Writing Outliner for MS Word

Turn Microsoft Word into a Powerhouse!

"A must-have for all serious writers who use MS Word!" -- Andrej E. Skubic, novelist and playwright

Love it or hate it, for better or worse, Microsoft Word (and the DOC format) is pretty much standard when it comes to writing on a PC. Ubiquitous, even.

That's exactly why we're so excited about Writing Outliner for MS Word. It's an add-in that takes Microsoft's industry standard word-processing platform and supercharges it with a host of tools designed specifically for large-scale writing projects.

In a nutshell, Writing Outliner allows you to treat individual sections of a large project as smaller separate documents. This project-based method of writing is ideal for any complex document. For example, novels, research papers, technical white-papers, a series of columns, a short-story collection, or even a personal diary!

The hierarchical outliner is probably the most important and powerful aspect of Writing Outliner. It faciliatates better, more intuitive organization of notes and thoughts, offers a big-picture overview, and allows for much easier navigation of long texts.

But that's only the beginning! Writing Outliner also features lightning-fast full-text search, tabbed document editing, Outlook-style document status flags and icons, custom document tagging, a comprehensive document synopsis and notes system, and much, much more. Make sure to click over to the Writing Outliner website for a thorough overview!

Writing Outliner also includes a fantastic feature called the Corkboard View! The Corkboard is a fantastic tool for plotting a novel, or providing a visial overview of the entirety or parts of your project. Want to see the Corkboard in action? Take a look at the brief video demo.

Version alert! Here's what's new in v1.5:

Export complete project data (both the MS Word documents and metadata) to avoid vendor lock-in worry.
Project-wide global replace.
Copy, cut, and paste documents within a project.
Enhanced outline views.
Enhanced software stability.
...and much, much more!

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Platforms: Windows 2000, XP, Vista, 7 with Office 2000, 2002, XP, 2003, 2007, 2010 (32-bit only)

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Transform Word into a much more powerful utility optimized for large scale, complex writing projects.
Manage and write sections of your long writing projects as though they were discrete documents.
View a document as a Multi-Column Outline with meta data displayed, including titles, synopsis, notes, status icon, label icon, tags, word count, target word count, and so on.
Utilize ultra-fast text search.
Utilize tabbed-editing for much faster navigation between documents.
Organize your documents with customizable Document Status Icons and Document Label Icons.
Attach customizable text tags to draft documents.
Write synopses and notes for each draft document.
Access a backup and restore feature allows you to manually or automatically (upon closing a project) backup your whole writing project. Revert to any of the old revisions at a future time!
Navigate your files from within Writing Outliner with a full-featured Windows Explorer component.
Merge separate draft documents into a single long document for output.
Get a visual overview of your project with the new Corkboard feature.
Purchase with BitsDuJour's discount coupon code and get all this at a promotional price!

After you make a purchase of this BitsDuJour discount promotion, Writing Outliner for MS Word may be used indefinitely.
Writing Outliner for MS Word is licensed per user, so if more people are going to use Writing Outliner for MS Word you will need to purchase additional copies.
Transfer of a license to another owned computer is allowed.
License activation isn't required. what's this?
Upgrades to future versions of the software will be free for 12 months. For versions after that, upgrades will require additional payment, which will be discounted by 60%.
Support is provided for the lifetime of the product.
2 months return policy.
BitsDuJour purchases using a discount coupon code come direct from the vendor, so you'll always get the same software app sold under the same terms as a regular sale, just at a great promotional price.

“It is an indispensable writing tool for Word!Writers can over-come so-called "writer's block" by carefully outlining and researching their writing projects. That's why I think Writing Outliner is a dream come true for writers. It enables us to easily create and organize material in ways that enhance writing quality and speed the writing process. I use Writing Outliner every day and think it is an indispensable writing tool for Word.”- Donald L. Hughes, CEO Theatron Media Group., Inc.
“A must-have for all serious writers who use MS Word!Of the several programs for writers that I have tried - immediately rejecting some of them, fiddling around for some time with others - Writing Outliner is the first I am definitely going to use all the time. It provides so much of what a writer who knows what (s)he is doing needs: a) The flexibility of organization of longer text, b) Focusing on fragments (with summaries, tags, notes), c) Their overview, rearrangement and revising, all in one place.While plotting capabilities may lack some of the (sometimes confusing) complexity that other programs provide, with Edwin flexibly responding to users' wishes, the functionalities are continually expanding! A must for all serious writers who use Word.”- Andrej E. Skubic, novelist and playwright
“It allows for much better organization of thoughts, resources.I've been using Writing Outliner for a few days now. First, for a beta product, it's remarkably bug-free. Second, I get it, I really get it! It's a nice tool, it allows for much better organization of thoughts, resources, and subdocuments than Word does.... And third, it works with EndNote, which is very important to me.”- Mitchell L. Silverman, J.D., M.S., legal reference and emerging technologies librarian.
“Gets the documents all together and easy to organize and workThank you very much for creating this product. My wife wants me to put her writings into a book and I'm really clueless about Word. Your Outliner at least gets the documents all together and easy to organize and work with. Without it, I could be spending ages trying to get master documents or word outliner or document map working right. Now, instead, I can spend ages figuring out templates, building blocks and a zillion other things! ;-)”- Maertese - a member of Writing Outliner forum

