The Inspectors

The Inspectors are located on the trailing edge of the window on Mac, iPad, and Apple Vision Pro, and at the bottom of the screen on iPhone. They contain tools for editing the style, structure, and formatting of your document.

To show the Inspectors:

Tap or click the Inspector Button in the Toolbar
Select Show/Hide Inspector from the View Menu

Inspectors are divided into two groups, loosely based on how the tools apply to the document, and you can switch between the groups by selecting one of the buttons in the top of the Inspector, or selecting from the Inspectors submenu on Mac.

The Selection Style group contains inspectors which allow you to modify properties for a selection in the Outline or Sidebar
The Document group contains inspectors which allow you to modify properties for the entire document

The Inspectors are grouped differently on Mac, iPad, iPhone, and Apple Vision Pro, and provide different options.

Inspectors on Mac are grouped by:

Inspectors on iPad, iPhone, Apple Vision Pro are grouped by:

Inspectors on Mac

The Selection Style Group includes:

The Document Group includes:

Selection Style Group on Mac

Use inspectors in the Selection Style Group when you want to change the appearance of rows, columns, text selections, or styles in your document. If you have a row, column, or text selected, changes will apply to only that selection; if you do not have anything selected, changes will apply to the whole document.

The Selection Style Group includes:

Preview Inspector on Mac

The Preview inspector previews styles which have been applied to your current selection, while also indicating the selected item:

Row “title” — Styles applied to the selected row
“Title” — Styles applied to the selected column
Selected text — Styles applied to the selected text
Text insertion — Styles applied to text surrounding the cursor
Whole Document — Styles applied to the whole document
Name of structural style — Styles applied to the selected Structural Style
Name of named style — Styles applied to the selected Named Style

On Mac, the Preview inspector will only display for a single selection. If you have multiple items selected, no preview is displayed.

Font Inspector on Mac

The Font inspector provides controls for changing the appearance of text in your document:

Font — Select the font for the selected text, row, column, or whole document. On Mac, you can also open the Font Panel.
Size — Select the font size for the selected text, row, column, or whole document.
Color — Select the font color for the selected text, row, column, or whole document; see Choosing Colors.
Bold — Apply or remove the bold style to the selected text, row, column, or whole document.
Italic — Apply or remove the italic style to the selected text, row, column, or whole document.
Underline — Apply or remove the underline style to the selected text, row, column, or whole document.
Strikethrough — Apply or remove the ~~strikethrough~~ style to the selected text, row, column, or whole document.

On Mac, you can click and hold the buttons for Bold, Italic, Underline, or Strikethrough to reveal additional style options.

Paragraph Inspector on Mac

The Paragraph inspector allows you to adjust the layout and background color for the current selection.

Text Alignment — This row of buttons is used to Align or Justify text.
Line Height — Choose the spacing applied to line height, in increments from 1.0 to 2.0; contrast with Row Padding.
Background — Set the background color for the selected row or style; see Choosing Colors.
Writing Direction — Set the writing direction to Natural (based on the system language), Left to Right, or Right to Left.

Column Type Inspector on Mac

The Column Type inspector provides controls to adjust properties of existing columns.

To add new columns:

Click Add Column in the Toolbar
Use Add Column in the Organize Menu

To edit columns:

See Editing Columns

To remove existing columns:

Use Remove Column in the Organize Menu
Use Remove Column in the Column Header Menu
Select the column by clicking the column header, and press Delete

This Inspector only appears while editing text in a column, or when a column is selected by clicking its header (if column headers are hidden, select Show in the Column Headers submenu).

Row Inspector on Mac

The Row inspector allows you set options for the current row selection:

Style Attributes Inspector on Mac

The Style Attributes inspector shows all styles applied to the current selection, and provides controls for removing styles from the selection.

Styles are displayed in the order in which they are applied to the selection, from top to bottom.
Styles are grouped by their source, whether Text, Row, Column, or Whole Document
Click the Clear button next to a style, to remove it from the selection.

Document Group on Mac

Use inspectors in the Document Group to adjust the styles or attributes of the document as a whole, rather than styles that can be applied to specific parts of the document. These inspectors control how rows, columns, margins, and more appear within the Outline.

The Document Group includes:

Document Inspector on Mac

The Document inspector allows you to adjust the overall appearance of your document.

