Custom row metadata

OmniOutliner
1

Hi!

Is it possible to assign per-row metadata? I use OO for meeting notes; some notes grow quite large. It would be great to be able to assign metadata to rows (or tags) and then filter the rows containing these tags.

One example: We discussed with a client delivery goals for Q2 and Q3. I would love to be able to tag the directly responsible individuals for each note, and then, when having a 1-on-1 meeting with this person, be able to filter only the rows that matter to that particular context.

Metadata (or tags) can be: people, context, projects, location—you name it. It can also include the date of creation/editing of a given row, so we may be able to pull up only recent changes.

I really think this would make OO even more powerful than it already is today.

2

Easy. Just create a column and add whatever metadata/tag you want. The column can even be a drop-down list (if you’re going to assign only one tag per item). Then use the Filter command to filter for that tag.

NOTE: OmniOutliner’s filter will show you only the items that match that specific search string, bt not the child or parent items. However, if you Save the filter, you can edit the saved filter and choose "Display Group Hierarchy”, in which case it will also show you parent items. But there appears to be no way for a filter to show you the children items of the tagged items. Alas.

Hope this helps.

3

Hi Rob, Nice workaround, is not exactly the UX I was imagining, but it does get the job done.
I will give this a try.

Thanks!

4

I’m running on no sleep at the moment. I’m pretty sure there’s an option to include child and parent rows in the filtered display.

But I can’t find it.

I have an automation that focuses on the current row plus rows from a Research topic that match keywords in a cross reference column.

It shows children of a matching row even if the children don’t match the keyword.

Anyway, that option to include rows in hierarchy instead of a flat list may help with what you’re looking for.

5

It is a pretty clunky workaround, but Rob is giving you the best option, I can’t imagine Omnifocus working like this, it would be incredibly frustrating and don’t understand why Omnioutliner can’t do something similar.

You also have to specify what “tag” is wanted in the inspector if using the pop up and then you get autocomplete, but limited to a single tag as pointed out.

Without having a real tag system I would like to at least be able to just type in the column and it get that indexed for autocomplete without having to go to the inspector.

And if using a rich text column, yes you could have more than one “tag”, but must type very carefully.

A properly implemented tag system à la omnifocus would be MUCH better than these work around with filters.