Outlining Tool

You guys know I've been looking for a computer-based graphical outlining tool to replace my giant sketchpad. Well, turns out after searching for going on eight years, I've run across two in one week.

The first is called Freemind, and the coolest thing is it's free. If you think something like this might help you get your stuff done, or more importantly, think through a story, download it and give it a try. There are versions for Windows and Mac, so no excuses. The text boxes expand when you mouse over them, and expand as you type, so you don't have to know beforehand how much you want to put in there. You can also split off an idea and make a new branch for it. Mess with it, you'll see.

http://freemind.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Main_Page


The other program is called Omni-Graffle, and it's sort of expensive ($89) and only runs on Mac. It's put out by the people who do Omni Outliner, which now comes free with all Macs and is basically the same tree-based outlining program as Action Outline, which I use on Windows. This one is the most friendly flow-chart program I've used, but I haven't played with it long enough to know if it's worth the money for the fiction writer. You can download a trial version here:

http://www.omnigroup.com/applications/omnigraffle/

Anyone know any outlining tools for windows ce?

gracie wrote:

You know when it rains it pours, take a look at this also. I have it on my mac at school and the kids use it all the time. We call it 'graphic organizer' I have also heard it refered to as Thinking Maps...whatever. don't know a price but there is a free 30 day trial. We use this ALL the time. http://www.inspiration.com/

This looks cool. I'll try it out and get back to you.

accuracy above all wrote:

Anyone know any outlining tools for windows ce?

chris wrote:

The first is called Freemind, and the coolest thing is it's free. If you think something like this might help you get your stuff done, or more importantly, think through a story, download it and give it a try. There are versions for Windows and Mac, so no excuses. The text boxes expand when you mouse over them, and expand as you type, so you don't have to know beforehand how much you want to put in there. You can also split off an idea and make a new branch for it. Mess with it, you'll see. http://freemind.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Main_Page

I've not played with Windows CE but I can't see anything in the Freemind Outliner that would prevent it from running on that platform. Unless Windows CE is incapable of running a Java Runtime Environment.
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I would like to put forward OneNote 2007 from Microsoft as a candidate. It will retail for about $80 and I am impressed enough to buy it. it's amazing and I don't normally recommend software this much.

It applies no rules on how you take your notes and provides some very powerful features including screen grabs, voice notes, pasting the URL as well as what you copied when you copy from the Intersupernet. Lots of stuff.

It's very good.
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Wow, i never had one of these before. Its pretty nifty.
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accuracy above all wrote:

Anyone know any outlining tools for windows ce?

Inspiration works with Pocket PC - you might check to see if that will also work with CE.

gracie wrote:

You know when it rains it pours, take a look at this also. I have it on my mac at school and the kids use it all the time. We call it 'graphic organizer' I have also heard it refered to as Thinking Maps...whatever. don't know a price but there is a free 30 day trial. We use this ALL the time. http://www.inspiration.com/

I test drove this last night, and I pronounce it best for what I do. It will work on Windows or Mac (or Linux, I think) and costs $69. There's a 30 free trial if you want to see if it might work for you. It does export to MS word or Apple Works seamlessly, which is not something that most of the others do. That means you can actually print your diagrams and outlines. This one also seamlessly switches between printed outline mode and diagram mode.

It has tons of little icons and doodads which I'll never use, and it also has tons of templates for academic papers, essays, and projects -- none of which I'll use, but they do help in learning to program to see how you'll set up your own diagrams. I think I'm going with this one.

Thanks, Gracie.

thats awesome!! thanks Gracie, thanks Chris!
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chris wrote:

accuracy above all wrote: Anyone know any outlining tools for windows ce? Inspiration works with Pocket PC - you might check to see if that will also work with CE.

You da man!