Options include:

Format and Metadata Inspector on Mac

The Format and Metadata inspector provides options for changing how your document is stored, as well as the ability to add information to make the document easier to find.

Inspectors on iPad, iPhone, Apple Vision Pro

The Selection Style Group includes:

The Document Group includes:

Selection Style Group on iPad, iPhone, Apple Vision Pro

Use inspectors in the Selection Style Group when you want to change the appearance of rows, columns, text selections, or styles in your document.

If you have a row, column, or text selected, changes will apply to only that selection; if you do not have anything selected, changes will apply to the whole document.

The Selection Style Group includes:

Style Attributes Preview on iPad, iPhone, Apple Vision Pro

The Style Attributes Preview inspector previews styles which have been applied to your current selection, while also indicating the selected item:

Selected rows — Styles applied to the selected row
Multiple — Styles applied to multiple selected rows
Selected text — Styles applied to the selected text
Text insertion — Styles applied to text surrounding the cursor
Whole Document — Styles applied to the whole document

Tap on the preview to view the Style Attributes Inspector.

Font Inspector on iPad, iPhone, Apple Vision Pro

The Font inspector provides controls for changing the appearance of text in your document:

Font — Select the font for the selected text, row, column, or document. The bottom of the list contains Manage Fonts, which will open the Fonts section of Settings on your device.
Font Color — Select the font color for the selected text, row, column, or document; see Choosing Colors.
Bold — Apply or remove the bold style to the selected text, row, column, or document.
Italic — Apply or remove the italic style to the selected text, row, column, or document.
Underline — Apply or remove the underline style to the selected text, row, column, or document.
Strikethrough — Apply or remove the ~~strikethrough~~ style to the selected text, row, column, or document.
Size — Select the font size for the selected text, row, column, or document.

Paragraph Inspector on iPad, iPhone, Apple Vision Pro

Use the Paragraph Inspector to choose the alignment and background color for the current selection.

Text Alignment — This row of buttons is used to align left, center, align right, or justify text in the selection. See Align or Justify.
Background — Set the background color for the selected row or style; see Choosing Colors.

Row Inspector on iPad, iPhone, Apple Vision Pro

The Row inspector allows you set options for the current row selection:

Apply Styles Inspector on iPad, iPhone, Apple Vision Pro

The Apply Styles inspector provides controls for applying or removing Named Styles from the currently selected text, row, column, or whole document (if there is no selection).

With (or without) a selection in the Outline:

Tap a Named Style in the Inspector. A check mark appears, to indicate that it has been applied to the selection or whole document.
Tap the Named Style again, to remove it from the selection or whole document.
Multiple styles can be applied, with styles lower in the list taking priority over those higher in the list, depending on the contents of each style.
Tap Clear Custom Styles to remove any applied styles from your selection or whole document, reverting to only Structural Styles.

See Edit Styles to learn more about editing Structural Styles and Named Styles.

Style Attributes Inspector on iPad, iPhone, Apple Vision Pro

The Style Attributes inspector shows all styles applied to the current selection, and provides controls for removing styles from the selection.

Styles are displayed in the order in which they are applied to the selection, from top to bottom.
Styles are grouped by their source, whether Text, Row, Column, or Whole Document
Click the Clear button next to a style, to remove it from the selection.

Document Group on iPad, iPhone, Apple Vision Pro

The Document Group includes:

Document Inspector on iPad, iPhone, Apple Vision Pro

The Document inspector allows you to adjust the overall appearance of your document.

Options include:

Columns Inspector on iPad, iPhone, Apple Vision Pro

The Columns inspector provides controls to add or remove columns, rearrange the order of columns, or adjust properties of existing columns.

This inspector displays a list of every column in the document, in order from left to right.

Drag and drop column names to reorder them, which also moves the columns in the document to the left or right.
Tap the switch next to each column name to display or hide a specific column; the Topic column cannot be hidden.
Tap Add Column at the bottom of the list to add a new column to your document.
Tap a column row to edit the column; see Editing Columns to learn more.

Format and Metadata Inspectors on iPad, iPhone, Apple Vision Pro

The Format and Metadata inspector provides options for changing how your document is stored, as well as the ability to add information to make the document easier to find.

Editing Columns

Available on Mac in the Column Type Inspector
Available on iPad, iPhone, Apple Vision Pro in the Columns Inspector

Columns have a few common properties, with specific Column Types expanding or narrowing the range of supported properties.

