Like many users, 99% of my app usage has settled into Firefox+Word+Excel+PowerPoint.  Most of the new “apps” that I use are Web-based.

So, using a new app like OmniOutliner is a rare event, and adopting an entirely new category of app (a dedicated outliner) is an extremely rare event.

At the core, I’m a hierarchical thinker and I love outlining.  I usually start a new project by writing down every bit I can think of as quickly as I can, then going back and organizing & refactoring into something coherent.

Word’s outline mode is great, but OmniOutliner has a few features that make it worth having a dedicated tool.  One of the biggest (for me) is columns:  you can add columns of various types, and have the app automatically total/summarize them for you.  For example, if you are outlining project tasks, you can have a column for “effort” (e.g. “6hr”, “2d”) that OmniOutliner will automatically total for you up the outline hierarchy.  Here’s the video tutorial page with many examples.

Thanks to Pito for the suggestion.

(Sorry, Mac only).