OutNoted

Just what it says on the tin: OutNoted is an editor for outlines made of one-line notes, inspired by the old Linux/BSD tool hnb.

This is my second attempt to make one; my interest in outliners dates back almost five years. The first time I failed however, because outliners are complicated.

The trick, as with many other things, is paring them down to the essence.

Features

• Create and edit outlines made of one-line notes.
• Open and save outline formats like Org Mode and OPML.
• Treat any note as a task and / or link.

Uses

• Bookmark management: don't leave it to the browser!
• Task management: often you don't need much more.
• Planning a book or game, writing dialogue and so on.

How to use

• Press Ctrl-Insert to add a note, Enter to save.
  • Or just click in the edit line and start typing.
• Keep typing to add more notes in the same place.
• Use Ctrl-Escape to clear the selection first.
• Press Tab from the edit line to focus the tree.
• Ctrl-E starts editing the selected note.
• Escape on the edit line cancels editing the note.
• Insert adds a child note to the one selected.
• Delete removes the selected note and its children.
• Use Control with the arrow keys to move notes around.
• Right-click in the main view for a context menu.

Key bindings

(Many bindings have a Command- equivalent for Mac users.)

• Ctrl-N: Start new outline.
• Ctrl-O: Open outline from disk.
• Ctrl-S: Save current outline.
• Ctrl-F: Find text from the beginning.
• Ctrl-G: Find again from the last result.
• Ctrl-1 / Ctrl-2 / Ctrl-3: Toggle note status.

Other bindings are shown in the menu.

Remarks

• OutNoted guesses formats based on file extensions to keep it simple.
• OutNoted is best used with mouse and keyboard together.
• If you add notes while a search is active, Find Again will skip them.
• When opening org files, only headlines are recognized!
  • Seriously, OutNoted isn't a proper org file editor, sorry.

Wishlist

• Insert / extract subtrees.
• Support more metadata / file properties.
• Change note color depending on link or status.

top.bind("<KP_Up>", lambda e: move_up())
top.bind("<KP_Right>", lambda e: move_right())
top.bind("<KP_Left>", lambda e: move_left())
top.bind("<KP_Down>", lambda e: move_down())