Integration and Automation

OmniOutliner is deeply integrated into the system of whichever device you are using. This allows OmniOutliner to integrate with a range of Apple technologies, including:

Apple Intelligence

Apple Intelligence is available on Mac, iPad, iPhone, and Apple Vision Pro, if your device meets the minimum system requirements.

As Apple continues to update Apple Intelligence, we evaluate each new feature to see which will help you accomplish more in OmniOutliner. OmniOutliner currently supports:

Genmoji

Genmoji can be used in row titles, row notes, and any cell which is part of a Rich Text Column.

To learn more about creating Genmoji, see these Apple User Guide articles:

Shortcuts Actions

The Shortcuts app supports Apple Intelligence actions, which can be combined with the OmniOutliner actions described below. At the time of writing, these actions include using a cloud, on-device, or ChatGPT model; creating an image using Image Playground; or incorporating Writing Tools into your workflow.

To learn more about using Apple Intelligence with Shortcuts, see these Apple User Guide articles:

Writing Tools

Writing Tools are available for row titles, row notes, and text contained in any cell.

Please note that selecting the row itself will allow you to use Writing Tools for the title, but selecting Replace will not replace the title of the selected row. For access to all Writing Tools functionality, begin editing the title, note, or cell, and select the text you want to rewrite.

To learn more about using Writing Tools, see these Apple User Guide articles:

Shortcuts

OmniOutliner 6.1 or later adds a collection of actions to the Shortcuts app. You can view the actions by launching Shortcuts, creating a New Shortcut, and then scrolling to the OmniOutliner section; you can also search for specific action names.

Select the Info button to the right of an action title to show details, including the intended purpose of the action, as well as possible inputs and results. Actions are also described below, with additional information where appropriate.

If you are just getting started with Shortcuts, please start with these helpful Apple User Guide articles:

Categories of Actions

OmniOutliner actions are separated into categories, based on which part of an OmniOutliner document they primarily affect:

Shortcuts can also include actions from other apps, as well as actions that are built-in to the system, including Apple Intelligence actions.

Columns

Omni Automation

Outlines

Create New Outline

Rows

Other Actions

Shortcuts.app will suggest additional actions for you, based on how you have been using OmniOutliner.

Shortcut Actions Reference

All available OmniOutliner Shortcuts actions, in alphabetical order:

Add Child to Row

Requires OmniOutliner Pro

Add a child with the given topic to the provided row.

Action:

Add Topic to Parent

Inputs:

Topic — The rich text topic for the added row.
Parent — The parent row for the child or, if not provided, the child will be added to the root of the outline.
Use OmniOutliner setting for Pasting From Other Apps — When turned on, this uses your setting for how styled text is used from other apps for this child’s “topic”. Turning off this setting allows you to customize how styled text is used for this action.
Styled Text — Customize how styled text is used when setting the “topic” for this child.

This Shortcuts action is the equivalent of the Add Inside command.

See Pasting from Other Apps.

Add Column to Outline

Requires OmniOutliner Pro

Add a column with a chosen type and name to the current outline.

Action:

Add Column Type

Inputs:

Column Type — The type of the newly added column. A Rich Text column will be created when no value is specified.
Name — If specified, the string will be used as the name for the added column.
Position — Optionally used to control the position of the new column. Choices are “Before” or “After” and your selection is relative to an optional “Column”. If not set, “After” will be used.
Column — Optionally specifies the existing column next to which the new column will be ordered. Any choice works in conjunction with the optionally provided Position.

This Shortcuts action is the equivalent of the Add Column command.

Add Value to Pop-up List

Requires OmniOutliner Pro

Adds a new value to a Pop-up List retrieved from a column of the appropriate type.

Action:

Add Value to Enumeration

Inputs:

Value — The value to add to the Pop-up List.
Enumeration — A Pop-up List retrieved from a column of type Pop-up List.
Position — Optionally used to control the position of the new value. Choices are “Before” or “After” and your selection is relative to an optional Relative Value. If not set, “After” will be used.
Relative Value — Optionally specifies the existing relative value next to which the new value will be ordered. Any choice works in conjunction with the optionally provided “Position.”

Append Rich Text

Requires OmniOutliner Pro

Appends the provided rich text in a row’s chosen column. Produces an error if the provided column is not configured for rich text input.

Action:

Append Rich Text for Row in Column

Inputs:

Rich Text — The rich text to append to existing content in the provided row’s column.
Row — The row in which to set the value.
Column — A chosen column for the provided rich text or, if not provided, the outline column.
Use OmniOutliner setting for Pasting From Other Apps – When turned on, this uses your setting for how styled text is used from other apps for this child’s “topic”. Turning off this setting allows you to customize how styled text is used for this action.
Styled Text — Customize how styled text is used when setting the topic for this child.

The Topic of a row is another name for text entered into the row.

The Outline Column defines the overall structure of your OmniOutliner document, aand is frequently referred to as the Topic Column.

Create New Outline

Create a new outline in OmniOutliner.

Action:

Create New Outline

Inputs:

No inputs.

This Shortcuts action is the equivalent of the New command.

Delete Row

Requires OmniOutliner Pro

Deletes the provided row from the current outline.

Action:

Delete Row

Inputs:

Row — The row that should be deleted. Deleting the outline root produces an error.

This Shortcuts action is the equivalent of the Delete command.

Get All Columns

Requires OmniOutliner Pro

Gets all columns in the current outline.

Action:

Get All Columns

Inputs:

No inputs.

Get All Descendants for Row

Requires OmniOutliner Pro

Gets all descendants for the given row.

Action:

Get All Descendants for Row

Inputs:

Row — The parent row whose descendants should be returned or, if not provided, all rows in the outline will be returned.

Get Children for Row

Requires OmniOutliner Pro

Gets the children of the given row.

