebDAV — lets you move the file over to a WebDAV share. If you haven’t already configured a WebDAV Cloud Account, you’ll need to do that before you can export the file.

• Send to App — lets you open the file in a compatible app on your iPad, or, if you are on a Wi-Fi network with someone you know, you can share the file with another iOS 8 device or Mac using AirDrop.

  

  First choose a Format, and then choose an app on your device that you would like to send the file to. Optionally, you can also send the file to another person via AirDrop.

  

• Create Template from Outline — turns the selected document into a template, which you can later use as the basis for a new document. All of the content—as well as any styles, images, or media you’ve added—remains in the template file; you’ll just need to enter new content over what’s there.

Tap New folder to create a new folder containing the selected file. The file is moved out of the current folder into a new Untitled subfolder. Enter a new name for the folder and tap Done.

Subfolders have a dark gray background and show mini icons for the files contained within.

To open a file within a subfolder, tap the folder to open it, and then tap the file.

When you remove all of the files from a folder, either by moving them to the trash or to another folder, that folder disappears automatically. The exception to this rule, however, is the Local Documents folder and the root folder for any Omni Sync Server accounts or WebDAV servers which you have added as Cloud Accounts. Those are the only folders that can remain empty on your device.

Regardless of how you decide to organize your folders, you’ll inevitably get to a point where you want to move files between the folders you have created. Or, you may decide that you want to free up the storage space on your iPad or iPhone and shift all of your files from the Local Documents folder to a folder on Omni Sync Server.

To move files from one folder to another, follow these steps:

1. In the navigation bar, tap Select

   

2. Tap to select the files you want to move. When you select a file, a blue border appears around the file. If you tap a file by mistake, just tap it again to deselect that file.

   

3. In the navigation bar, tap to open the Folder menu.
4. Tap Move to to move the selected file to another location.

   

5. In the Folder menu, tap the name of the folder to which you want to move the selected file. If you see a ❯ symbol to the right of a folder name, that means the folder has subfolders within.

   

   After you select the folder, the file makes the jump from the current folder to the folder you’ve chosen.

6. Tap Done when you have finished moving files out of the current folder.

Need to move more files around? Go back to the Locations screen, tap to open another folder, and then repeat the aforementioned steps.

1. Tap Select and then tap to select the file you’d like to copy:

   

2. In the Action Bar, tap . OmniOutliner makes a copy of the selected file and places it next to the original, adding a number to the filename; for example, a copy of Who’s Batman? would be named Who’s Batman? 2.

   

3. After copying the file, chances are that you will want to rename that file to something more unique and fitting of its purpose. For example, that file might be better suited to keeping track of who played Robin in the Batman movies.

   Start by tapping the filename of the file icon. The keyboard on your device comes into view so you can edit the filename. You can also tap the × to clear out the old title before you start entering a new title.

   

4. When you have finished entering the new filename, tap Done to accept the name.

   

Fortunately, deleting files from OmniOutliner is just as easy as it is to find someone to play Batman. When viewing a folder of documents, tap Select in the navigation bar at the top of the screen. Then tap on the document you’d like to delete; you’ll see that the file now has a blue highlight around it.

Tap the Trash icon in the navigation bar to move the document to the Trash.

If you tap Locations in the navigation bar, you’ll see a Trash folder in your list of OmniOutliner folders. Right now, the file is still on your device.

Tap to open the Trash folder and then either tap the Restore button in the navigation bar or tap on the file, you’ll get a popup menu with options to restore the file to your Local Documents folder or, if you have set up a Cloud Account, to a synced file share.

Finally, if you really are sure that you no longer need this file, you have a couple options for emptying the trash:

• Tap Empty Trash at the bottom of the screen to permanently remove all of the files in the Trash folder.

  

• If you have multiple files in the Trash but you think you might not want to get rid of all of them just yet, you can select the only the files you know need trashing. Tap Select in the Action Bar, and then tap to select the files you want to delete. Next, tap the (shred), and then tap Delete Document at the bottom of the screen to delete the selected file.

  

The difference here is that tapping Delete Document only deletes selected files whereas tapping Empty Trash deletes everything in the Trash folder, regardless of whether any files have been selected.

