The Toolbar
The Toolbar at the top of your OmniOutliner window contains buttons for commonly used commands and functions, making them accessible with a single click or tap.
This chapter is structured to help you easily find the toolbar information you need, with each section organized for a different purpose.
- Mac Toolbar — Buttons are listed in app order, for quick reference.
- iPad Toolbar — Buttons are listed in app order, for quick reference.
- iPhone Toolbar — Buttons are listed in app order, for quick reference.
- Apple Vision Pro Toolbar — Buttons are listed in app order, for quick reference.
- Tools Reference — All possible buttons are listed in alphabetical order. This is a good place to start if you would like more information about a button, or want to see where a button is available.
Toolbar on Mac
Toolbar buttons are listed in default order.
The toolbar on Mac, when you first install OmniOutliner, includes:
Toolbar customization is only available on Mac and iPad. If you would like toolbar customization on other devices, please Email Support.
Customizing the Mac Toolbar
Select Customize Toolbar… from the View Menu to remove any of the default toolbar buttons, or add buttons for:
Toolbars on iPad
Toolbar buttons are listed in default order.
The top toolbar on iPad includes:
Toolbar customization is only available on Mac and iPad. If you would like toolbar customization on other devices, please Email Support.
Customizing the iPad Toolbar
Select Customize Toolbar… from the View Menu to remove some of the default toolbar buttons, or add buttons for:
More Menu on iPad
The More Menu contains:
OmniOutliner Menu on iPad
The OmniOutliner Menu contains:
When an iPad is using a Compact View, it uses the iPhone Toolbar layout.
Toolbars on iPhone
Toolbar buttons are listed in default order.
The top toolbar on iPhone includes:
Toolbar customization is only available on Mac and iPad. If you would like toolbar customization on other devices, please Email Support.
More Menu on iPhone
The More Menu contains:
OmniOutliner Menu on iPhone
The
OmniOutliner Menu includes
Toolbars on Apple Vision Pro
Toolbar buttons are listed in default order.
The top toolbar on Apple Vision Pro includes:
More Menu on Apple Vision Pro
The More Menu contains:
OmniOutliner Menu on Apple Vision Pro
The
OmniOutliner Menu includes
Toolbar customization is only available on Mac and iPad. If you would like toolbar customization on other devices, please Email Support.
Document Toolbar on iPhone, iPad, Apple Vision Pro
The Document Toolbar is located above the outline whenever you are working in an OmniOutliner document. The document toolbar presents document-specific controls, from opening and closing the sidebar or inspectors to sharing or exporting the currently open document.
From left to right, the default controls in OmniOutliner’s document toolbar are as follows:
Sync with OmniPresence
This icon appears to the right of the document filename if the file is synced via OmniPresence. The icon indicates whether a sync is in-progress; tapping the OmniPresence icon initiates a sync
Sync Statuses
When editing a file synced with OmniPresence, the sync icon in the document toolbar can appear in the following states:
-
Sync Ready
In its most basic state, OmniPresence is online and ready to sync files. -
Sync In-Progress
Whenever OmniPresence notices a change to the files in the sync folder, the icon appears to be lifting a barbell. -
Sync Offline
If you lose your Internet connection (which is required for syncing), the icon turns light orange to denote that you are offline. -
Sync Error
If you see a light orange sync icon with an exclamation mark, it means that OmniPresence failed to connect to the sync server. This could be the result of an invalid Account Name or Password, or something as simple as an intermittent Internet connection that drops while OmniPresence is trying to connect to the sync server.
If the icon remains in this state, here are some things you could try:
- Tap the icon to display the nature of the error. This may suggest an immediate fix for the problem.
- Double-check your Account Name and Password.
- Check your network connection in Settings.app.
If that doesn’t help, Email Support.
Bottom Toolbar on iPhone, iPad, Apple Vision Pro
The edit bar is located beneath the outline, and contains all the basic controls you need to add content to your document and organize it.
Audio Recording
Start an audio recording, pause the recording, or end the recording and save it.
The first time you record an audio clip, OmniOutliner asks for permission to access your microphone and to access notifications. This is in order to check for available recording space on your device; OmniOutliner will send you a notification if space is running low.
When you finish a recording, the audio file is attached to the outline in a new row beneath the current selection (or at the end of the document, if nothing is selected). The audio attachment file is labeled with the timestamp of the recording.