Every non-Notes column has properties for:

Name
Type
Style
Width (Mac only)

Additional properties are described below, in the sections for each Column Type.

Column Name

Every column can be renamed, except for the Notes Column, as it does not display a title.

On Mac:

Click in a Column Header to rename the column.

On iPad, iPhone, and Apple Vision Pro:

Tap the row of the column you would like to rename.
Tap into the Name field to rename the column.

Column Types

All new columns use Rich Text, but you can easily change the column type by choosing another option from the Type menu:

If you have entered content which is specific to a given column type, switching to a column type which doesn’t support that type of content will erase what you have entered. If you unintentionally switch column types, Undo will switch back to the previous type while restoring any lost content.

Each column type has one or more additional options:

Format — Format options depend on the selected column type, and some options update depending on the Language & Region settings in System Settings.
Settings — Settings are only available for Duration Columns; please see that section for more information.
Values — Values are only available for Pop-up List Columns; please see that section for more information.
Summary/Summaries — Summary options depend on the selected column type. Summaries only appear on the parent row for a group. In that parent row, the summary is calculated based on the values of its children. Except for the None option, only non-parent column cells are available for editing. On Mac, summary cells are displayed with a slight gray background.

Available options for each column type are discussed below.

Checkbox Columns

Checkbox Columns provide you with another checkbox to tick off, in addition to Status Checkboxes, and can be used to track any binary state.

Checkbox Column properties include:

Name
Summary
Width (Mac only)

You can add as many Checkbox Columns as you find useful, and can show or hide each column using the Columns submenu on Mac, or the Column Inspector on iPad, iPhone, or Apple Vision Pro.

When combined with the Keep Sorted command, you can use checkboxes to automatically organize your document.

Checkbox Column Summaries

Checkbox Column summary options include:

None — Summary cells do not provide a summary, and all cells in the column are available for editing.
State — Summary cells display an empty checkbox if no items have been checked off, a partially filled checkbox (with a dash inside) if some items have been checked, or a filled checkbox if all the items have been checked.
Hidden — Summary cells are empty, regardless of the state of other checkboxes in the column.

Date Columns

Date Columns can be used to track any date-related values.

Date Column properties include:

Name
Format
Summary
Width (Mac only)

You can be creative with the way you enter dates, and OmniOutliner will do its best to understand what you mean:

Relative dates — Relative dates and times calculate a new date and time, based on the current date and time, with negative numbers representing dates and times in the past. Examples: 2 days, –3 weeks, 1 hour, 1 year 1 month
Abbreviations — You can use full names, as in the previous set of examples, or abbreviations. Examples: 2d, –3w, 1h, 1y1m
Common words — You can refer to relative dates using common words for periods of time. This, next, and last have specific meanings: this Friday always means the Friday in this week, next Friday always means the Friday in the next week, and last Friday always means the Friday in last week, regardless of what day today is. Other periods of time work in the same way. Examples: yesterday, tomorrow, tonight, next Thursday, last month, this Friday, next year
Specific time period — You can enter a specific time period, which will add a date for the beginning of that time period. Examples: fri, september, 2028
Short date format — You can use the date format selected in your Language & Region System Settings. Examples: 5/23/08 10a, 9.30.09 2:00 PM
Mixed formats — Mix the available formats however you like. Examples: 2w sat, 4d @ 5p, mon 6a, aug 6, tue 5p
Final thoughts — As noted above, OmniOutliner makes its best guess at whatever you enter, whether that is bare numbers, times, or word fragments. If you think something might work, give it a try. If it doesn’t work, and you think it should, please Email Support. Examples: now, 9, 14:00, tom

Date Column Formats

Date Column format options are partially based on your current selections in the Language & Region section of System Settings. On Mac, you can specify any of your Preferred Languages from the Language & Region section, using the Locale pop-up menu.

You can select two options (one from Date and one from Time), or a single combined option (from Technical).

Date options include:

Short — Short format date based on your settings, such as 01/06/26.
Medium — Medium format date based on your settings, such as Jan 06, 2026.
Long — Long format date based on your settings, such as January 06, 2026.

Time options include:

None — Does not display a time.
Short — Short format time based on your settings, such as 09:41.
Medium — Medium format time based on your settings, such as 09:41:00.
Long — Long format time based on your settings, such as 09:41:00 PST.