Now that you have a firm grasp on how to use the Document Browser, it’s time to expand your horizons and start working on your first OmniOutliner document.

Before moving on, though, take some time to practice moving and copying files, and try creating a few subfolders to organize your files. It’s also worth noting that you can move a file out of the Trash and back into another folder, so go ahead and try that after duplicating one of the templates.

Catch you in the next chapter.

The best way to learn OmniOutliner is to just jump right in and create something. This chapter takes you through the process of creating your first document in OmniOutliner—your list of favorite movies. Along the way, you will learn about OmniOutliner’s interface, discover some “hidden” tap gestures, as well as how to add columns and edit column headings.

By the end of chapter you should be well on your way to mastering your outlines with OmniOutliner—so let’s get started.

Building Outlines (Out of Nothing At All)

Whenever you create a new document in OmniOutliner, the place to start is the Locations screen. To create a new file, you have to first select a location (a folder) in which to save the file. You can choose from the Local Documents folder, or a synced folder in the cloud.

1. On the Locations screen, tap Local Documents to open that folder. This is where you will create and store your list of favorite movies.

   

2. To get started, tap (Add) in the navigation bar at the top of the screen.

   

3. Next, Choose a Template. You can choose from one of the sample templates, but in this case, select the Default template since you’ll want to have some liberty over the appearance of your list.

   

   As you can see, the Default template is pretty sparse, but don’t worry, we’ll show you how to turn this blank white canvas into something really amazing in no time.

   

4. Before you start entering the titles of your favorite movies, let’s go ahead and change the default title of this document from My Outline to Favorite Movies.

   Tap on My Outline to go into editing mode; this places a cursor at the end of the current title, and if you look closely, you’ll see a little × at the right edge of the title bar. Tap the × to clear the current title and then type in Favorite Movies, and then tap Return to accept the new title. Now you’re rolling!

   

5. Enter the titles for a dozen or so of your favorite movies. When you reach the end of a title, tap Return to go to the next line.

   

6. To move a line, press and hold on the Row Handle.

   

   When you select a line, you’ll notice that it takes on a grayish-orange highlight, and that there’s a drop shadow behind the row. This is your indication that the line is selected and ready to move. As you move the lines around, an insertion line appears to indicate where the line will be placed when you release your finger.

   As you can imagine, selecting and dragging each row to its appropriate place can take some time (and is prone to human error). An easier way to handle this is to Sort the list. To do this, follow these steps:

   1. Tap to open the Contents menu.

      

   2. To the left of Column Headers tap the Visibility button () twice. In its default state, column headings are hidden by default when an OmniOutliner document only has one column. As you tap the Visibility button, it changes to Hidden (), and then the state you want: Always Shown (). You should now see the Topic column heading at the top of your list.

      

   3. Tap the Topic column heading to either change the name of the column heading or to sort the contents of the column. In this case, tap Sort

      

   4. After you tap Sort, you are presented with the options to sort the column data in ascending (A-Z) or descending (Z-A) order, or to not sort the column at all. Tap A-Z to sort your list of movies in ascending order.

      

      

7. With your movie titles in alphabetical order, let’s add a little more depth to the organization. There are three Star Wars movies (and only three Star Wars movies), so let’s group these together.

   1. Tap (the Edit button) in the navigation bar at the top-right corner, and then tap to select each of the three Star Wars movies.

      

   2. With the three movies selected, tap Group in the toolbar at the bottom of the screen. The three rows are indented and a new row is inserted above at the Aunt level; enter Star Wars to name the group.

      

   3. Notice how the three movies are indented. If you tap the disclosure triangle to the left of Star Wars, the three movies are hidden from view until you tap the triangle once more.

      

8. In the toolbar, tap (Contents) and then tap New Column at the bottom of the Columns tab.

   

9. Enter Director in the Name field for the column.

   

   When you’ve finished entering Director as the column name, tap ❮ Columns to return to the main Contents menu.

10. Now let’s rename the Topic column to something more fitting of the list you’re working on.

    1. Tap Topic to edit the title of the Topic column.
    2. In the Name field, double-tap to select the Topic title.
    3. Enter Movie Title as the new title for the first column.

       

    This is how your column titles should appear when you’ve finished.