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The Conversation

Email Updates Load 56 Older Comments

lisba f Office 2010 - 32 bit only! A dedicated to MS Word software! How so?

Jul 16 2011 at 2:26am

M B Does it now work with Office 64 bit? Looks nice, but need 64 bit. Thanks

Jul 16 2011 at 8:36am

Edwin Yip @lisba and M B,
Sorry, but 64bit Office isn't supported now, and it will be supported in the future. Actually, MS Office 2010 includes both the 32bit and 64 bit version, and using the 32bit version will allow you continue using all existing add-ins.

Innovation Gear Vendor - Jul 16 2011 at 9:16am

Daniel H From your web page.
Introductory Promo - Get [Writing Outliner] for $49 only!
Alternatively, Get [Writing Outliner] + [MindVisualizer] for $79 only!
Retail price mentioned here $79.
Is the discount for the bundle?

Jul 16 2011 at 12:46pm

Edwin Yip Hi Daniel,

The bitsdujour.com discount here is for Writing Outliner only.

Innovation Gear Vendor - Jul 16 2011 at 7:44pm

lisba f Still, no UNICODE?

Jul 16 2011 at 8:31pm

Edwin Yip Hi lisba,

Unicode is OK in the word documents, however, a few places such as the notes in the left side bar will not support some types of languages. This will be fixed in future versions. Thanks.

Innovation Gear Vendor - Jul 17 2011 at 2:43am

Charlie N Looking forward to this Deal becoming available. I hope you will consider putting up a discounted bundled price with MindVisulaizer that beats the one you now have on yor website.

That would be awesome! Please consider, both your products look very comprehensive.

Jul 17 2011 at 7:22am

Edwin Yip @Charlie,
Thanks for your interest in MindVisualizer mind mapping software, it will be promoted separately on BDJ soon.

Innovation Gear Vendor - Jul 17 2011 at 9:45am

kappa What kind of license is it? for 1.x version? lifetime?
if not, what is the price of any update to major version?
thanks.

Jul 18 2011 at 5:44am

Edwin Yip @M C,
You'll get free upgrades for one year, after that the upgrade price would normally cost 40-60% of the initial price. Thanks.

Innovation Gear Vendor - Jul 18 2011 at 7:45am

Preston Mitchell Pls correct me if I am mistaken...but ESSENTIALLY, Outliner is a database for MSFT Word docs, yes? Outliner groups related Docs in their own 'database' called Projects. Is that an accurate, though broad, assessment of Outliner?

I INSTALLED the trial version...and I really like Outliner as an easy method for organizing & managing my Word documents.

MY ONLY COMPLAINT is that I hit the trial limitation and must wait for the full version to go up for sale to continue using Outliner! PLS hurry up and put Outliner up for sale.

LASTLY, I offer my compliments for producing an excellent piece of software for Word users.

Jul 18 2011 at 8:00am

Edwin Yip @Preston,
Yes, that's correct. In addition to Writing Outliner's document organizing features (outline, corkboard, tabs, document tags, icons, etc), you can also search anything in a project, for example, searching a word or a phrase, or even search by document properties (e.g. tag:important will give you a list of documents with the "important" tag)

and I'm glad that you like Writing Outliner, the promo will be available soon, I'd like to let you buy it right now, but it's out of my control here in bitsdujour.com :P

Innovation Gear Vendor - Jul 18 2011 at 8:31am

Tony Mackay WARNING! WARNING! DO NOT USE THIS WITHOUT SETTING UP AUTO VERSION BACK UP.

I imported a word document and started doing changes. I then checked the view folder tree and came back to my document and all the editing was gone. The programme then told me I had to turn on the version back up mode.

Completely stupid way of doing things - there should always be an auto back up by default.

