I use Ominoutliner for iOS constantly, and am currently writing a graphic novel with it. However, I am considering switching to another app because of a single problem with Omnioutliner - and it’s a big one. It is extremely easy to accidentally delete a node when working with the DELETE key - and do so without noticing. The worst-case scenario is to accidentally delete a top-level node that contains massive amounts of information (for instance, a node which contains many children nodes within it, such as a whole chapter of your graphic novel).
I back up my files constantly, but if, as I said, you have deleted something without knowing it, and then discover the mistake later, there’s no way to know which backup version to load - making recovery a time-consuming and messy task.
I’m sure I’m not the only user who finds this to be a serious enough issue to consider not using the program any more.
Can you please consider implementing a feature which would solve this? I read a forum comment by a user who had a good idea:
Two different delete modes:
Delete text that is being edited, by using the DELETE key
Delete database objects (like entire nodes) using COMMAND-DELETE.
I forgot to add, if other users have this same issue, please comment to this post so that the creators know this is an important thing to address and resolve. The app doesn’t seem to get many updates, so I’m not hopeful for a quick fix. I may end up having to use Scrivener or some other app if this doesn’t get fixed soon.
Since posting this request, I have found a few other outliners which don’t suffer from the same ‘accidental delete’ problem (Outlinely, Dynalist, CarbonFin Outliner) - so it seems this is possible to fix.
However, moderators: if the dual-delete option isn’t going to happen any time soon, perhaps someone has a useful workaround they’d like to post?
Thanks.
The Omni people don’t read here. You should write a mail to them.
These forums are for customers using our apps to talk with each other. If you’re trying to reach our tech support team, please email support@omnigroup.com: we reply to most questions within one business day.
Well, if anyone out there has a good workaround for this issue, let’s share them here! (Aside from the obvious one of trying to be careful to not hit the ‘delete’ key when focused on a parent node, that is…)