    

11. Notice that each column has a resizing handle at its right edge. You can press and drag these left or right to make the column as narrow or wide as you’d like. The text within that column wraps to fit within the column width.

    

To make entry of the directors’ names go faster, you can Copy the text in one cell and then Paste it in another if you find that there are any duplicates. To copy some text, double-tap on the word, and use the selection handles (or tap Select All in the contextual menu) to select the words you need. With the text selected, tap Copy to copy the text to the pasteboard.

Next, double-tap in the cell where you want to paste the text. You'll notice that there are two different “paste” options in the contextual menu: Paste and Paste Plain:

• Paste takes whatever is on the clipboard and pastes that into the cell, exactly as copied—styles and all.
• Paste Plain takes whatever is on the clipboard and pastes that into the cell, but without any styles that may have been applied. For example, if you copy some orange-colored text and choose Paste Plain, the text is pasted in, but it won't be orange. Instead, the pasted text picks up the style (or styles) used in that particular cell.

Tap Paste to place the text on the clipboard into the cell.

When you’ve finished filling in the Director column, tap Done; your document should appear as follows:

Of course, there’s plenty more that you could do with a document such as this. You could add notes about each movie, or another column for the year the movie was released or to add your own star rating. Take some time now to explore in OmniOutliner and see what you can do. And always remember, tap Undo to revert recent changes.

When you’ve finished, tap Documents in the navigation bar to save your changes and add the Favorite Movies document to your Local Documents folder.

When you are ready, go to the next chapter, Working with Templates and Styles, to learn about how to apply a template (or theme) to an outline, and how to create your own styles to add your signature touch to the outlines you create.

This chapter takes you to the next level—no pun intended—of learning in OmniOutliner by showing you how to create your own template. The chapter wraps up by showing you how to apply the styles from one template to your outline of favorite movies that you created in the previous chapter.

There’s a lot of ground to cover, so let’s get started!

Follow these steps:

1. From the Locations screen, tap to select the Local Documents folder.

   

2. When asked to Choose a Template, tap to select the Default template.

   

   The reason why we’re starting out with the Default template is because it is pretty sparse. It has a plain white background, and the only styles it contains are basic font styling. It’s the perfect starting point for creating a template of your own.

3. Tap to open the Contents menu.
4. To the left of Column Headers, tap (the eye icon) twice to always show the column headings.

   

5. Tap the Topic column heading once, and then tap Edit in the contextual menu that appears. This opens the Contents menu to the Columns pane so you can edit the column heading. Change the name from Topic to My Level Styles.

   

6. Tap on the outline area to dismiss the Contents menu. When you do, you’ll see that the new column heading has been applied.

   

To enter text on the rows of your outline, double-tap on the row beneath the My Level Styles heading and enter Level 1 Row. Pressing Return at the end of the first line moves you down to the next row.

As you’ll notice, the rows get row handles (the open circles along the left edge of the row) by default. Now add more rows by entering the following on the next and subsequent rows:

• Enter Level 2 Row and press Return
• Enter Level 3 Row and press Return
• Enter Level 3 Row and press Return
• Enter Level 2 Row and press Return
• Enter Level 3 Row and press Return
• Enter Level 3 Row and press Return
• Enter Level 1 Row and press Return
• Enter Level 2 Row and press Return
• Enter Level 2 Row and press Return
• Enter Level 1 Row

Your document should look like the following:

Now let’s add some depth to the outline by indenting the rows. Tap a row handle to select a row.

1. Tap to select the first Level 3 Row.

2. In the toolbar at the bottom of the screen, tap (the Indent button) to indent that row one level. Your outline should appear as follows:

   

3. Repeat that process for all other Level 3 Rows. When finished, your outline should appear as follows:

   

Notice how the row immediately preceding the Level 3 Rows have gained a disclosure triangle as their row handle. When pointing downward, a row is Expanded. When pointing to the right, the row is Collapsed.

Now, repeat the indentation process with all of the Level 2 Rows:

• Tap to select each Level 2 Row.
• Tap to indent that row one level.

Your document should look like this:

As you can see, the Level 2 Rows are children of the Level 1 Rows, and the Level 3 Rows are children of the Level 2 Rows, making them grandchildren of the Level 1 Rows. Indentation adds hierarchical depth to your outlines, making it easy for you to organize lists of information quickly.