Jul 18 2011 at 11:13am

lisba f @ Edwin Yip

Sorry, but 64bit Office isn't supported now, and it will be supported in the future. Actually, MS Office 2010 includes both the 32bit and 64 bit version, and using the 32bit version will allow you continue using all existing add-ins.

I don't recall if during installation of MS Office 2010 I was given an option to select 32 or 64 bit (I use Win 7-64). So can I ask, how I know which version I'm using and in case of 64 how I switch to 32, so that I make use of Writing Outliner (hoping that Unicode format will soon be available too). Thanks.
PS. Will my settings in 64 remain if I switch to 32?

Jul 18 2011 at 3:44pm

Edwin Yip @Tony Mackay,
I think there is a misunderstanding here, Writing Outliner stores its own copies of your imported documents, and changes inside a project will only affect its own copies (inside a lightweight database).

Innovation Gear Vendor - Jul 18 2011 at 9:08pm

Edwin Yip @lisba,

The 32 bit version of MS Office 2010 installs by default because it is the recommended version.

In your case, you think you can have a complete uninstallation of the current 64bit, reboot your computer, then install MS Office 2010 again, and choose the 32bit version.

And I'm not sure if your Office settings will remain or not after the switch, sorry.

Innovation Gear Vendor - Jul 18 2011 at 10:12pm

Edwin Yip @Tony Mackay,
Sorry, I might have misunderstood your question, and I've just released a minor version upgrade that fixes the problem you described here.

**** Fixed problems:
1 - A problem introduced yesterday – after the documents are imported, if you don’t close the File Explorer Tab and edit the documents, changes might not be saved.
2 - You might see the “SQLite Error 10 – disk I/O error” message after your windows system is resuming from sleep mode.

****Speed Improvements:
1 - Loading/switching documents are now faster, especially in MS Word 2007/2010.
2 - Switching between documents that are marked as ‘track changes’ are much much faster now!
3 - Highlighting the matches in a large document in a Writing Outliner project is now faster after doing a Full-Text Search.

Innovation Gear Vendor - Jul 18 2011 at 11:25pm

rd fleshin I use Word 2000. Is it compatible ?

Jul 19 2011 at 5:08am

p weber I'm very intrigued by this software - two questions:

What if I just want to use Word to write a letter? Does this add-in make it so I have to use Word in this capacity always? Or can I "turn Outliner on and off?"

Also, I create documents using core / reusable documents and editing those for specific requirements (e.g., for grant writing). Is it possible to use already existing documents and can I maintain the contents of those documents through this software as well? I.e., I have a lot of "boilerplate" information that goes into then customized documents to be printed, bound and mailed. I'd like to be able to update this boilerplate as needed and still be able to use those updated documents in succeeding projects. Does that make sense?

Jul 19 2011 at 6:01am

bvssunnydale I'm interested but am wondering if it actually does outling - something like the old Grandview - wherein you could collapse levels or specific parts easily. The screenshot seems to show everything BUT actual outlining, except of topic headings (I actually don't use MS Word but am so desperate for a decent outliner that might consider switching if this would give it that capability). I'm also open to suggestions. Thanks.

Jul 19 2011 at 7:16am

Stephen Cohen This is not really an outliner. You might be happy with Noteliner (http://www.noteliner.org/i/Main.html) or Inspiration (www.inspiration.com). Also, see www.outlinersoftware.com .

Jul 19 2011 at 7:47am

Eddie Tex Wow! I had been waiting for Scrivener for Windows to come out of beta, then upon opening up the screen shots noticed this looks a lot like Scrivener.

I'll have to consider this software as well.

Jul 19 2011 at 8:18am

Mary Wilson Although I agree that the Writing Outliner for MS Word is a very good program, I very reluctant over purchasing another set of codes for Writing Outliner and MindVisualizer as I have had massive amounts of trouble in the past over your customer service not helping me out in the past. Due to problems with Writing Outliner and no help I finally had to remove Writing Outliner from my system. Only after I filled out the e-mail that shows up saying why I removed the program did any offer of help appear. By then, it was to late and I had my fullfill of trying to get any help. In addition, I was also having registration code problems with MindVisualizer Standard that I purchased from you. After e-mailing the company numerous times for help with no response with the copies of my registration, i finally gave up again. I like both of the problems but can not afford to purchase them again as I want to use them and not spend most of my time trying again to get the programs working from a customer service department that does not answer my e-mails.

Jul 19 2011 at 12:48pm

Preston Mitchell Just bought Outliner after trying trial version.

