I've been using opml editor (on Windows, unfortunately) which seems to do all these things. Once stuff is in place it can be copied and pasted into a LO document, I believe. I've even been able to do a bit in Text Pad with indents and then copying it into the opml editor creates a good outline. I think Scrivener is based on opml and has all of the functionality you mention. There seems to be a beta version of Scrivener for Linux; it's well established for Windows and Mac; and I think once the outlining is done the finished document exports to LO or M$ Word.
On Thu, 2013-10-10 at 15:09 -0700, CougarB wrote: > When I was a full-time journalist in the 1980s, I became very successful > using a dedicated outliner called PCOutline. When all the major Word > Processers came along--MS Word, Word Perfect, etc, the lack of outliner > functionality kept me with my archaic outliner until MS Word beat the > functionality of PCOutline. > > I used outlining as my main method of work when a full-time technical writer > in the 90s (e.g., Fujitsu Software in San Jose). While working for a java > house, I was so influenced by the negative developer reactions to MS, that > I've been wishing to move to OpenOffice or LibraOffice ever since they came > along. But you don't have the functionality that I need, and furthermore, > the discussions of outlining on this forum seem to miss the whole point, > from my point of view. > > I'm a very motivated wannabe LibraOffice user who currently can't make the > switch, because although I'm retired and writing fiction, the power of an > outliner for writing in all genres is something I can't live without. > > So my reasons are complex--sorry about that--but tl:dr will not allow you to > understand them. Please take the time. I really want to quit Microsoft > Office forever and ever and ever. Thanx. > > The first functionality I need might seem mickey mouse, but it's the > foundation for everything else. This is that in Word's outliner view, > there's a button in front of every paragraph that I can drag and drop up and > down. It's like cut and paste, but a lot faster. Combined with other > features, it's extremely powerful. > > The second functionality I need is to be able to collapse things. In an > article of 25 paragraphs, I can hide every line except the first line of the > paragraph, thus allowing me to see the entire article of 25 paragraphs on > the screen at the same time. This allows me to completely rearrange the > entire article by drop and drag. > > For editing a single sentence or paragraph, I insert a return between > sentences, phrases, and even words, drop and drag these elements into a new > order, and delete the returns. Voila! A much better constructed paragraph or > sentence in a snap. > > The third functionality is to collapse things within headers. For instance, > if I've interviewed a dozen people for an article or if I've brainstormed 5 > pages of random ideas for a blog or a chapter in a novel, I create headers > for different topics and then drag and drop paragraphs, quotes, ideas, etc > into the headers or buckets I've created. When one header becomes too full > and fills too much of the screen, I collapse it, so that it hides all the > paragraphs already there, which cleans up the screen. When I'm done with > this step, I have half a dozen headers, under which are many different > ideas, all of which are completely hidden. > > So I drag and drop my half a dozen headers into the correct order. Then I > open the first main header and create a bunch of subheaders. Once this is > done, I reorganize all of the points in this first section into subsections > or sub-buckets, collapsing them all as needed until everything is organized > into a number of different subheaders. At this point, I can rearrange all of > these subheaders into the best order that they belong in. I can even drag a > subheader into a different main heading if I choose, where it will remain as > a separate section. > > I can repeat this process as many levels as I wish. This feature in MS Word > is fractal to nine levels. From a chaotic mixture of confusion emerges > order, insight, and wisdom--in one single step. > > As a technical writer, I used to sit in a brainstorming meetings, write down > every developer idea as fast as I could (including those I didn't understand > at all), type it all sequentially, and then very quickly organize all of the > ideas into a coherent whole. The developers thought I actually knew how to > program. (Mwah-hah-hah!) > > I could never have done that with LibreOffice as it's now configured or > OpenOffice, either. Without my Word outliner, I would have been a shitty > technical writer, and I would never have been able to write the developer > guides I wrote. > > As a creative writer today, I currently have a dozen projects that are > percolating, as well as one major project that I'm focusing on. I just > brainstorm for anything that comes up, drag the ideas into the proper > buckets, and I never lose anything of value. (Yes, the word "never" is > absolutely accurate.) > > It's like having a Super Power that's available to everyone, but no one > knows how to get it. Currently, this Super Power is only available in MS > Word. Please make it possible for me to migrate to LibreOffice without > losing my Super Powers. And please make these Super Powers available to the > world. Doing so could cause the entire planet to evolve into better writers. > You can help eliminate crappy writing! > > Until you do this, LibreOffice is like Kryptonite to me. I can't come near > it, even though I truly want to. > > I beg of you: Please help poor little Cougar quit his addiction to > Micro$oft! (Yeah, I know. Outliners do not eliminate the scourge of mixed > metaphors.) > > For those of you who made it this far, thanx for listening. > Cougar > > > > -- > View this message in context: > http://nabble.documentfoundation.org/Feature-Request-Lack-of-Outliner-Functionality-a-Deal-Breaker-for-Me-tp4077564.html > Sent from the Users mailing list archive at Nabble.com. > -- To unsubscribe e-mail to: [email protected] Problems? http://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/mailing-lists/how-to-unsubscribe/ Posting guidelines + more: http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Netiquette List archive: http://listarchives.libreoffice.org/global/users/ All messages sent to this list will be publicly archived and cannot be deleted