Tap the recording file in the row to play it back, and tap it again to pause playback. During playback, controls to start, pause, and cancel playback appear in the edit bar as well.
To delete an audio recording from the document, open its row for editing and press delete to remove it just as you would a piece of text.
Recorded audio is saved in the .m4a file format at a 22,050 Hz sample rate by default. If storage space is not a concern, a higher quality 44,100 Hz setting is available in OmniOutliner settings.
Notes
Edit the note on the currently selected row. Touch and hold the Notes button and other options appear as flyouts: tap to expand all notes in the outline, and tap to collapse all notes.
Dragging from the Outline
When multitasking on iPad, you can drag rows and selected text from the outline to other apps. This allows you to quickly export text from the outline or place it in other apps on your device.
For example, you can drag rows, sections, or text selections to:
- …Files, creating a new text file (named “text” by default) in the target location, such as another app’s local documents folder or iCloud Drive.
- …Mail or Notes, adding the selected rows as a hierarchically indented plaintext list.
By default, when you drag out of the OmniOutliner outline to another app, the selected content is exported in a hierarchically indented plain text list.
Use the controls in OmniOutliner Settings to determine whether handles are included in this text export.
For export options for the entire document, see Available Export File Formats.
Toolbar Buttons Reference
All toolbar buttons, listed in alphabetical order:
![]()
Action Menu![]()
Add Above![]()
Add Column![]()
Add Inside/Add Child![]()
Add Outside/Add Aunt![]()
Add Parent![]()
Add Row/New Row![]()
Apply Theme![]()
Attachments![]()
Audio Recording![]()
Automation![]()
Columns![]()
Collapse All![]()
Colors![]()
Copy![]()
Cut![]()
Decrease Font Size![]()
Delete![]()
Documents![]()
Document Title Menu![]()
Select Mode![]()
Expand All![]()
Filter![]()
Flexible Space![]()
Fonts![]()
Group![]()
Increase Font Size![]()
Indent![]()
Inspectors![]()
Insert Line Break![]()
Move![]()
Move Down![]()
Move Left![]()
Move Right![]()
Move Up![]()
Omni Automation Plug-Ins![]()
OmniOutliner Toolbar Menu![]()
Outdent![]()
Print![]()
Redo![]()
Remove Column![]()
Share![]()
Show Console/Automation![]()
Sidebar![]()
Space![]()
Split Row![]()
Undo![]()
Ungroup![]()
Zoom
Action Menu ![]()
Available on Mac
The Toolbar’s Action menu includes many of the commonly used options that you’ll find in the Edit, Format, View, and Organize menus. Rather than spreading these out over four different menus, we’ve placed the ones we feel you’ll use most in this compact Action menu for every document you’re working on.
The contents of the action menu change based on your selection. With nothing selected, the only item in the menu may be Paste; with one or more items selected in the outline, the menu grows contextually.
Add Above ![]()
Add a row above and at the same level as the selected row.
Add Column ![]()
Available on Mac, iPad, iPhone, Apple Vision Pro
Inserts a new Column in your document.
See also Add Column
Add Inside/Add Child ![]()
Add a row beneath and one level lower than the selected row.
Add Outside/Add Aunt ![]()
Add a row beneath and one level higher than the selected row.
Add Parent ![]()
Add a row above and one level of hierarchy higher than the selected row.
Add Row/New Row ![]()
Add a row to the outline that is beneath and at the same level as the currently selected row. Touch and hold the New Row button and other options appear as flyouts.
Apply Theme ![]()
Click the Theme button in the toolbar or choose Apply Template Theme… to open the Template Picker and choose a theme to apply to your document.
To theme an outline is to take the set of styles stored in an OmniOutliner .otemplate file and apply them to the current document. This overwrites any existing saved styles in the document’s Styles Sidebar tab (but leaves styles directly applied to text intact).
Attachments ![]()
Available on Mac, iPad, iPhone, Apple Vision Pro
On Mac,
the
Attachments button
uses the
Attach File
command;
please read that section
to learn more.
On iPhone, iPad, and Apple Vision Pro, this button gives you a choice of:
- Photo Library
- Take Photo
- Attach File
- Scan Document
- Record Audio
The Attach File command works similarly to Mac, but always embeds attachments, without an option for linking.
