https://outlinersoftware.com Discussions about outliner software en-us Wed, 07 Oct 2026 07:35:29 -0400 https://outlinersoftware.com/topics/viewt/12720 msg-48562 Wed, 07 Oct 2026 07:35:29 -0400 Stephen Zeoli Up front, I haven't even downloaded this app, so this is in no way a recommendation. But we've been listing a lot of new writing apps here, so I thought I'd mention this one: https://panossakalakis.com/the-novelist/ The free version appears fairly robust. The Pro version is $45 per year. I probably won't even give this a trial, because I've found that I do not like the apps that have such busy screens. https://outlinersoftware.com/topics/viewt/12719 msg-48561 Tue, 06 Oct 2026 21:40:01 -0400 Polywick Studio hi, Please see: https://storyserver.polywickstudio.net/downloads/ for updated download link. https://outlinersoftware.com/topics/viewt/12719 msg-48560 Tue, 06 Oct 2026 21:18:43 -0400 Paul Korm Probabilistically, yes. https://outlinersoftware.com/topics/viewt/12719 msg-48559 Tue, 06 Oct 2026 19:38:10 -0400 satis Paul Korm wrote: >Reading your documentation, I learned about the "year 2038 problem", which I had never heard about. Here we go again, Y2K, only worse. I'll likely be long dead by then You'll have been long dead in less than 12 years? Reading your documentation, I learned about the "year 2038 problem", which I had never heard about. Here we go again, Y2K, only worse. I'll likely be long dead by then You'll have been long dead in less than 12 years?]]> https://outlinersoftware.com/topics/viewt/12719 msg-48558 Tue, 06 Oct 2026 16:31:02 -0400 Jon Polish Thanks Paul. Yes, that is a bit strange. The original post referred to it being out of beta as donationware, but there are no live download links or information about donations. Jon Paul Korm wrote: >There's a download mentioned on this page > >https://storyserver.polywickstudio.ph/roadmap-beta > >but the link leads to someone's Google Drive. Uh uh. I'm not downloading software from a site like that. There's a download mentioned on this page > >https://storyserver.polywickstudio.ph/roadmap-beta > >but the link leads to someone's Google Drive. Uh uh. I'm not downloading software from a site like that.]]> https://outlinersoftware.com/topics/viewt/12719 msg-48557 Tue, 06 Oct 2026 12:22:50 -0400 Paul Korm There's a download mentioned on this page https://storyserver.polywickstudio.ph/roadmap-beta but the link leads to someone's Google Drive. Uh uh. I'm not downloading software from a site like that. https://outlinersoftware.com/topics/viewt/12719 msg-48556 Tue, 06 Oct 2026 10:16:15 -0400 Jon Polish Thanks Steve. I see nothing in that regard. The information appears to be pre-release information. Pricing is TBD and downloads are not yet available. Oh well. InfoQube has exceeded Ecco's capabilities for me and I am very happy with it. Still, I'd like to road test this if just for old time's sake. Stephen Zeoli wrote: >Hi, Jon, > >I believe I read that the project is donation ware. > >Steve > >Jon Polish wrote: >>Thank you for this announcement. Could you please provide download lin Hi, Jon, > >I believe I read that the project is donation ware. > >Steve > >Jon Polish wrote: >>Thank you for this announcement. Could you please provide download links? I cannot seem to find any. Also, information on pricing would be appreciated. Please, no subscriptions. >> >>Jon]]> https://outlinersoftware.com/topics/viewt/12719 msg-48555 Mon, 05 Oct 2026 18:26:23 -0400 Ken Well, I was a huge fan of Ecco from their launch in 1993 until I could not get it to work any longer under Windows 7. Click-Up mostly handles my tasks, but I would be interested in checking this out to see if it could fit into my life. As MadaboutDana stated, a lot of time has passed since Ecco, and while it was a great stand-alone program in the 90's, having access on multiple platforms is quite handy in the age of "the cloud". --Ken https://outlinersoftware.com/topics/viewt/12719 msg-48554 Mon, 05 Oct 2026 13:48:51 -0400 MadaboutDana Much as I loved Ecco Pro, I can't help