MagicView [.: Overview of modern outliners by platform :.]

If you are looking for older outliners, check out the Antique outliners section.

No two outliners are alike, but there are certain common features frequently found in outliners:

Basic Features - nesting, promotion and demotion, collapsing
Styles - the ability to style text
Multi-level Outlining - along with traditional outlines, the ability to attach text blobs to nodes
File System Integration
Folding - condensing a single paragraph onto one line
Graphical Displays - representing the outline beyond a literal outline
Embedding External Objects - moving beyond outlining text, sometimes including multi-media
External Links - referring to the world outside the outline
Internal Links - referring to other parts of the outline
Cloning - One node in multiple places
Advanced Node Manipulations - searching, sorting, selection by criteria
Hoist - viewing a node as if it were the top of the document
Columns - multiple attributes on a node, graphically displayed, sometimes with helpful tags
Exporting - getting your data out in some other format
Temporal Awareness - using your outliner for scheduling or some other temporal use
Internal Scripting - the ability to script the outliner from the inside
External Scripting - the ability to script the outliner from the outside
Link Properties - attaching properties to links
Instant Outlining - live updating of outlines as a collaboration tool

This list is based on ATPO Outliner Features 1 and ATPO Outliner Features 2, as are the initial writeups of all of the above, though it will diverge with time. Permission to use the content graciously granted by Ted Goranson; we are particularly appreciative of the diverse set of screenshots he collected. Please leave this credit note.