If you look at the opposite side of the toolbar at the bottom of the screen, you’ll notice a couple more buttons; let’s examine these:

• Notes — With a row selected, tap this button to add a Note.

• Insert Row — When you quickly tap this button, OmniOutliner inserts beneath the current row a new row at that same level. However, if you press and hold this button, four additional buttons fly out.

  

  These additional buttons are as follows:

  • Insert Parent — Inserts a new row at the next-highest level from the selected row.
  • Insert Above — Inserts a new row above and at the same level as the selected row.
  • Insert Child — Inserts a new row beneath and at one level lower than the selected row.
  • Insert Aunt — Inserts a new row beneath and one level higher than the selected row.

Before moving on to the next section, one final bit of text entry you should do is to add some text to the Notes for the Level 1 Rows. Tap to select the first Level 1 Row, and then tap to add a Note.

It doesn’t really matter what you enter as the Note—it could be your address, or the name of your favorite Rush album—just as long as you have some text in place that you can style later in this tutorial. Copy and paste this text as a Note to the other Level 1 Rows. When you’ve finished, your document should look something like the following:

When there are Notes in your outline, OmniOutliner places a tiny Note icon to the left of the row handle. You may also notice that the Add Note button in the bottom toolbar has changed slightly.

Now the Add Note button is only available when you have selected a row that does not have a Note. Instead, the Hide Note button () is available when a Note is visible, or the Show Note button () is available when Notes are hidden. If you press and hold the button, two additional buttons “fly out” from the Notes button. These allow you to Hide and Show all Notes in your outline, respectively.

This now gives you enough content to use as placeholder text for the document you’ll eventually turn into a template.

There are a few ways you can reorganize the content in your outline. The most frequent—and often misused—way is with Cut and Paste. In many cases, you don’t want to Cut the content from your document, you just want to move it to another location in the outline, and for that, there’s the Editing toolbar.

To access the Editing toolbar, tap and then select the row (or rows) on which you’d like to work. Rows you select are highlighted in blue; to deselect a row, just tap it again.

The Editing Tools include:

• Cut — Removes the selected row(s) from the outline and moves to the clipboard so you can paste them in another location.
• Copy — Copies the selected row(s) and places the content on the clipboard so you can paste the content to another row.
• Delete — Deletes the selected row(s). Delete is very different from Cut, in that the content is permanently gone, whereas Cut places the content on the clipboard so you can use it again. If you delete something by accident, tap Undo.
• Group — Takes the selected rows (you must select two or more rows to make a Group), indents them one level and adds a parent row above in which you can enter some sort of descriptive text for the group.

• Move — The row(s) you select can be moved to another location in your outline. Tap on the row where you would like to move the selected row, and choose to move it Above, Below, or Inside that row.

  Above and Below places the row you’re moving at the same level as the row you have selected. Inside moves the line to that location, but makes it a child to the selected row.

To show you how this works, go ahead and tap to select the last row in the document (Level 1 Row), and then tap . This adds a new row directly beneath the Level 1 row.

Enter the following:

• Red and press Return.
• Green and press Return.
• Blue, and then tap Done.

Your document should look like this:

To create a group from these rows, do the following:

1. In the navigation bar, tap .
2. Tap the row handles to select the Red, Green, and Blue rows.

   

3. Tap Group. When you tap the Group button, the Red, Green, and Blue rows are indented as children beneath an empty Level 1 Row.

   

4. In that new row, enter Additive Primary Colors, and then tap Done.

OmniOutliner offers two options for moving rows around within your outline.

• You can press and hold on a row and then drag it to where you’d like it in the outline.

  

• Or you can use the Editing tools to select and move the rows. This is particularly useful if you have multiple rows (contiguous or non-contiguous) that you need to move.
  1. Start by tapping to access the Editing tools.
  2. Tap to select very last Level 1 Row in the outline (the one above Additive Primary Colors), and then tap Move in the Editing toolbar.

     

  3. As the note at the bottom of the screen says, “Tap where you want to move this row.”. Scroll up in the outline and then tap to select the second Level 2 Row.

     The row you tap highlights in blue, and a context menu appears above the row with options to insert the row you’re moving Above, Below, or Inside the row you have chosen.