but feel that more modern products have passed it by (take, just by way of example, Obsidian or its open-source equivalent Plainva...). But it should please a lot of people! https://outlinersoftware.com/topics/viewt/12719 msg-48553 Mon, 05 Oct 2026 12:49:46 -0400 Stephen Zeoli Hi, Jon, I believe I read that the project is donation ware. Steve Jon Polish wrote: >Thank you for this announcement. Could you please provide download links? I cannot seem to find any. Also, information on pricing would be appreciated. Please, no subscriptions. > >Jon Thank you for this announcement. Could you please provide download links? I cannot seem to find any. Also, information on pricing would be appreciated. Please, no subscriptions. > >Jon]]> https://outlinersoftware.com/topics/viewt/12719 msg-48552 Mon, 05 Oct 2026 10:17:19 -0400 Jon Polish Thank you for this announcement. Could you please provide download links? I cannot seem to find any. Also, information on pricing would be appreciated. Please, no subscriptions. Jon https://outlinersoftware.com/topics/viewt/12719 msg-48551 Mon, 05 Oct 2026 08:33:41 -0400 Paul Korm Thanks for this @Polywick Studio. Ecco Pro redux is welcome. Reading your documentation, I learned about the "year 2038 problem", which I had never heard about. Here we go again, Y2K, only worse. I'll likely be long dead by then, but nevertheless I hope the world fixes the clock problem soon. https://outlinersoftware.com/topics/viewt/12719 msg-48550 Mon, 05 Oct 2026 00:42:24 -0400 Polywick Studio StoryServer is a Qt-based information manager that brings outlines, calendars, contacts, and reminders together in a single-pane organizer. Following extensive user feedback, StoryServer is now out of beta and is currently available as donationware. Visit the StoryServer website https://storyserver.polywickstudio.ph/ https://outlinersoftware.com/topics/viewt/12716 msg-48549 Sun, 04 Oct 2026 21:32:27 -0400 Amontillado I fully understand, Paul. In my youth, ego driven young eyes saw a coding superhero in the mirror. In contrast. all this AI stuff sometimes makes me feel superannuated. Pardon me while I feed my pigeons. I remember starting a new project for a 6809 controller. I wrote a state machine in DeSmet C, which I used to read an opcode matrix, which could then step through code. A front end showed a model of memory. I think I did that in a couple of weeks, which I'm sure I made up in the project b https://outlinersoftware.com/topics/viewt/12716 msg-48548 Sun, 04 Oct 2026 14:40:59 -0400 MadaboutDana I suspect you're right (although it doesn't really account for the MS and Apple bloat, nor the relative svelteness of their mobile apps -- but then of course they're phoning back to the mothership more or less constantly). https://outlinersoftware.com/topics/viewt/12716 msg-48547 Sun, 04 Oct 2026 11:54:04 -0400 Paul Korm Yeah, sure, that works too, though this is the right syntax: sudo find /Applications -type d -name Electron\ Framework.framework I said nothing about AI miracles, I just used a utility -- nothing strange or fearful about that https://outlinersoftware.com/topics/viewt/12716 msg-48546 Sun, 04 Oct 2026 10:27:47 -0400 Amontillado Paul Korm wrote: >Inside the .app package, this folder is the signature of an Electron app: > >Contents/Frameworks/Electron Framework.framework > >You could check apps one by one, but I gave Claude temporary access to /Applications and told it to look for that signature in all apps. (Claude itself is one.) > Hmmm... I wonder if Claude just ran: find /Applications -type d -name Electron\ Framework.framework and called it the miracle of AI. Fear AI. Truly fear the Unix graybeard Inside the .app package, this folder is the signature of an Electron app: > >Contents/Frameworks/Electron Framework.framework > >You could check apps one by one, but I gave Claude temporary access to /Applications and told it to look for that signature in all apps. (Claude itself is one.) > Hmmm... I wonder if Claude just ran: find /Applications -type d -name Electron\ Framework.framework and called it the miracle of AI. Fear AI. Truly fear the Unix graybeard, because shells bow before his presence. ;-)]]> https://outlinersoftware.com/topics/viewt/12716 msg-48545 Sun, 04 Oct 2026 04:18:13 -0400 MacSE Darren McDonald2 wrote: >I thought I would share another recent find, NEO, a writing app developed by Hugh Howey, the author of "Silo" which was made into a drama series on Netflix. > >NEO is runs on the Mac and Windows PC. It does not have a mobile version. The app is focused on squarely on writing, distraction-free, and has some interesting, well-thought out ways of manipulating the text and menus using keyboard strokes. > >Oh, and it is free. Information about NEO can be found on Hugh I thought I would share another recent find, NEO, a writing app developed by Hugh Howey, the author of "Silo" which was made into a drama series on Netflix. > >NEO is runs on the Mac and Windows PC. It does not have a mobile version. The app is focused on squarely on writing, distraction-free, and has some interesting, well-thought out ways of manipulating the text and menus using keyboard strokes. > >Oh, and it is free. Information about NEO can be found on Hugh Howey's website: >https://hughhowey.com/introducing-neo/ The name chosen for this app poses a slight problem… NeO already exists (Takashi Hamada's outliner).]]> https://outlinersoftware.com/topics/viewt/12716 msg-48544 Sat, 03 Oct 2026 12:39:46 -0400 Stephen Zeoli Thank you, Paul! Paul Korm wrote: >Inside the .app package, this folder is the signature of an Electron app: > >Contents/Frameworks/Electron Framework.framework > >You could check apps one by one, but I gave Claude temporary access to /Applications and told it to look for that signature in all apps. (Claude itself is one.) > >Stephen Zeoli wrote: >>How do you check for this? Inside the .app package, this folder is the signature of an Electron app: > >Contents/Frameworks/Electron Framework.framework > >You could check apps one by one, but I gave Claude temporary access to /Applications and told it to look for that signature in all apps. (Claude itself is one.) > >Stephen Zeoli wrote: >>How do you check for this?]]> https://outlinersoftware.com/topics/viewt/12716 msg-48543 Sat, 03 Oct 2026 11:10:31 -0400 Paul Korm Inside the .app package, this folder is the signature of an Electron app: Contents/Frameworks/Electron Framework.framework You could check apps one by one, but I gave Claude temporary access to /Applications and told it to look for that signature in all apps. (Claude itself is one.) Stephen Zeoli wrote: >How do you check for this? How do you check for this?]]> https://outlinersoftware.com/topics/viewt/12716 msg-48542 Sat, 03 Oct 2026 10:55:34 -0400 Stephen Zeoli Hi, Paul, How do you check for this? Thanks. Paul Korm wrote: >I just checked my own apps folder and found 14 Electron apps -- so I have 14 embedded copies of Chromium -- 3.5 GB of wasted space. > I just checked my own apps folder and found 14 Electron apps -- so I have 14 embedded copies of Chromium -- 3.5 GB of wasted space. >]]> https://outlinersoftware.com/topics/viewt/12716 msg-48541 Sat, 03 Oct 2026 09:30:59 -0400 Paul Korm That's almost certainly the result of whether the app was built natively on macOS with Swift or Objective-C, calling pre-existing macOS frameworks, or whether the app is an Electron or similar. The latter tend to package Chromium browser and Node.JS code into the app package. You can have multiple copies of Chromium on your drive and not know it because devs used Electron. Apps that have a lot of assets embedded in them, like templates, samples, etc., are bigger. And some devs are still sh The only thing I'd say about many of these apps is that they take up So. Much. Space.]]