Technical options include:

Timestamp — Long format timestamp including date, time, and timezone offset, such as 2026-01-06 09:41:00 -0800.
HTTP — Long format timestamp including day, date, time, and timezone, such as Tue, 06 Jan 2026 17:41:00 GMT.
ISO 8601 (UTC) — ISO 8601 format timestamp in UTC, such as 20260106T174100.000Z.
ISO 8601 (Local) — ISO 8601 format timestamp with timezone offset, such as 20260106T094100.000-0800.

On Mac, there is an additional Custom Format… option, which opens the Date Format Editor:

Drag items you would like to use for your date/time string to the field at the top of the window.
Click the pull-down menu (the downward facing arrow) to choose a format for each item.
Add or remove characters between the items, to use as delimiters.
Click Save to apply your changes, or Cancel to discard your changes.

Date Column Summaries

Date Column summary options include:

None — Summary cells do not provide a summary, and all cells in the column are available for editing.
Minimum — Summary cells display the earliest date or time in the column.
Maximum — Summary cells display the latest date or time in the column.
Hidden — Summary cells are empty.

Duration Columns

Durations Columns can be used for estimating or tracking the amount of time a task or project takes.

Duration properties include:

Name
Settings
Summary
Width (Mac only)

Duration Column Settings

OmniOutliner displays duration information based on your selected Setting:

Work Time — 8 hours per day, 40 hours per week, 160 hours per month
Calendar Time — 24 hours per day, 168 hours per week, 720 hours per month
Custom (Mac only) — enter custom values for day, week, month

Examples:

12h in Calendar Time is 1d 4h (12h) in Work Time
1d (24h) in Calendar Time is 3d (24h) in Work Time

By default, OmniOutliner will display single-letter abbreviations for time units; if you would prefer to have time units displayed using full words (seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years), select the Long format option (Mac only).

Duration Column Summaries

Duration Column summary options include:

None — Summary cells do not provide a summary, and all cells in the column are available for editing.
Total — Summary cells display the total of all child cells in the column.
Minimum — Summary cells display the lowest duration in the column.
Maximum — Summary cells display the highest duration in the column.
Average Leaves — Summary cells display the weighted average of durations from children of branches of the parent row (also known as leaves). Example: if one branch has two leaves, and a second branch has one leaf, the first branch contributes 2/3 of the average displayed in the parent cell, while the second is contributes 1/3 of the average. This summary option benefits from some experimentation, to get a good sense of how it works.
Hidden — Summary cells are empty.

Number Columns

Number Columns can be used to track any numeric values.

Number Column properties include:

Name
Format
Summary
Width (Mac only)

Number Column Formats

Number Column format options include:

9,999.99 — Numbers with a two-digit decimal at the end. Large numbers will use a comma or period to separate thousands, depending on the Number format setting in the Language & Region section of System Settings.
9999.99 — Numbers with a two-digit decimal. Large numbers do not use a separator.
10000 — Whole numbers, with decimal numbers rounded up or down to the nearest whole number. Examples: both 2.67 and 3.14 are rounded to 3.
10000% — Whole number percentage, with decimal numbers rounded up or down to the nearest whole number. Examples: both 2.67% and 3.14% are rounded to 3%.
99.99% — Percentages with a two-digit decimal value, if needed. For example, 99% appears as that and not 99.00%, while 3.14159% is rounded to 3.14%.
99.99% — Percentages with a two-digit decimal value, if needed. Examples: 99% appears as 99%, while 3.14159% is rounded to 3.14%.
$9,999.99 — Currency, with format based on the Region setting in the Language & Region section of System Settings.

Number Column Summaries

Number Column summary options include:

None — There is no summary, and all cells in the column are available for editing.
Total — Summary cells display the total of all child cells in the column.
Minimum — Summary cells display the lowest number in the column.
Maximum — Summary cells display the highest number in the column.
Average Leaves — Summary cells display the weighted average of durations from children of branches of the parent row (also known as leaves). Example: if one branch has two leaves, and a second branch has one leaf, the first branch contributes 2/3 of the average displayed in the parent cell, while the second is contributes 1/3 of the average. This summary option benefits from some experimentation, to get a good sense of how it works.
Hidden — Summary cells are empty.

Pop-up List Columns

Pop-up List Columns can be used when you have a consistent set of options, from which you would like to choose.

