Working with Outlines

Create an outline whenever you want to work on the blueprint of your plans, ideas, or projects, and have a clear overview of their key points.

The outline allows you to organize your ideas before starting a project. Use it in the prewriting process of your papers, or whenever you want to illustrate the connections between concepts (cause, effect, example, etc.). Support your research by creating an outline with the information you found.

Structure of an outline

The title (1) of your outline has the largest font size and is bold.

The main topics (2) look like a bulleted list, all on the same indentation level.

Subtopics (3) are indented under their parent topic, and a dotted guide line shows which topic they belong to.

A parent topic has a ▼ triangle (4) to its left. Click it to collapse the branch, and click it again to expand it.

A topic that has a note shows the ☰ Notes indicator (5) after its text.

Info

The outline is organized in the form of headings and subheadings. If you convert your outline into a mind map, the headings and subheadings automatically become main topics and subtopics. The title of the outline will be your central topic in the mind map view.

Creating an outline

Click Create in the top-left corner of your Dashboard (1), then click the Outline tile in the Create new popup (2).

The outline opens right away, with the default title Outline. Click the title to rename it.

Editing and reorganizing topics

You can build and reorganize the whole outline from the keyboard. Type a topic, press Enter to start the next one, and use Tab and Shift+Tab to move it down or up a level in the hierarchy.

Action	Shortcut
Add another topic	Enter
Indent a topic	Tab
Outdent a topic	Shift+Tab
Insert a subtopic	Alt+Enter
Insert a task	Alt+Shift+Enter
Duplicate a topic	Ctrl+D
Search & Filter	Ctrl+F
Open the Command Palette	Ctrl+K
Drill Down	F6

Select a topic

Select or edit?

Click a topic’s bullet to select the topic and open its toolbar. Click the topic text to edit the text. Right-click does not open topic actions in Outline view.

Press Escape to deselect the topic.

The toolbar holds the actions you can apply to the selected topic. Insert and More are described below. The others have their own sections: Notes, comments and attachments, Icons, Links / Attachments, Task, and Generate content with AI.

Insert topics

Click Insert on the toolbar to add a topic after the selected one (Enter), a subtopic (Alt+Enter), or a task subtopic (Alt+Shift+Enter). It can also add a label or duplicate the topic (Ctrl+D).

Drag and drop topics

To reorganize the outline with the mouse, drag a topic by its bullet. A line shows where the topic will land; drop it at the position and indentation level you want.

More actions

Click More (•••) on the toolbar for Indent, Outdent, Cut, Copy, Paste, Copy link, the Tools submenu, and Delete (Shift+Delete).

To focus on one branch, use Drill Down. Select the topic and click More (1) on the toolbar, or press F6.

Then click Tools (2) and choose Drill Down (3).

The outline then shows only that topic and its subtopics, under a breadcrumb that reads Home › followed by the topic name. To return to the full outline, click Home in the breadcrumb or press Shift+F6 (Drill Up in the Command Palette).

The same Tools submenu also has Copy Branch, Paste Branch, and Sort.

Command Palette

Press Ctrl+K, or open the ≡ menu in the top bar and choose Command Palette, to search for a command by name instead of looking for it in the menus. The commands apply to the selected topic.

Notes, Comments, and Attachments

Notes, comments, and file attachments share one panel. Select a topic and click Notes, comments and attachments on the toolbar. The panel opens on the right side of the editor:

1. Add a note (Shift+F2) - longer text that would crowd the topic. See Notes.
2. Leave a comment (Shift+F9) - discuss the topic with your collaborators. See Comments.
3. Add task info - turns the topic into a task. See Managing tasks in an outline.
4. Attach - attaches a file to the topic. See Attachments.
5. Show under topic - shows the panel right under the topic instead of on the right side.
6. Close (Esc).

The shortcuts open the same panel straight on the note or the comment. Once a topic has a note, comments, or attachments, the panel shows them all, one under the other.

With Show under topic, the panel opens under the topic, on top of the topics that follow it. Click Dock to right (1) to move it back to the side:

Notes

To add or edit a note, select a topic, click Notes, comments and attachments and click Add a note, or press Shift+F2. To edit an existing note, click its text in the panel.

1. The formatting toolbar: text styles and headings, alignment, lists, bold, italic, and more, plus AI writing tools. Each button is described in Notes on the Working with Mind Maps page.
2. Full screen (Ctrl+Shift+F) - writes the note in a larger editor.
3. Done - saves the note. You can also press Ctrl+Enter.
4. The ☰ Notes indicator appears after the text of a topic that has a note. Click it to open the note.

Comments

To comment on a topic, select it, click Notes, comments and attachments and click Leave a comment, or press Shift+F9. Type your comment and click Post, or press Ctrl+Enter. The comment editor works as it does in a mind map; see Comments.

The comments appear in the panel, each with its author’s name and the time it was posted. Hover your own comment to Edit (1) or Delete (2) it. A topic with comments shows a comment icon and the number of comments (3). Click it to open the comments again:

Attachments

To attach a file to a topic, click Attach in the Notes, comments and attachments panel. The panel shows an Attachments list with an Add button, and the Add attachment menu opens:

1. Upload from computer - pick a file, or drop it on the box.
2. From another source - Google Drive, Dropbox, or OneDrive.
3. My uploaded files - a file you already uploaded to your account.

To add a web link, or a link to another topic or map, use Links / Attachments.

Adding icons

Select a topic and click Icons on the toolbar to add an icon or emoji in front of the topic’s text. See Icons and Emojis.

Adding links and attachments

Select a topic and click Links / Attachments on the toolbar to link the topic to a web page, an uploaded document, a topic in this outline, or another diagram. You can also upload a file and link the topic to it. See Links and Attachments.