     Tap Above, which inserts the Level 1 Row above the Level 2 Row.

     

After inserting the Level 1 Row, you’ll notice that it and the Level 2 Row are on the same level.

To make this outline more uniform, let’s turn the Level 2 Row (and its children) child rows of the Level 1 Row. Tap to select the Level 1 Row, and then tap . This moves the Level 1 Row out one level and, in the process, turns the Level 2 Row and the two Level 3 Rows its children.

As you can see, both the Level 1 Row and Level 2 Row have a disclosure triangle as their row handle. Tap the disclosure triangles to familiarize yourself with how these work.

Now that you’re familiar with how to group and move rows around, along with how to indent and outdent rows, it’s time to move on to the fun stuff—styling your outline! Your outline should look similar to the following image. Each Level 1 Row has at least one Level 2 Row nested underneath, and most (but not all) of the Level 2 Rows have Level 3 Rows as children. Toward the bottom of the outline, there’s also the list of Additive Primary Colors, to which you’ll assign a styles to color the text.

It’s time to take things to the next level by showing you how to create styles for your content. There’s a lot that’s involved here, but before this goes too far, it’s important to understand OmniOutliner’s style layering model.

On iOS, you access the Styles pane via the Contents menu, which opens when you tap .

OmniOutliner has two types of styles:

• Structural Styles reside in the top portion of the Styles pane, and consist of the Whole Document style, styles for the various numbered Level Rows (Level 1 Row, Level 2 Row, and so on), as well as styles for Column Titles, Notes, and the main Topic column.

• Named Styles are found in the lower portion of the Styles pane, and can be applied to anything in your outline. When applied, a Named Style amends the existing Level Style with its own properties. For example, you could apply a Heading named style on top of a Level 1 Row style to make the text bigger or change the font. All of the templates come with some pre-defined Named styles, which you can use, delete, or edit to suit the needs of your outline.

The styles you set for the various Level Rows, headings, and text all stack on top of the styles you designate for the Whole Document. This is very much like the web’s Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), if you’ve ever used that for web design.

• What colors should it have?
• What fonts and font styles are needed?
• Does it need status checkboxes?
• What about columns and layout?
• Are row handles necessary?

All of these—and more—can factor into how you design and create the template. As noted earlier, however, the Whole Document styles set the foundation for the rest of your template, so that’s where we’ll start.

1. Tap , and then tap Styles to view the Styles pane.

   

2. Under Structural Styles, tap Whole Document to view the Whole Document styles.

   

3. To set a base font for the document, tap Font, and choose Gill Sans; notice how all of the text in the outline changes to the new font selection.

   

4. Tap Back to return to the Whole Document styles view.
5. In the Size selector, tap once to increase the base font size to 14 points.

   

6. Now let’s set a background color for the Whole Document. Scroll down in the menu until you see Background Color. Tap to open the color pickers.

   

   Along the top of the Background Color pane you’ll see the following row of buttons:

   

   Tap the first button to view the available Color Palettes. The Color Palettes are based on the prominent colors used by some artists whose names you might recognize. For this tutorial, we’ll use the O’Keeffe palette; however, if you see another that’s more appealing, feel free to use that.

   

7. Tap the fourth tile in the top row to apply a light green color as the Background color.

   

   Notice how the green background color also spreads beneath the Column Header row, which looks a shade darker. This is because the Column Header row sits on a higher layer above the background. And judging from its appearance, it looks like the Column Header row has its own background color, but with some opacity to let the background color pop through.

8. And speaking of opacity, that green background color is a little darker than we’d like, so let’s change that. Tap the HSV button in the color controls. You’re presented with four different sliders which you can use to adjust the Hue, Saturation, Brightness, and Opacity.

   Tap and drag the Opacity slider to the left and set the background color’s opacity to 50%.

   

9. At the top of the menu, tap Back to return to the Whole Document styles.

10. Scroll down in the menu, and tap the Align Left button.

    

The outline now has a light green background, and its default font type and size is 14 point Gill Sans.

Let’s get started!

1. Tap , and then tap to choose the Styles pane.

   

2. Under Structured Styles, tap to choose the Level 1 Rows styles.

   

   Note
   At the top of the Styles pane, you’ll see a bar that spans the width of the pane. This is a preview of the styles. As you change the style settings for the Level 1 Row, keep an eye on this preview so you can see how the rows will eventually look.