Pop-up List Column properties include:

Name
Values
Summary
Width (Mac only)

Pop-up List Column Values

Pop-up List Column Values are easily configured, and can be quickly accessed when editing a column cell.

On Mac:

A table in the Column Type Inspector displays the list of values
Click on + to add a new row
Select a row, and click on - to remove the row
Double-click on a row to rename the entry
Drag rows to reorder them
After creating the list, you can select a value from the pull-down menu in the cell, or begin typing to autocomplete a value
If you enter a value in a column cell that isn’t already part of the list, you can press Command+Return to add it

On iPad, iPhone, Apple Vision Pro:

Tap Values to show a table containing all value
Tap Add Value to add a new row
Tap in the row to rename the entry
Drag rows to reorder them
After creating the list, tap a column cell to choose from a menu of the preset values, or use the field at the top of the menu to search for a value to apply
If you enter a value that isn’t already part of the list, you can tap Add “x” to add it to the list

Pop-up List Column Summaries

Pop-up List Summary options include:

None — Summary cells do not provide a summary, and all cells in the column are available for editing.
Minimum — Summary cells display the uppermost entry in the list.
Maximum — Summary cells display the bottommost entry in the list.
Hidden — Summary cells are empty.

Rich Text Columns

Rich Text Columns can be used for any plain or formatted text.

Rich Text Column properties include:

Name
Summary
Width (Mac only)

Rich Text Column Summaries

Rich Text Column summary options include:

None — Summary cells do not provide a summary, and all cells in the column are available for editing.
Hidden — Summary cells are empty.

Column Style

Each column can have specific styles applied to it.

On Mac:

Select a column in the Styles Tab.
Use the Selection Style Group Inspectors to make any desired changes.

On iPad, iPhone, or Apple Vision Pro:

Open the Document Inspector.
Select Edit Styles.
Select a column to edit.

Column Width

On Mac, the width of a given column can be quickly adjusted:

Enter a value (in pixels) in the Width field
Click Resize to Fit to automatically fit the column width to the longest single line of text

Inspectors Reference

This section lists OmniOutliner inspector options in alphabetical order.

Each entry contains links to where the option can be found on each platform. If no platforms are specified, it is available on all devices.

Above Children

Available on Mac in the Row Inspector

Set the amount of space (in pixels) above the first child row.

Above Note

Available on Mac in the Row Inspector

Set the amount of space (in pixels) above an inline note.

Alternate Rows

Available on Mac in the Document Inspector
Available on iPad, iPhone, Apple Vision Pro in the Document Inspector

Use the Alternate rows option to set a background color to alternating rows in your document. You can choose from one of the preset color options, or click the color bar to choose a custom color or background pattern from the Colors palette.

See Structural Styles for a general explanation of the order in which styles are applied to content in the outline.

Background Color

Available on iPad, iPhone, Apple Vision Pro in the Document Inspector

This control offers a convenient way to set the background color of the entire outline. This is identical to the background color property of the Whole Document [structural style]), so changing it in either place leads to the same result (the change is reflected in both places).

Below Children

Available on Mac in the Row Inspector

Set the amount of space (in pixels) below the last child row.

Choosing Colors

Throughout the inspectors, you will find color wells which you can use to change the default colors.

On iPhone, iPad, and Apple Vision Pro:

Tap a color well to open a pane of Omni-selected color choices, and tap one to select.
You can tap another color to change your selection, or tap the HSB, RGB, or Gray tabs to mix your own colors by adjusting the sliders in each tab.

On Mac:

Click on the arrows to the right of the color well, and select a new color from the Omni-selected list of options.
Select Other… or click on the color well to open the Colors window, which allows you to select, manipulate, and save colors.

When the Colors window first opens, you will see the Color wheel. To select a color, click within the Color Wheel and drag the handle to find the value you want. Beneath the Color Wheel there is a slider for Opacity, with 0% being transparent and 100% opaque.

You can switch from the Color Wheel to other selection options by clicking the icons along the top of the Colors window, which include the Color Sliders, Color Palettes, Image Palettes, and Pencils.

The lower section of the Colors window contains an eyedropper (click it to sample a color anywhere on your screen), and a color well that contains your selected color. This is the Color Inspector. Drag a color from the Inspector to one of the empty color swatches along the bottom of the window to save it for later use.