There are two additional ways to attach files:
- Touch and hold an item in another app to reveal the shortcut menu, and select Copy. Switch to OmniOutliner, touch and hold at the location in your document you like to place your attachment, and select Paste from the shortcut menu.
- Drag an item from another app (such as Safari) to OmniOutliner.
When you attach an image or PDF file, a preview automatically scales to the width of the column in which it appears. Other types of files appear as an icon with their filename.
If you press and hold on an image or PDF file, you will see the Attachment Shortcut Menu.
Audio Recording ![]()
Available on Mac
You can add audio recordings to your OmniOutliner document by selecting
Start Recording.
OmniOutliner starts recording as soon as you click the button, and updates to show a few additional options.
First, the text for the microphone button in the Toolbar changes from Start Recording to End Recording. The button also has a small Stop button applied to it. The other change you’ll notice is a red Recording bar appears just beneath the Toolbar.
In the center of the Recording bar, you’ll see a button to Pause recording, which changes the Recording bar’s color to gray, and a checkmark button (Save) to stop recording. In the gray bar, you’ll notice that Recording has changed to Paused, and the Pause button has been replaced with a Resume button.
Click the Resume button to continue recording where you left off, or click the checkmark (Save) button to stop recording. When you stop recording, an audio player clip shows up in your Outline.
Much like attachments, if you click an audio clip’s Info button (the little i icon at its right edge), a display options popover appears. Here you can opt to have the audio clip show up as a player (the default) or as an icon. More importantly, you can change the audio clip’s Display name from a random number string to something more descriptive. This is particularly important if you choose Show as Icon at the top of the popover.
Automation ![]()
Open a menu with controls related to Omni’s JavaScript automation. See Automation Menu in the Document Browser chapter for more on these tools.
Columns ![]()
Available on Mac
Note that this item displays as
in the toolbar.
Allows you to hide or show specific columns.
- Note — Hide or show the Notes column.
- Topic — The Topic column cannot be hidden; it is always viewable.
- All other columns — Each additional column can be hidden or shown.
Since you can change the default name of the column heading from Topic to anything else, the options you see in the Columns submenu will reflect the titles you’ve assigned to the column headings, including text or any Emoji characters you may have used.
Collapse All ![]()
Collapse all sections of the outline, hiding all but the top level rows.
See also Expand All
Colors ![]()
Show or hide the Colors window, to make adjustments to the selection color.
To learn more about the Colors window, see Choosing Colors.
Copy ![]()
Available on iPad, iPhone, Apple Vision Pro in the Select Mode toolbar
Copies the selected rows, while saving them on the clipboard, so you can paste the selection somewhere else.
Cut ![]()
Available on iPad, iPhone, Apple Vision Pro in the Select Mode toolbar
Removes the rows, while saving them on the clipboard, so you can paste the selection somewhere else.
Decrease Font Size/Increase Font Size ![]()
Available on iPad
Decrease or Increase the font size.
Delete ![]()
Available on iPad, iPhone, Apple Vision Pro in the Select Mode toolbar
Removes the rows, while saving them on the clipboard, so you can paste the selection somewhere else.
Remove the selected rows from your document.
Documents ![]()
Available on iPad, iPhone, Apple Vision Pro
Close the current document and return to the Document Manager.
Document Title Menu ![]()
Available on iPad, Apple Vision Pro
When space allows, the name of the current document displays here.
Tap to display a menu, which contains options to:
On narrow devices the document title is hidden to leave room for additional tools. You can change the title of your document by tapping the file name in the Document Manager.
Select Mode ![]()
Switch to Select Mode to select multiple rows, then make simultaneous edits to all rows you have selected.
While in Select Mode,
tap a row anywhere to select or deselect it.
With one or more rows selected,
additional tools are available;
depending on the width of your device,
some of them may be hidden behind a
More button.
To paste rows that you have cut or copied, tap the checkmark to exit Select Mode, then select the row where you would like the pasted rows to appear. Touch and hold the row to show a shortcut menu. Tap Paste then choose Above, Below, or Inside to add the copied rows as peers above or below the selected row, or as children of the selected row.
Tap Select All to select all rows.
Tap the checkmark to exit Select Mode.
Expand All ![]()
Expand all sections of the outline, revealing every row.