> https://outlinersoftware.com/topics/viewt/12716 msg-48540 Sat, 03 Oct 2026 07:48:29 -0400 Stephen Zeoli Here I am trying to whittle down the number of apps I use, and everyone keeps leading me to enticing new apps! (Really, though, thank you.) https://outlinersoftware.com/topics/viewt/12716 msg-48539 Sat, 03 Oct 2026 07:03:46 -0400 MadaboutDana I have to say, NEO is very elegant. A little constraining, and it takes a little while to work out the underlying logic – but it is highly logical, and the constraints are actually quite pleasant. The outline/manuscript layout is not dissimilar to a kind of mix of Ulysses and Scrivener, so very attractive: you can focus intimately on specific sections, or you can zoom out to take in the entire text. Further exploration required! Oh, and even though only Windows and Mac are mentioned on the we https://outlinersoftware.com/topics/viewt/12716 msg-48538 Sat, 03 Oct 2026 06:43:06 -0400 MadaboutDana Interesting! And of course I've downloaded it immediately, because it's free! The only thing I'd say about many of these apps is that they take up So. Much. Space. NEO is 360 MB of app (let alone the support files); Pendown, on the other hand, is just 7 MB in size... Just sayin'! Growly Notes, despite its OneNote-like sophistication, is just 25 MB. Whereas Zettlr, a – fairly straightforward – writing app I'm quite fond of, takes up an amazing 1 GB (well into Microsoft/Apple territory!), at le https://outlinersoftware.com/topics/viewt/12716 msg-48537 Fri, 02 Oct 2026 23:16:04 -0400 Darren McDonald2 I thought I would share another recent find, NEO, a writing app developed by Hugh Howey, the author of "Silo" which was made into a drama series on Netflix. NEO is runs on the Mac and Windows PC. It does not have a mobile version. The app is focused on squarely on writing, distraction-free, and has some interesting, well-thought out ways of manipulating the text and menus using keyboard strokes. Oh, and it is free. Information about NEO can be found on Hugh Howey's website: https://hugh https://outlinersoftware.com/topics/viewt/12717 msg-48536 Fri, 02 Oct 2026 13:35:12 -0400 Paul Korm After upgrading to macOS 27 several AppleScripts I had in Typinator stopped working, because they depended on an obsolete JSON parser that Golden Gate refused to run. I gave them to Claude which rewrote the scripts in seconds and they now work again in Typinator. It also explained why it did what it did and made a couple of tweaky suggestions that were useful. This, for me, is the value of AI. Quickcoding things I use just for myself, and no longer want to struggle with AppleScript to fi https://outlinersoftware.com/topics/viewt/12717 msg-48535 Fri, 02 Oct 2026 13:18:01 -0400 Kirill Maximov Thank you, everyone, for the answers. From what I heard, working with AI is mostly separate from the actual work you do, so integrations between LLMs and the actual tooling are not a hot topic (yet). Personally, I sometimes ask AI to summarize my outline with daily notes (to get an overview of what I was working on the previous month), but again, this is a rare use case. Thanks again :) https://outlinersoftware.com/topics/viewt/12716 msg-48534 Fri, 02 Oct 2026 12:24:07 -0400 MadaboutDana I realise I haven't yet mentioned my very favourite markdown writing app on Windows, Linux and MacOS: Pendown MD Editor ( https://pendown.app ). This is by far the most accomplished general markdown editor I've ever used – I regard it as the benchmark, not least because you can view or edit multiple documents side by side, it opens (like Typora) any folder as a "workspace" without any complicated vaults (but still offers a full workspace search function, which works extremely well). Other excell https://outlinersoftware.com/topics/viewt/12716 msg-48533 Fri, 02 Oct 2026 01:35:24 -0400 JL Griffin Hi all! I'm the developer of Draftline. I made an account just to say thank you. I check where traffic comes from now and then on Google Analytics, and seeing Outliner Software show up as a referrer, then finding this thread, was the first time I've seen Draftline come up somewhere organically. That was a genuinely exciting moment for me, so thank you MadaboutDana and Paul for the kind words and the link! The labor of love is very real. Draftline started as the tool I wanted for my own no