If you need more space in the color swatches area, you can drag to adjust the size of the window, or adjust the divider between the color wheel and the swatches. More empty rows will be displayed, for saving your custom color selections.

To learn more about the Colors window, see the Apple User Guide article:

Use colors in documents on Mac

Column Autosize

Available on Mac in the Column Type Inspector
Available on iPad, iPhone, Apple Vision Pro in the Columns Inspector
Available on Mac, iPad, iPhone, Apple Vision Pro in the Column Header Menu

With the Topic column selected, you can enable automatic sizing. This dynamically adjusts the width of the Topic column, based on the size of the window and of the surrounding columns. With this option turned on, your columns should fill the entire document window.

On Mac:

Click the Auto button in the Column Type Inspector
Select Autosize from the Column Header Menu
Select Autosize Topic from the Columns submenu of the View Menu

On iPad, iPhone, Apple Vision Pro:

Tap the Topic row in the Columns Inspector, the tap the Autosize toggle
Select Autosize from the Column Header Menu

Column Headers

Available on Mac in the Document Inspector
Available on iPad, iPhone, Apple Vision Pro in the Document Inspector

Choose whether column headers are displayed, using one of these options:

Show — Displays all column headings.
Automatic — Displays column headings if there are two or more columns in your document.
Hide — Hides all column headings.

Document File Type

Available on Mac in the Format and Metadata Inspector
Available on iPad, iPhone, Apple Vision Pro in the Format and Metadata Inspector

This option starts with “Save as…” in the Mac inspector, and is labeled Type of File in the iPad, iPhone, and Apple Vision Pro inspector.

Select a format for this document:

Flat file — By default, documents are saved as a flat file, compressed down to the smallest practical size. This format is easier to share, and is compatible with a wider range of sync services.
File package — Documents can also be saved as a file package, with attachments and the OmniOutliner XML file available inside of that package. This format is compatible with fewer sync services, but can be helpful for storing files in a version control or document management systems, or running scripts against the contents of your document.

Flat files are compatible with Box, Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, and most other sync services.

Package files should only be used when syncing with iCloud Drive or OmniPresence.

Dynamic Theme

Available on Mac in the Document Inspector
Available on iPad, iPhone, Apple Vision Pro in the Document Inspector

With this option on, the appearance of the Outline automatically updates when your device switches between a Light or Dark appearance. If you select a color when using a Light or Dark appearance, the other appearance uses an automatically generated version of your selected color.

Allow Customization of Alternate Dynamic Colors — With this option turned on, Light and Dark appearances can be set to use specific colors, instead of one appearance using an automatically generated version of the other.
Swap Palettes — Switch the Outline between a Light and Dark appearance. This can result in a state where your Outline appearance is Light when the device is using a Dark appearance, or Dark when the device is using a Light appearance.
Apply a New Theme… — Open the Template Picker and select a template with Styles you would like applied to the current document.

Unlike choosing a template when creating a new document, where the document you create contains sample content from the template, applying a template to an existing outline overwrites the document’s style properties, but not any of its content.

Note that applying a template theme will overwrite both Structural Styles and Named Styles, including any new or custom styles added after creating the document. The one exception is if the selected template contains a named style with an indentical name, in which case the style will simply be replaced, rather than removed.

Styles applied directly to text will not be cleared by changing templates.

Edit Styles

Available on iPad, iPhone, Apple Vision Pro in the Document Inspector

Tap Edit Styles to view a list of all styles saved with the document.

These include Structural Styles at the top of the list, which are automatically applied to classes of objects, and Named Styles at the bottom of the list, which can be manually applied to items you have selected.

To edit a Structural or Named Style, tap on its row and you will see a version of the Selection Style Group Inspectors, which apply changes only to the style currently being edited.
To create a new Named Style, tap Add Named Style at the bottom of the list. This will open the Selection Style Group Inspectors for that style, with the addition of a Name field and Delete Style button. Tap into the Name field, and give it a memorable name.
To delete a Named Style, tap on its row and then on the Delete Style button. If you accidentally delete a style, you can use Undo to restore it.
Structural Styles have a fixed order in the list, but you can drag Named Styles to reorder them.

Learn more about Styles in the Outline chapter.

For Mac, see the Styles Tab section of the Sidebar chapter.