Managing tasks in an outline

Any topic can become a task. Select the topic and click Task on the toolbar. Click a field to add it to the task:

1. Priority - how important the task is, from P0 to P4.
2. Assignees - assigns the task to one or more people.
3. Progress - how much of the task is done, in percent.
4. Dates - the Start date and the Due date. You can also make the task repeat (see Recurring tasks).
5. Duration - how long the task takes.
6. More - more task options (see below).

More holds:

1. Task (Ctrl+Alt+T) - marks the topic as a task, with a checkbox in front of its text. Tick the checkbox to mark the task as complete.
2. Roll up subtasks - calculates the task’s progress from its subtasks.
3. Show closed tasks - shows or hides the tasks that are done.
4. Show creator - shows who created the task.
5. Settings - opens the task settings.
6. Remove task - turns the task back into a normal topic.

To add a new task directly under a topic, select the topic and choose Insert → Task, or press Alt+Shift+Enter. The new subtopic already has a checkbox, and its parent shows a progress circle.

For assigning tasks, notifications, and the full task management workflow, see Task management. To follow your tasks in a calendar app, use the iCal task feed.

Recurring tasks

To make a task repeat, select the topic, click Task on the toolbar, and click Dates. Click Due (1) and pick a date in the calendar. Then open the Repeat list (2) and choose how often the task repeats:

• Repeat daily;
• Repeat on weekdays;
• weekly, on the same day of the week;
• monthly, on the same date;
• yearly, on the same date.

The weekly, monthly, and yearly options include the day or date of the due date, for example Repeat weekly on Friday. Under Ends (3), set how many times the task repeats, then click Done.

A recurring task shows a repeat icon instead of a checkbox. Hover over it to see how often the task repeats and until when.

To change which days count as working days, open the ≡ menu in the top bar and choose Properties. On the Task options tab (1), under Working time, toggle the days you want in Workdays (2), then click OK (3).

Generating content with AI

Select a topic and click Generate content with AI on the toolbar. The menu has the same AI actions as the AI tab of Smart Tools in a mind map:

• Expand with - adds Ideas, Questions, Pros & cons, a SWOT analysis, or Subtopics under the topic, or Explain adds an explanation in the topic’s notes.
• Spelling & grammar - checks the spelling and grammar of titles, notes, and comments as you type, or once with Check now with AI.
• Rephrase - rewrites the topic text.

The AI actions use AI credits. See Mindomo AI.

Info

Unlike the Mind Map view, the Outline view doesn’t have Ask AI or Themes. To chat with Mindomo AI about the whole diagram, or to change its theme, switch to the Mind Map view.

Searching and filtering an outline

Click the Search & Filter button in the top-right corner, or press Ctrl+F. The field is labeled Search or filter topics. As you type, it offers to Search for or Filter by your term, and shows how many topics there are in the diagram.

Search for text

Choose Search for to highlight every match in the outline. The current match is highlighted in orange and the other matches in yellow. The counter (1) shows which match you are on, and the arrows (2) move to the previous or next match.

When you close the field, the highlights stay in place and the Search & Filter button shows a red badge while the search is active. To clear the search, open the field again and click ×.

For advanced search options, see Searching.

Filter by labels, hashtags, and icons

To tag a topic, type # followed by a word in its text, for example #campaign. The hashtag is underlined, and hovering over it shows Ctrl+Click to filter.

Open Search & Filter with an empty field to see everything you can filter by. Hashtags are listed under LABEL (1) and icons under ICON (2), each with the number of topics that use it. You can also filter by DUE DATE, PRIORITY, and PROGRESS.

Click an item to filter the outline. Only the matching topics remain visible, together with their parent topics, and the panel shows how many topics match. Click Clear all to show the whole outline again.

Exporting an outline

Open the ≡ menu in the top bar and choose Export, or right-click an empty area of the page, away from the topics, and select Export. That right-click menu also has Print (Ctrl+P). In the Outline view, right-clicking the page doesn’t open the Diagram background panel as it does in a mind map.

The Export dialog works as it does for a mind map. The file name is followed by outline (1), and the list has 16 formats (2): HTML, SVG and the Presentation formats are not available for outlines.

Two formats are laid out differently for an outline:

• Portable Document (.pdf): the outline as a bulleted list, across as many pages as it needs. Choose the page Size, and whether to add notes and comments on pages at the end.
• Image File (.png): the whole outline in one tall image.

All the other formats work as they do for a mind map. The outline’s title becomes the central topic, and the main topics and subtopics keep their levels. Some common choices:

• Microsoft Word (.docx): to keep writing in a word processor. Topics become headings, with their notes underneath.
• Markdown File (.md): to paste into a wiki or a notes app. Tasks get [ ] or [x] checkboxes.
• Text File (.txt): to paste into an email or a chat message, as indented plain text.
• Excel (.xls): to work with the topics in a spreadsheet, one topic per cell.
• Mindomo (.mom, .pmom): to keep a backup or move the outline to another account.

For every format and its options, see Export Mind Maps.

Switching to a Mind Map or Gantt view

Open the ≡ menu in the top bar (1) and choose View as Mind Map (2) or View as Gantt (3).

Switching views changes only how the content is displayed. It is still the same file, not a copy, so changes you make in one view show up in the others. To go back, open the ≡ menu and choose View as Outline. For more on the Gantt view, see Gantt charts.

Default view

To make the file always open as a mind map, switch to the Mind Map view first. Then open the ≡ menu (1), go to Tools (2) and choose Keep as mind map (3).

This option appears only in the Mind Map view. In the Outline view, the Tools menu contains View Full Screen, Show location, and Translate.

Info

Any mind map can be switched to the Outline view as well, while still maintaining the visual hierarchy of topics and subtopics.