Outliner

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An outliner is a special text editor that allows the grouping of text in sections that are organized in a tree data structure (hierarchy) of concepts, an outline. Outliner tools can be used for computer programming, collecting or organizing ideas, Getting Things Done, or project management.

It's generally acknowledged that Doug Engelbart was the first to see the advantages of the expandable-outline user interface paradigm in software.

It is possible to to distinguish between intrinsic and extrinsic outlines. An intrinsic (or classic) outline is one in which the text itself is organized in an outline format. An extrinsic outliner is a product which contains several separate notes as items, the text of which is not organized in an outline, but for which the titles or other headnotes are organized in a hierarchical (nested) fashion.

All major word processing programs include the ability to create intrinsic outlines.

Related Concepts: Mind mapping, Design, Visualization, indexing, mapping, Word processor.

Outliner Tools

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