Encryption

Available on Mac in the Format and Metadata Inspector
Available on iPad, iPhone, Apple Vision Pro in the Format and Metadata Inspector

Any document can be encrypted with a password, which must be entered before opening the document; this helps protect documents containing private or sensitive material.

Add encryption on Mac:

Click the More button or use the Set Password… command in the File Menu
Enter a New Password
Re-enter the password to Verify
Add an optional Password Hint
Click OK to save, or Cancel to discard changes

Add encryption on iPad, iPhone, or Apple Vision Pro:

Tap the Encryption row
Enter a new Password
Re-enter the password to Verify
Add an optional password Hint
Tap OK to save or the Back arrow to discard changes

The document is now encrypted using industry standard AES-256 encryption in CCM mode, and cannot be opened, or have its contents otherwise read, without entering the password. This is true both of the original document, and any copies of it that are subsequently created, so if you send a copy to a coworker they’ll need the password to open it.

Update or remove encryption on Mac:

Click the More button or use the Set Password… command in the File Menu
Enter the current Password
Click on Remove Password or Change Password…
If you are removing the password, you should see a confirmation that the document is no longer encrypted
If you are changing the password, follow the same steps as when you initially added a password

Update or remove encryption on iPad, iPhone, or Apple Vision Pro:

Tap the Encryption row
Enter the current Password, and tap OK
Tap on Remove Password, or enter a new Password, Verify the new password, and update your optional Hint
Tap OK to save or the Back arrow to discard changes

Gutter Color

Available on Mac in the Row Inspector

Set a color to use for the Gutter.

See Choosing Colors.

Horizontal Grid

Available on Mac in the Document Inspector
Available on iPad, iPhone, Apple Vision Pro in the Document Inspector

Use the Horizontal grid option to add a thin line of color between the rows in your document. You can choose from one of the preset color options, or click the color bar to choose a custom color from the Colors palette.

Indent Child Rows

Available on Mac in the Document Inspector

This pop-up menu lets you choose how far child rows will be indented. You can choose from one of the options we’ve provided, or enter a value of your liking and press Return.

Contrast Indent Children, which controls whether or not children are indented.

Indent Children

Available on Mac in the Row Inspector
Available on iPad, iPhone, Apple Vision Pro in the Row Inspector

Choose whether to indent a row’s children.

If you choose to not indent children, it can be hard to determine row hierarchy. You may want to style parent and child rows differently, such as giving them different background colors or shades, or changing the font size.

Contrast Indent Child Rows, which controls how far child rows are indented.

Margin

Available on Mac in the Document Inspector

Choose a color for the document margin—the space outside the bounds of the outline’s canvas. This appears when in full screen mode, or when the width of all visible columns is less than the width of the outline in the window. You can choose from one of the preset color options, or click the color bar to choose a custom color from the Colors palette.

Metadata

Available on Mac in the Format and Metadata Inspector
Available on iPad, iPhone, Apple Vision Pro in the Format and Metadata Inspector

Use Metadata to provide additional information about your document. Metadata is saved with the document, and makes it easier to find using Spotlight. Metadata properties are collected in two groups, with the first group being single text fields, and the second group allowing multiple key-value pairs.

On Mac:

The first group is at the top level of the Format and Metadata Inspector
The second group is below the first group, and is accessed via a pop-up menu, initially set to Authors.

On iPad, iPhone, and Apple Vision Pro:

The first group is immediately under the Metadata sub-inspector, in the first part of the list.
The second group is below the first group, and each property has a right arrow indicating that tapping it will reveal a sub-inspector, where you can Add values.

The first group allows a single entry for each option:

Copyright — Copyright statements typically declare who owns the legal rights to something, such as you, your company, or some other entity, as well as the year(s) of copyright.
Version — Version numbers can be used to indicate the state (beta or release) or progression (first version, second version) of a project.
Subject — Similar to what you might use as the subject line for an email, such as Staff project assignments, or Launch plan.
Description — Anything that helps you or another person understand the purpose of the document.
Comments Any additional information about the document. For example, you could provide additional detail about a project this file is associated with, or notes to yourself about other things that you’d like to add to the file.

The second group allows multiple entries for each option:

Authors — The name(s) of the person or people who created the document.
Organizations — The name of the company or organization for whom the document has been created.
Languages — The primary language(s) of the document, such as English or Japanese; you can also use ISO 639 language codes, such as en or jp.
Keywords — Add any relevant keywords, as they help make each document unique, and make it easier to find using Spotlight.
Projects — Any related project or projects.

