Mac at Work

Chapter 10

Notes and Outlines

Although there was a time where bringing a computer to a meeting was frowned upon, laptops at the conference table have since become commonplace. Whether at weekly staff meetings or client sales calls, there are several opportunities to take notes using your Mac.

Of course, not everyone takes notes the same way. Some users want a linear outline while others prefer the fluid style of a mind map. This chapter looks at some of the best note-taking and outlining tools available for Mac OS X. No matter how you manage notes and information, at least one of the applications in this chapter should work for you.

OmniOutliner

 The Omni Group’s OmniOutliner ($40; www.omnigroup.com/products/omnioutliner), shown in Figure 10-1, is the best outlining application on the Mac. OmniOutliner’s interface presents a basic outline that you can expand on during meetings or planning projects. You can promote and demote outline entries using Tab and Shift+Tab and insert a new row using Shift+Return. You can also move and adjust outline entries using the mouse. After just a few minutes, you will be structuring and building outlines in OmniOutliner. If you are in a meeting or an interview that jumps around among several topics, you can easily keep up with an outline by adding and expanding outline branches as you go.

Figure 10-1

The Omni Group’s OmniOutliner

 

OmniOutliner ...