See also Collapse All
Filter ![]()
Shows the Filter bar at the top of your document, which allows you to enter search terms to filter the outline, so that only rows and notes containing those terms display.
Select the
Filter button to
change the scope of the filter from the default Entire Document
to a specific column or the Notes field.
If you would like to use this filter in the future, select Save as Filter. Read about the Filters Tab to learn more.
Select the
button to clear the field,
and close the Filter bar.
To learn more, read Filtering the Outline.
Flexible Space ![]()
Available on Mac
Drag this from the toolbar customization sheet to add an area of space to the toolbar which will expand to fill the available space.
Compare to Space.
Fonts ![]()
Available on Mac
On Mac, show or hide the Fonts window from which you can choose a font, styling, and size.
Group ![]()
Available on iPad, iPhone, Apple Vision Pro in the Select Mode toolbar
Indents the selected rows, grouping them together under a new parent row.
See also Ungroup
Indent ![]()
Available on Mac
Tap
to indent the selected row, making it a child of the row above it.
See also Outdent
Insert Line Break ![]()
Available on iPad
Inserts a line break inside of the current row, at the location of your cursor.
Inspectors ![]()
Show or hide The Inspectors.
Move ![]()
Available on iPad, iPhone, Apple Vision Pro in the Select Mode toolbar
Tap Move, then tap a row in the outline to move selected rows relative to a position relative to it. A menu appears, offering options to move the selected rows Above, Below, or Inside the target row.
Move Down ![]()
Available on Mac
Moves the selected row down one row, along with its children.
Move Left ![]()
Available on Mac
Moves the selected row to the left, along with its children. The row becomes a sibling of its former parent.
Move Right ![]()
Available on Mac
Moves the selected row to the right, along with its children. The row becomes a child of the row immediately above.
Move Up ![]()
Available on Mac
Moves the selected row up one row, along with its children.
Omni Automation Plug-Ins ![]()
Available on Mac
Any Omni Automation Plug-Ins which you have installed are available for including in your toolbar.
OmniOutliner Toolbar Menu ![]()
Available on iPad, iPhone, Apple Vision Pro
The OmniOutliner toolbar menu is located under the
More menu
if you are viewing a document,
and in the
Document Manager
toolbar if you are not viewing a document.
The menu contains:
![]()
About OmniOutliner![]()
License![]()
OmniOutliner Help![]()
Contact Omni![]()
Omni Newsletter Signup![]()
Release Notes![]()
Connected Folders![]()
Configure OmniPresence![]()
Settings
Outdent ![]()
Available on Mac
Tap
to outdent the selected row, making it a parent of the row or rows below it.
See also Indent
Print ![]()
Available on Mac
Opens the print panel, where you can customize the appearance of your outline for printing or PDF export.
To learn more, see Printing in OmniOutliner.
Redo ![]()
Touch and hold
Undo
to reveal a pop-up menu with the option to Redo.
Remove Column ![]()
Available on Mac
Removes the selected column.
Share ![]()
Opens a system menu containing options to share either selected items, or the open document (iPhone only), to another application.
Choose from a list of available destination applications, or select Edit Extensions… (on Mac) or More (on iPhone) to customize the available options.
Selected rows are shared as plain text. If you share the open document, you can choose from several formats; to learn more about available option, read Exporting from OmniOutliner.
Show Console/Automation ![]()
Opens the Automation Console.
Button is not included in the default toolbar, but may be added using Customize Toolbar
Sidebar ![]()
Available on Mac, iPad, iPhone, Apple Vision Pro
Click or tap to show or hide the. The Sidebar along the left side of the screen.
Space ![]()
Available on Mac
Drag this from the toolbar customization sheet to add a fixed area of space to the toolbar (roughly the size of a toolbar button).
Compare to Flexible Space.
Split Row ![]()
Available on iPad
Splits the current row at the location of your cursor, creating two rows from a single row.
Undo ![]()
Redo the previously undone change to your document.
Touch and hold
to reveal a pop-up menu with the option to
Redo.
Ungroup ![]()
Ungroup the rows of a selected group, turning the children of the parent row into sibling of the parent row.
The parent row can then be removed, if you choose.
See also Group
Zoom ![]()
Available on Mac
Note that this item displays as
in the toolbar.
Change the magnification of your document, selecting from a range between 50 and 400 percent.