3. In the Style pane, do the following:

   • In the row of buttons, tap B to make all Level 1 Row text bold.
   • Size: Increase the type size to 16 points.

   • Text Color: Change the color to White.

     

   • Background Color: Change the background color of the Level 1 Rows to the dark blue color under the O’Keeffe palette.

     

     While in the Color pane, tap to choose the HSV color controls and set the background color’s Opacity to 80%.

     

   • At the top of the Contents pane, tap Level 1 Rows to return to the Level 1 Rows style pane and review your changes.

     

   Your document should look similar to the following:

   

4. At the top of the menu, tap Styles to return to the listing of styles. Under Structural Styles, tap to choose Level 2 Rows.

5. In the Level 2 Rows styles pane, make the following changes:

   • Background Color: Change the background color to the same dark blue color found in the O’Keeffe palette, and change its opacity in the HSV controls to 30%.

     

   The Level 2 Rows style pane should be similar to the following:

   

   And your outline should look similar to the following:

   

   Notice how giving the Level 2 Rows’ background color a 30% opacity makes the color look bluish-green. By setting the opacity at a lower percentage, the background color you set for the Whole Document style starts to bleed through.

   Tip
   Use color opacity—available in the HSV, RGB, and Gray color panes—to blend row colors with the Whole Document’s background color. You can get really creative with just two colors and differing levels of opacity.

6. At the top of the menu, tap Styles to return to the listing of styles. Under Structural Styles, tap to choose Level 3 Rows.

7. In the Level 3 Rows style pane, make the following changes:

   • Size: Change the type size to 12 points.
   • Background Color: Under the Adams color palette, choose the White color swatch. Then, tap HSV and change the Opacity to 50%. This gives the Level 3 Rows a light-whitish-green background color.

     

   The Level 3 Rows style pane should be similiar to the following:

   

   And your outline should look similar to the following:

   

Now let’s take a look at the Notes you added to the Level 1 Rows earlier in the chapter. Start by tapping in the toolbar at the bottom of the screen. When you do, two additional buttons fly out. The button on the left hides all Notes, and the one on the right reveals all Notes; tap the right button to expand all Notes.

Ew, that doesn’t look good at all! The color of the Note text is black, and against that dark blue background, they are totally unreadable. We’ll need to fix that.

Let’s get back to work!

8. At the top of the menu, tap Styles to return to the listing of styles. Under Structural Styles, tap to choose Notes.

   

9. In the Notes style pane, make the following changes:

   • Text Color: Change the text color to the same light green color from the O’Keeffe palette that you used for the Whole Document’s background color, but don’t change its opacity.

     

     Ah, that looks better already!

   • Background Color: Change the Background Color to the same dark blue color from the O’Keeffe palette that you used as the background color for the Level 1 Rows. As before, don’t adjust the color’s opacity; you want this to be darker so the Notes really stand out against everything else in the outline when revealed.

     

   The Notes style pane should be similar to the following:

   

   And your outline with the Notes revealed should look similar to the following:

   

Much better!

Start by deleting the Named Styles that already exist in the template; follow these steps:

1. Tap and then tap Styles to see the list of styles. Scroll through the list until you find the section of Named Styles.

   At the bottom of the Contents menu, tap Edit.

   

2. The Named Styles gain a red circle with a minus sign along the left edge. Tap this button twice to reveal the Delete button on the right edge.

   

3. Tap Delete, and then repeat the process for all of the Named Styles.

   

   When you have finished, your outline should have no Named Styles in its repertoire. A clean slate, so to say. Time to replenish your Named Styles by creating three new ones. Start by tapping New Style at the bottom of the Styles pane.

   

4. In the Name field, tap to select New Style, and enter Red as the name of this new Named Style.

   

5. Tap Styles at the top of the menu to return to your list of available styles.

   

6. Tap to select the Red Named Style so you can change its settings.

   

7. Make the following changes to the Red style:

   • Change the font to 13 point Gill Sans Bold.
   • Change the Text Color to red, either using the preset color palettes or blend your own using the HSV or RGB controls.

