Workflowy May Replace OmniOutliner 3

I’m still experimenting, but so far I’m pleased with Workflowy as a potential replacement for OmniOutliner. I find a markdown-based outliner preferable to OO3 because it easily exports the outline to Ulysses, Drafts, or iA Writer, where I can then export it to Pages for polishing, if needed. OO3 on the iPad does not offer the option to export an outline in markdown.

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I always liked Workflowy. But they doubled the subscription price so I ended up leaving.

Thus far, the free version is adequate for my needs.

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MindNode can also double as an outliner. Anybody tried the MindNode-Ulysses integration?

I have used it and it works great, but I prefer the outlining in Workflowy and OO over the outlining in MindNode.

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Big, long-time workflowy user, glad to see it getting more use.
I think I started using it first in like 2011, I feel like they’ve had the most development In the past like 18 months. (Willing to bet they’re benefiting from AI dev tools).

WF is just exactly how my brain works, no exaggeration. When they added internal/backlinking a couple of years ago, that was really the last thing I needed. Lots of little quality-of-life stuff since then. I can’t say it’s as polished as Things or Omni Group products, but it more than suffices for what I need. I use it for work notes, brainstorming, journaling, personal task management, really everything but my read-it-later lists.

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I liked this also, but after repeated requests for better privacy that were rejected, I ended up needing to remove sensitive data from Workflowy and it then broke down as a single system of truth for my data. Obsidian covers the privacy much better although not as pleasant to use.

If you haven’t, please ask Omni to support Markdown export with a visual or text example of what good export looks like to you. They have a blind spot in this area; people have asked for years and they always say that they don’t want to offer it because they can’t make everyone happy with any particular format. I think they’re wrong; people would appreciate any reasonable markdown output and Omni could tweak edge cases over time.

I loved Workflowy in its heyday; glad to hear it’s had recent improvements.

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I’m not a developer and I don’t play one on TV :slightly_smiling_face:, but I don’t see what the issue would be. It would simply be one of many options. Why would that create an issue for Omni?

There isn’t one right way to render a markdown outline, and when users have competing desires, they like to think through them completely. That approach is thoughtful and serves them well. But, it can fail when potential user feedback is vague, but the desire for something is strong, and the feature is low-risk in its interactions with other features (just one export option in a list, file never interacts with the app once exported.)

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This just proves why I should never be a developer, I obviously don’t understand the complexities and nuances. :slightly_smiling_face:

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Likewise, never ask me to run a school!

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Why, you would only deal with parents’ children, money, religion, and politics. What could possibly go wrong? :thinking::rofl:

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Not related to your Markdown concern but the open beta for OmniOutliner 6 is out and you can try out the new unified app on iOS and Mac.

You could also have a look at Bike Outliner, it is on sale right now and looks very clean and straight forward.

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That is a nice sale. Bike Outliner looks like an excellent app, but I want apps that work on both the Mac and the iPad. :slightly_smiling_face:

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Have you had a look at zavala? It is free (on the App Store) IoS and Mac versions Exports markdown. Not quite as pretty as some others.

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I’ll give it a try, thanks.

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OmniOutliner to Markdown? Sounds doable. I wrote a Javascript “automation” for OO a week or so ago that scans through an outline and does stuff.

If I have time, I think I’ll tackle a Markdown export. Could be handy, and I’d like more practice in Javascript. On the other hand, OmniOutliner will export to OPML, which can be converted by pandoc and many other means.

I’m so new to OO automation I’m not sure if there’s a repo of available scripts. It seems like there should be.

To me, OO is as simple as Bike if you’re doing things Bike supports (and Bike is a fine outliner). Add a column for story arc and OO can start doing things somewhat like Plottr. Many things are possible.

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And just to flag that in recent months, Workflowy’s API finally saw the light of day. They are continuing to expand the available endpoints.

So, from an Apple kit user’s perspective, this means you can interact with Workflowy using Shortcuts. This becomes especially handy with the Apple Watch. Dictate, and it’s straight into Workflowy.

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