UNFORTUNATELY, the Outliner Manual is not easy to use. It is a comprehensive manual. Nice idea to display the manual inside Word. Even so, it is hard to find specific info. For instance, I can't find any info about how to rename a Project! That basic edit should be easy to locate in the manual. (Offer a PDF version of Outliner Manual!)

How does one rename a Project?
I tried renaming the .woprj from Windows Explorer but the old Project name still appears when I open it inside Word! How lame! No easy way to rename a Project! I hope I don't regret buying Outliner!

When the left pane list of OLD PROJECTS becomes too full, what then? Can I archive old Projects (so that don't appear on the list)? AND if I can archive an old Project, how do I bring it back into Outliner-Word when needed?

Hoo boy, the devil is always in the details!
I am starting to become unhappy over some of Outliner's details!

Jul 19 2011 at 1:05pm

Edwin Yip @rd fleshin, Yes, it's compatible with Office 2010 32-bit version.

@p Weber, yes, you can easily turn Writing Outliner on or off via the menu/ribbon tab.

Re #2, sounds like a 'Template' feature, you can have those template documents as normal documents in your computer, and import them in a batch using drag-and-drop when creating a new project.

Innovation Gear Vendor - Jul 19 2011 at 1:29pm

Edwin Yip @Wm Shore, not sure if I understand your question well, but in Writing Outliner you can collapse each outline nodes, just like the folder system in the Windows Explorer.

@Eddie Tex,
Thanks for the great info about Office 2010.

@Preston Mitchell, just right click on any of the items in the project list on the left side and you'll and menu items such as 'Rename Project', 'Remove From List', etc.

Innovation Gear Vendor - Jul 19 2011 at 1:38pm

Edwin Yip @Mary Wilson, your email system rejected all my email replies and I even tried sending you emails from a free email account, but failed. you can click the "Load 56 Older Comments" to find my reply on this BDJ page about your email server problem. Apart from emails, people can also check the Writing Outliner forum (http://writingoutliner.com/forum/) on how the users get supported.

Innovation Gear Vendor - Jul 19 2011 at 1:47pm

Preston Mitchell Thank you, Ed, and I am still glad about buying Outliner BUT....

Ok, I see how one renames a Project. Not from the drop down menu but rather by right clicking on the Project in the list of Old Projects to get a menu with the 'rename' option. ALSO, I see that that right click menu also has an option to 'remove' the Project.
BUT how does one bring back and open an Old Project after it is removed?

CAN AN OLD PROJECT BE MERGED WITH OR INSERTED INTO AN NEW PROJECT?

LASTLY, after renaming an Old Project, its new name does appear on the Old Project list...but guess what? When you open the renamed Project, its old name appears at the top of the left pane above the drop down menu! I assume that I discovered a minor bug...which is no big deal...in light of Outliners overall worth.

Jul 19 2011 at 1:50pm

gail f I purchased this the last time and really like it so far...for projects in the futue when I create new documents. Developer VERY receptive and involved.

@p weber
Re: using core / reusable documents and editing those for specific requirements (e.g., for grant writing) or of "boilerplate" information: I am struggling to figure out a good system/workaround for this...because you can and will end up with multiple copies!

File1 (your original), File2 (contained only inside the project database .worprj , also not sure if searchable on your desktop if inside project?).

If you revise File2 while in the project it's now different than File 1. You can export ALL documents at once, but the software renames it as "1. File2". (now 3rd copy! If you change it File2 inside project not changed).

You can export EACH document in the project and try to replace original....but you have remember which FOLDER File1 came from since the program doesn't remember!! I can't quite figure out how I can keep from ending up with hundreds of extra/renamed/slightly changed files without losing my mind!

Jul 19 2011 at 1:54pm

Preston Mitchell Ed, offer an searchable PDF version of the Outliner Manual.

A PDF manual would be so helpful...so I don't have to close out my Project to view the Manual inside of Word.

I still give Outliner a very high rating...excellent for heavy Word users.

Jul 19 2011 at 1:57pm

Edwin Yip @Preston Mitchell, you don't have to close your project in order to view the manual (which itself is a project), the manual will open in a new Word window. Please let me know your steps if that doesn't work for you. Thanks.

Innovation Gear Vendor - Jul 19 2011 at 2:00pm

Edwin Yip @Preston Mitchell, and I agree that a PDF version of the manual will help.

Innovation Gear Vendor - Jul 19 2011 at 2:02pm

Edwin Yip @gail f, thanks, and 'Template' feature will be added to Writing Outliner in the future.