   When you have finished, the Red styles pane should look similar to the following:

   

8. Now repeat Steps 4 through 7 and add two more Named Styles: Green and Blue. Your list of Named Styles should appear as follows:

   

9. To apply a Named Style, first tap to select the row that you want to style, and then tap to open the Info menu.

   

10. In the list of Styles, tap the Red Named Style to apply its properties to the selected row.

    

11. Repeat Steps 9 and 10 to apply the Green and Blue Named Styles to their respective rows. When you have finished, your outline should look similar to the following:

    

Before you create the template, the first thing you should probably do is change the name of the file from My Outline (OmniOutliner’s default filename for new outlines) to something more appropriate, such as Green and Blue Levels.

To change the name of the outline you have been working on:

1. Tap the filename at the center of the navigation bar at the top of the screen.

   

2. Delete the name My Outline and enter Green and Blue Levels as the new filename.

   

Here’s what you need to do to create the template:

1. In the navigation bar, tap Documents to save and close the outline you have been working on. This returns you to the Local Documents folder.

   

2. In the navigation bar, tap Select.
3. Tap to highlight the Green and Blue Levels file.

   

4. In the navigation bar, tap , and then tap to choose Create Template from Outline in the menu that appears.

   

That’s it. After you tap Create Template from Outline, OmniOutliner saves a version of the file as a template and places it in the Local Documents — Templates folder.

1. Open the Favorite Movies outline you created in the previous chapter.
2. Tap to open the Contents menu, and then tap the center tab, Styles, to view the Styles menu.

   

3. Tap Apply Template Theme, swipe up to scroll through the list of Templates and Themes, and then tap to select the Green and Blue Levels template.

   

   When you tap to select a Template or Theme, OmniOutliner provides you with a preview of how an outline might appear with that style applied.

   

4. Tap Apply to apply the chosen theme to the document.

The document takes on all of the characteristics of the Green and Blue Levels template you created without overwriting all of the content on the rows.

Keep this in mind when you’re working on a document and looking for creative ways to style the content. If you don’t like the way a particular theme looks, you can always tap to undo the theme and revert back to the previous styling.

Take some time now to explore everything that OmniOutliner has to offer and create some new styles of your own.

The easiest way to bring files from OmniOutliner v1.x to OmniOutliner 2 for iOS is to set up OmniPresence sync with an Omni Sync Server account, and then sync both versions to the same cloud folder.

If you have a sync account set up for OmniOutliner v1.x, you’ll want to use the same login information when you set it up for OmniOutliner 2 for iOS. If you’re starting fresh with a new account, you’ll need to set it up in both versions.

Tap Cloud Setup from the toolbar. Follow the onscreen prompts or refer to Syncing with OmniPresence in the in-app help for more detailed instructions.

If you already have a cloud account set up that you would like to use to migrate your data, make sure all the files you want to transfer are in your OmniPresence folder, then tap the sync icon in the toolbar. After using the same account information to set up cloud sync in OmniOutliner 2, your files will be available there as well.

• With OmniOutliner v1.x and OmniOutliner 2 for iOS both installed on your iPad: Select individual documents in OmniOutliner v1.x and use Send to App from the Share button in the document browser toolbar to send files to OmniOutliner 2.

  

• Using iTunes 12 for Mac: Connect your iOS device with OmniOutliner v1.x to your Mac, and follow these instructions to transfer Outliner documents to your computer:

  

  1. Choose your iOS device; information about the device shows up in the Device sidebar on the left of the iTunes window.
  2. Under Settings, choose Apps.
  3. Scroll down on the right side of the iTunes window until you see the File Sharing section. Choose OmniOutliner in the list.
  4. Command-click to select the OmniOutliner Documents you would like to save to your Mac.
  5. Click Save to and choose a location on your Mac to where you can temporarily save the files you have selected.

  To transfer the files you’ve saved to your Mac into OmniOutliner 2 for iOS, repeat Steps 1-4 in the previous list, but instead of clicking Save to, click Add. Use the window that appears to choose the files you want to restore in OmniOutliner 2 for iOS and then click Add.

Editing

Command	Keyboard Shortcut
Cut	Command-X
Copy	Command-C
Paste	Command-V
Copy Style	Option-Command-C
Paste Style	Option-Command-V

Credits

PLCrashReporter