Working with key-value pairs on Mac:

Select one of the options from the popup menu
Click the Add button
Enter metadata, and press Tab or Return to save the information
To remove an item, select the row and click the Remove button
To edit an item, double-click to select the text, enter your changes, and press Tab or Return to save changes

Working with key-value pairs on iPad, iPhone, Apple Vision Pro:

Tap one of the right arrows to show the sub-inspector
Tap the Add button
Enter metadata, and tap the Back button to save changes
Drag to reorder your entries
To remove a row, tap into the row and delete the text, then tap the Back button to save changes
To edit a row, tap into the row and edit the text, then tap the Back button to save changes

If you are using other Omni apps, such as OmniGraffle or OmniPlan, you can enter similar metadata in the Metadata inspector for those apps.

Spotlight indexes these attributes, making it easy to find files that share metadata.

To learn more about using Spotlight to search for documents, see the Apple User Guide articls:

Notes Span Columns/Inline Notes

Available on Mac in the Document Inspector
Available on iPad, iPhone, Apple Vision Pro in the Document Inspector

Choose whether inline notes will wrap based on the first column of the document, or if they’ll span the width of all columns.

Row Handles

Available on Mac in the Row Inspector

Select whether the row handle is:

Always — Handles are always visible
Hover — Handles are only visible when you hover over the row
Never — Handles are never visible

Row Numbering

Available on Mac in the Row Inspector
Available on iPad, iPhone, Apple Vision Pro in the Row Inspector

These menus offer options similar to those in the Row Numbering submenu on Mac.

Choose a numbering style to use for the selected rows in your document:

None — Rows in your document are not numbered.
Numeric or 1, 2, 3, 4, … — Rows in your document are numbered sequentially, starting with 1.
Alphabetic or A, B, C, D, … — Rows in your document are lettered sequentially, using uppercase letters, starting with A.
Alphabetic (lowercase) or a, b, c, d, … — Rows in your document are lettered sequentially, using lowercase letters, starting with a.
Roman or I, II, III, IV, … — Rows in your document are numbered sequentially, using uppercase Roman numerals, starting with I.
Roman (lowercase) or i, ii, iii, iv, … — Rows in your document are numbered sequentially, using lowercase Roman numerals, starting with i.
Legal or 1, 1.1, 1.1.1, … — Rows in your document are numbered sequentially, using section numbering, starting with 1 for the parent row, 1.1 for the next level of indented rows, and so on.

You can also select a prefix and/or suffix to surround the row numbers:

a — The chosen row number style is presented without prefix or suffix. Example: 1.1.2.
a. — This places a period after the chosen row number style. Example: 1.1.2..
a) — This places a closing parenthesis after the chosen row number style. Example: 1.1.2).
(a) — This places row numbers in parentheses. Example: (1.1.2).
Other… (Mac only) — Displays fields to enter custom prefix and suffix characters. Example: «1.1.2».

Row Padding

Available on Mac in the Row Inspector

Set the amount of space (in pixels) between the text, both above and below, and the row boundary.

Row Status/Show Row Status

Available on Mac in the Document Inspector
Available on iPad, iPhone, Apple Vision Pro in the Document Inspector

Choose this option if you want to display the status checkboxes along the left side of every row. These are different from the checkbox option you can set on a column, in that status checkboxes are always located on the left edge of and follow the indentation level of your rows.

Start a New Page

Available on Mac in the Row Inspector

Determines whether the currently selected row forces the start of a new page. When you select this option, a red dashed line appears above the row, as if you were going to cut the document with a pair of scissors. This is specifically for the purposes of printing or exporting to PDF.

Vertical Grid

Available on Mac in the Document Inspector
Available on iPad, iPhone, Apple Vision Pro in the Document Inspector

Use the Vertical grid option to add a thin line of color between the columns in your document. You can choose from one of the preset color options, or click the color bar to choose a custom color from the Colors palette.

Zoom

Available on iPad, iPhone, Apple Vision Pro in the Document Inspector

The Zoom setting controls the magnification of text in the outline. Tap the plus and minus buttons to increment or decrement the zoom by ten percent.

This setting does not affect the actual size of the text in the outline; just the display size. This is useful for improving visibility of small text or fitting more of the outline onto the screen without changing any of its style properties.