Innovation Gear Vendor - Jul 19 2011 at 2:21pm

Eddie Tex Edwin, I purchased your product and looking forward to learning how to use it (though I purchased it under my real name and not my screen name). I'm a seminary student and will have plenty of opportunity to use this in the upcoming year.

Jul 19 2011 at 2:43pm

Nico Westerdale Awesome replies Edwin, great to see so many questions being answered and people choosing to purchase today!

Please note though that Innovation Gear has a great support forum, so if you are having a lot of tech questions you might want to hop on over there: http://writingoutliner.com/forum

BitsDuJour Admin - Jul 19 2011 at 2:46pm

Snicker HaHa This appears to be based on Scrivener, an stand alone novel writing software. Right now Scrivener is a Mac program, but the developers have been working on a Windows edition and hope to have the final product ready late this summer. Read more about the Windows version here:

http://www.literatureandl...forwindows

Price wise Scrivener will run $40.00 regular price and $35.00 for an education discount. Seeing that WOMSW has a regular price tag of $49.00 and only gives one year updates, Scrivener appeals to me.

Jul 19 2011 at 4:19pm

Preston Mitchell Thanks Edwin for your patience and assistance with helping us to better understand Outliner. I believe Outliner will greatly benefit me...in spite of a few little snags. And I look forward to even better new versions. :-)

Jul 19 2011 at 5:01pm

Edwin Yip @Eddie Tex, Thanks for purchasing :)

@Snicker HaHa, Scrivener for Mac is a great program and has greatly inspired the idea of Writing Outliner for Microsoft Word, actually, I think what makes Writing Outliner different is that it's built on top of Microsoft Word's word processing power.

@Preston Mitchell, thanks, I'll be glad to help, because I believe that will also help the software developer themselves.

Innovation Gear Vendor - Jul 19 2011 at 5:41pm

Tom Colvin I've been using this software for 4 months now -- and it has become one of my most important writing tools.

As blogger at Becoming A Writer Seriously for over 5 years, I followed writing tools very closely -- and this one is definitely in my TOP FIVE.

Jul 19 2011 at 8:02pm

Edwin Yip @Tom Colvin,

Thanks for the kind words :)

Innovation Gear Vendor - Jul 19 2011 at 9:25pm

Andrew Griffiths I am buying several licenses for business use and also as gifts. Unfortunately, on my own computer, I made the error of installing MS Office 64-bit when Office 2010 was released and can't stomach reinstalling the 32-bit version and then having to tweak all my settings and add-ins. So I really hope, Edwin, that you will get the 64-bit version running VERY soon. Thank you. Cheers

Jul 19 2011 at 10:05pm

Edwin Yip @Andrew Griffiths,

Sorry for the trouble, but unfortunately, the 64-bit version will take some time...

Innovation Gear Vendor - Jul 19 2011 at 10:31pm

Andrew Griffiths @Edwin. Thanks for quick reply. Not to hold you to it - but how long is "some time" likely to be? 1 month, 3 months, 6 months? Anyway bought 4 licenses - we'll use 3 on 32-bit MS Office.

Jul 19 2011 at 11:26pm

Edwin Yip Hi Andrew,
Thank you for purchasing Writing Outliner. I'm sorry, but I really can't tell a time frame right now...

Innovation Gear Vendor - Jul 20 2011 at 12:28am

Amar Singh I purchased this application a few months back. Sadly, I missed the last bitsdujour offer, and contacted Edwin about when the next such offer will be. It was still some time away, but Edwin offered me a mini bargain, which I took immediately.

Since that time, I am using Writing Outliner for MS Word quite extensively. It does not work entirely problem-free, and I miss some features, I had with word macros (eg.: autosave every few minutes). I would also love to have document map (headers etc.) somehow integrated in the Writing Outliner sidebar . But all in all, the program has saved me a lot of stress, and Edwin has reacted quickly to all my requests for assistance.

The program still needs to progress further to become a super duper great product, but given the way it is progressing, and based on my current experiences with it I consider it to be a great product and a very good productivity enhancer, at the very least.

Jul 20 2011 at 2:21am

Julie Julie This offer was Tweeted this AM (Wed., July 20) -- but it is closed! What gives????

Jul 20 2011 at 4:11am

M B Yep, life got busy and I missed the offer as well.

Jul 20 2011 at 4:46am

Julie Julie My point was: why was it being Tweeted about on a day that it was not available.

Jul 20 2011 at 9:17am

Edwin Yip @Julie and MB, please contact me at edwin.yip@WritingOutliner.com

@ Amar, thank you for your comments.

Innovation Gear Vendor - Jul 21 2011 at 1:37am

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