Though people usually use pen and paper to outline earlier, there are many outlining apps available today that make your job easier. In this article, we’ll explain why you should use an outlining app. Furthermore, you’ll also know the features a good outlining app should offer.

5 Reasons to Use an Idea Outlining App

Here is why you should use an outlining app for personal and work purposes:

1. Collaborating With Your Team

Firstly, you can organize the ideas from your team in one place by using an outlining app. Then again, managing and structuring all the project-related thoughts and information inputs from the team can be challenging if you use pen and paper.

Therefore, an outlining tool will visualize the thinking process of the whole team and let everyone have a clear idea about it.

2. Sequentially Sort Ideas

An outlining app lets you sort your ideas sequentially. It visually displays the link and hierarchy between the ideas. Hence, you clearly understand in which order you should transform your focus.

3. Visually Connecting Ideas

One awesome reason to use an idea outlining app is it shows the visual connection among multiple ideas. Thus, you don’t get lost in the heap of plans, neither do you need to read each point. The tool will help you establish the link between the connecting ideas at a glance.

Unlike a notepad that only lets you write down your outline, an outlining app will also enable you to attach external links and multimedia files to your points. It’ll make the outlining process more interactive by letting you add the type of references that are not possible to describe in written words.

5. Quick Access and Real-Time Editing

When you store the outline in a tool, you can easily access it from anywhere at any time. There is no missing out on any point or forgetting them. Most of the outlining apps are accessible from both computers and smartphones.

You can access it for making any changes, and the edits will be visible to all stakeholders in real-time. Similarly, anyone else on your team can also change the outline.

7 Must-Have Features of Outlining Tool

Now that you know why you should use an outlining app, it’s time to get one. Before that, make sure the app has the following features that make an outlining tool outstanding.

1. Visual Hierarchy

Not all ideas bear equal importance—some are principal ideas, while others only work to support them. While creating an outline, it’s crucial to keep them distinguished. Else, after a few days, you won’t be able to tell which ones are the main points.

For this reason, you selected outlining app should have a visual hierarchy. This feature will let you add bid ideas and subordinate ones as well. But, you’ll have no trouble recognizing them.

2. Note-Taking

Often, some points of the outline require explanation to avoid any future misunderstanding. Hence, the outlining app of your choice should have the note-taking feature. But, if the app has no provision for hiding comments or texts, these notes can make your outline cluttered.

To avoid such situations, find out an app where you can add a sidebar or pop-up comment to any particular point. Thus, the comment will generally stay hidden but become visible when you need it.

3. Styling Features

Styling is not only a feature that offers fun, it’s also essential to distinguish between the items of an outline. The outlining tool you’ll use should let you include digits, Roman numerals, bullets, indention, etc. Thus, you can format your outline appropriately for a better and quicker understanding.

It’ll be great if the tool offers the feature of expansion and collapse. Using it, you can temporarily hide all the sections you don’t need to focus on right now.

Your outlining app should have a quick search feature. An outline will become lengthy, detailed, and complex while working with a team for project planning. Since there are multiple contributors, it’s not easy to locate a point, especially if someone else added it.

Only a quick search and filter function can solve this issue. With the feature, add the word you need to find, and the tool will do the job for you.

5. Seamless Sorting

When ideas keep popping up in your mind, they don’t follow any hierarchy or order. But if you list them haphazardly in your tool, the outlining will be of no use. Hence, your app should have a smooth sorting facility for sorting the ideas in the correct order.

Though you can cut and paste any section to move it to the right place, it will be time taking and decrease your efficiency. Therefore, dragging and dropping a point or section is the feature you should be looking for in an outlining app. Even a keyboard shortcut for the function would do.

6. Nesting

Nesting is another cool feature you’d love to have in your outlining tool. The nesting feature allows you to have any number of children items under a parent item, all in the same line.

If you make changes to the parent item, like moving or indenting, the app should apply similar formatting to the children’s items. This feature will save you from performing the same task repetitively for each child item.

7. Tagging

Just like a project management app, an outlining app can also have a tagging feature. All you need to do is check if your chosen app has it or not. This feature will let you add a tag to a point.

For instance, all your points about product revisions should have a tag with the same name. Thus, when you search using the keyword, the tags will ensure that all the points are visible in the search results.

Outline Ideas for Better Implementation

By now, you should not have any doubts about using an outlining app.

While getting a tool for outlining, make sure it has the essential features listed here. Using such an app will also help you effectively brainstorm with your colleagues.