Apache OpenOffice (AOO) Bugzilla – Issue 24091
OOo Writer Lacks Easy Outline Manipulation
Last modified: 2009-01-08 18:46:06 UTC
Microsoft Word's Outline View mode is one of the few things that they got really right, and the Navigator bar is _not_ a replacement, nor have I found a combination of features in OOo that replaces it. OOo just doesn't make doing major surgery on documents as easy as Outline View mode does. Here's the big three things that are a snap in Word's Outline View mode that have no direct cognate in OOo. Obviously OOo doesn't need to slavishly follow Word's UI, but having the functionality there is important for very large document development. Outline View mode in Word lets you easily promote or demote paragraph heading numbers, by placing your cursor in the heading and hitting <tab> or <shift tab> respectively. Not only can you do this for _one_ section, but you can select an entire section and promote or demote it _and_ all of its subsections the same way. Outline View mode lets you move entire sections around (with their subsections, of course), with just a few clicks and a drag. Then you can promote/demote them to the appropriate level as described above. This is essential when you find out that all of chapter 5 really should be section 3.6, or visa-versa. Outline View mode lets you collapse any section you want within a document, so you can work on just one section in a large document. What's more, you can collapse all but _two_ fairly distant sections and (usually) get them both on one screen, such as you might do if you want to compare a design section with its corresponding test section. This does two big things for you. One, if you have a document that has all the right content but whose organization stinks (i.e. one of my typical rough drafts), you can move things around as needed, then patch up the few dangling references and go on your merry way. Two, you can write the document outline very easily and naturally, with proper heading numbers &c., then proceed to write the document itself without ever having to manually set a paragraph type.
The first two of these can be achieved without much trouble in OOo. The keyboard shortcuts for promoting and demoting are there already, and work with heading styles as they should. Moving sections along with their subsections is also explicitly catered for in the Navigator. It could be better flagged, but that's an issue of usability, not functionality. Moving sections around 'vertically' as well as horizontally is also catered for. There is a keyboard shortcut to move paragraphs (I think it's ctrl uparrow, but that has been reconfigured on my keyboard); there are also mouse draggings available in the Navigator, as well as icons there to do this. The only functionality missing is the ability to select a paragraph with mouse clicks before dragging it around the main window. The missing functionality is the third one: the ability to show or hide paragraphs in the main window depending on their outline level. This is what stops the other outlining features from being truly useful.
This is quite clearly a dupe of #3959, though I think your report is better expressed. *** This issue has been marked as a duplicate of 3959 ***
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As someone who has been a programmer, a writer, and and manager of both, perhaps I can add my perspective. First of all, I'd like to thank mba for his update and his reassurance that the programming team is aware that an Outline View is important. Thanks also for explaining to us that the reason it has not been done is because it is not a simple process, so it will take some time. I think part of the problem is that we have a clash of two cultures: programmers and writers are usually quite different personality types with different sets of computer expertise - coders vs. simple users. I would like to point out to mba regarding his somewhat brusque response that "You can all save your breath" (typical programmer's social skills!) that people had been complaining for YEARS before they heard about from anyone about the issues involved. They were not aware that anyone was paying attention to them so they were frustrated. Thanks again, mba, for letting us know you are aware of the problem and are working on it. I would also like to point out that, in general, open software is mostly a "geek" thing. I say that with all respect being an old geek myself. So while XML etc. might seem more important than an Outline View for the most vocal users and programmers, there is probably a much larger user base for an Outline View than for XML. Also personally I feel "XML rules!" The problem is that for the average, not particularly technically savvy, user (i.e. almost everyone who needs an Outline view!) they are not the type of person who is going to try to track down this thread and post something. They are certainly not going to try to figure out how to vote, and they probably don't bother to read all the previous comments before they post. They are used to a different type of customer support experience. Can anyone say "Care Bear?" So just because you don't hear from them, doesn't mean they didn't try it and gave up without even posting. On the other hand an XML user is going to be more likely to function in a programmer-friendly fashion. My point is that the end- users and the target market who want an Outline View, if Open Office is ever going to become a widely-used tool, are almost certainly massively underrepresented here because they didn't even know it existed. In any case, we are happy to hear you are working on this solution and we look forward to hearing more about it. Unfortunately, we won't be able to tell our fellow users to "save their breath" because they don't read before they post. Thanks again and best wishes for bug-free code! Vardiss