"Breadcrumbs" to know where I am?

OmniOutliner OmniOutliner for Mac
#1

Hello.

I have some HUGE outlines with many levels. Sometimes I get buried deep and kind of forget where I am in the outline. Is there any way I can hack some kind of “breadcrumbs” to know where I am in the document?

Many thanks.

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#2

A new feature in OmniOutliner is the ability to insert links to jump around the document. I have not actually used this myself yet, but I wonder if that might be of some use to you.

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#3

Do you tend to use the Focus feature at all? Since the selection in the Document pane will match your focus, it might give you some bearings.

That said, please do send email to omnioutliner@omnigroup.com describing your use case; it always helps.

#4

Here is a quick AppleScript that displays the name (topic) of all ancestors of the row which is currently edited. You could add this to OmniOutliner 4’s toolbar.

tell application id "com.omnigroup.omnioutliner4"
tell front document
	set selected_row to (get item 1 of selected rows)
	set ancestors_list to ancestors of selected_row
	set ancestors_text to ""
	repeat with i in ancestors_list
		set ancestors_text to name of i & " – " & ancestors_text
	end repeat
	display dialog "You are here:" & ancestors_text & name of selected_row
end tell
end tell

You can download it from github.

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#5

That would be great if I had a specific place I wanted to get from/to. It’s more that, if I am buried deep inside 6 levels of the outline, it would be great to know where I am in that outline. But thanks for the suggestion.

#6

I do use Focus, so I can at least break down by each chapter I’m studying (which is at the highest level). It does help a lot. Less useful to me when I’m several levels down though.

#7

This sounds perfect. I’m assuming it requires the Pro version? I currently have Standard, I would look into upgrading if that would work.

#8

Yes, you need OmniOutliner Pro to use AppleScript with OO.
Here is a screenshot demoing the script:

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#9

Wow, that looks PERFECT for what I’m trying to do. I am going to look at upgrade options right now! Thanks.

#10

Script not working for me - it says "script error: Can’t get application id “com.omnigroup.omnioutliner4”

#11

Are you using the Pro version of OmniOutliner 4?
Are you using the App Store version? I’m not sure whether this one might have a different bundle id… You might try replacing
tell application id "com.omnigroup.omnioutliner4
with
tell application "OmniOutlner"

#12

Yes, the App Store version of OmniOutliner Pro has a different bundle ID: com.omnigroup.OmniOutlinerPro.MacAppStore

Note that this does not apply to the Mac App Store version of OmniOutliner Standard with the Pro upgrade unlocked. That has a bundle ID of com.omnigroup.OmniOutliner.MacAppStore.

Because of all this, I recommend you always use tell application "OmniOutliner" in your scripts, as that will properly address all versions of the application.

#13

Thanks - that works - very useful!