Action:

Get the Children for Row

Inputs:

Row The parent row whose children should be returned or, if not provided, the top-level children of the outline root.

Get Column with Name

Requires OmniOutliner Pro

Gets the first column in the current outline that exactly matches the provided name.

Action:

Get Columns with Name

Inputs:

Name Specifies the name of the column to retrieve.

Get Note Column

Requires OmniOutliner Pro

Gets the note column from the current outline.

Action:

Get Note Column

Inputs:

No inputs.

Get Outline Column

Requires OmniOutliner Pro

Gets the primary outline column from the current outline. This is typically the topic column, but can be renamed.

Action:

Get Outline Column

Inputs:

No inputs.

Get Outline Root

Requires OmniOutliner Pro

Gets the root in the current outline.

Action:

Get Outline Root

Inputs:

No inputs.

Get Outline Row with Identifier

Requires OmniOutliner Pro

Gets the row in the current outline with a given identifier if possible.

Action:

Get Outline Row with Identifier

Inputs:

Identifier — The identifier of the row to retrieve.

Get Row Value in Column

Requires OmniOutliner Pro

Gets the row’s value in a given column.

Action:

Get value for Row in Column

Inputs:

Row — The row from which to retrieve the value.
Column — The column from which to retrieve the value.

Get Selected Rows

Requires OmniOutliner Pro

Gets the selected rows from the current outline.

Action:

Get Selected Rows

Inputs:

No inputs.

Get Status Column

Requires OmniOutliner Pro

Gets the status column from the current outline.

Action:

Get Status Column

Inputs:

No inputs.

Keep Sorted by Column

Requires OmniOutliner Pro

Set the persistent sort order on a given column. This only changes the displayed order of rows and not the actual structure of your outline. Row numbering may appear out of order.

Action:

Set Sort Ordering for Column

Inputs:

Sort Ordering — The sort ordering to set for the column. If no sort ordering is selected, the default is “None” and clears an existing sort.
Column — The column on which to set the persistent sort order.

This Shortcuts action is the equivalent of the Keep Sorted command.

Omni Automation Plug-In

Requires OmniOutliner Pro

Runs an action from an Omni Automation plug-in.

Action:

Run the Plug-In Action Omni Automation Plug-In

Inputs:

Plug-In Action — Any installed Omni Automation Plug-In for OmniOutliner

To learn more about incorporating Omni Automation into your Shortcuts workflows, see Omni Automation and Shortcuts on the Omni Automation website.

Want to try some pre-built plug-ins? Check out Omni Automation Plug-Ins for OmniOutliner, on the same website.

Omni Automation Script

Requires OmniOutliner Pro

Runs an Omni Automation script.

Action:

Run a script with Input via Omni Automation

Inputs:

Input — Result from another Shortcuts action.
Script — Omni Automation script, using JavaScript.
Associated Files — Files to be used by the script.

To learn more about incorporating Omni Automation into your Shortcuts workflows, see Omni Automation and Shortcuts on the Omni Automation website.

Prepend Rich Text

Requires OmniOutliner Pro

Prepends the provided rich text in a row’s chosen column. Produces an error if the provided column is not configured for rich text input.

Action:

Prepend Rich Text for Row in Column

Inputs:

Rich Text — The rich text value to prepend to the existing value in the provided row’s column.
Row — The row in which to set the value.
Column — A chosen column for the provided rich text or, if not provided, the outline column.
Use OmniOutliner setting for Pasting From Other Apps – When turned on, this uses your setting for how styled text is used from other apps for this child’s “topic”. Turning off this setting allows you to customize how styled text is used for this action.
Styled Text — Customize how styled text is used when setting the “topic” for this child.

The Topic of a row is another name for text entered into the row.

The Outline Column defines the overall structure of your OmniOutliner document, aand is frequently referred to as the Topic Column.

Set Column Summary

Requires OmniOutliner Pro

Set the summary for a given column in an outline.

Action:

Set Summary for Column

Inputs:

Summary — The summary to set for the column. If no summary is selected, the default is “None” and clears an existing summary.
Column — The column on which to set the summary.

Set Column Visibility

Requires OmniOutliner Pro

Set the visibility for a given column in an outline.

Action:

Set Visibility for Column

Inputs:

Visibility — The desired visibility for the column. The default is to toggle the visibility of the column.
Column — The column on which to set the desired visibility.

This Shortcuts action is the equivalent of toggling a column in the Columns submenu.

Set Rich Text

Requires OmniOutliner Pro

Sets the provided rich text in a row’s chosen column. Produces an error if the provided column is not configured for rich text input.

Action:

Set Rich Text for Row in Column

Inputs:

Rich Text — The rich text value to set in the provided row’s column.
Row — The row in which to set the value.
Column — A chosen column for the provided rich text or, if not provided, the outline column.
Use OmniOutliner setting for Pasting From Other Apps — When turned on, this uses your setting for how styled text is used from other apps for this child’s “topic”. Turning off this setting allows you to customize how styled text is used for this action.
Styled Text — Customize how styled text is used when setting the “topic” for this child.

Set Row Value in Column

Requires OmniOutliner Pro

Set the rows’s value in a given column.

Action:

Set Value for Row in Column

Inputs:

Value — The value to set in the provided row’s column, if not provided, clears the existing value.
Row — The row in which to set the value.
Column — The column in which to set the value.

Siri

Once you have configured a shortcut using the Shortcuts app, you can launch it using Siri.

To learn more, see these Apple User Guide articles:

For more general information about Siri, these articles may also prove useful:

Spotlight

Spotlight indexes OmniOutliner documents, allowing you to quickly search by document title or attachment name, as well as text content in rows and notes.

Spotlight is available on Mac, iPad, iPhone, and Apple Vision Pro: