Outline

The outline lists the structure of your document as a tree: its boards and columns, groups of cards, and inside each card its Markdown headings and @GRP groups. Select an entry to go there. It’s the quickest way around a long manuscript, especially when one card holds a whole act or chapter.

Show the outline

• Board View: select the Outline button in the header. When the header is compact, choose Show outline in the More actions menu instead.
• Story Map: choose Panels → Outline.
• Anywhere: press Cmd+Option+O, or type outline in the command palette.

The outline opens on the left, beside the board or the other Story Map panels. Drag its edge to make it wider or narrower. Each view remembers whether its outline is open. Closing the outline keeps your search and the branches you opened or closed, until you open another document.

In Board View on iPhone, and on iPad in a narrow window, the outline fills the screen and closes as soon as you choose an entry. In Story Map there, it opens over the map like the other panels; select Done to return to the map.

What the outline lists

• Boards and columns, in document order. The archive column is marked Archive. Boards other than the active one start folded.
• Groups of cards in a column, with their cards inside.
• Headings inside a card, nested by level (# through ######). Nesting starts afresh in every card, just as heading folding does: a heading never contains the cards that follow its card.
• @GRP groups inside a card, by their title. A group nests under the heading that contains it, and headings inside the group nest under the group.
• Cards without headings, by their first line. Fountain and Raw cards always appear this way.

When Heading levels is on, each heading shows its level, such as H2. If you named a level under Settings → Board Theme → Heading hierarchy, the outline shows that name instead, in the level’s color when headings are colored by level.

In a very large document, FlowBoard reads the headings in the background. Until it’s done, the outline shows Reading headings… with the number of cards read, and lists the remaining cards by their first line.

Search the outline

Type in Search outline…. The outline narrows to matching entries as you type.

• Upper and lower case and accents don’t matter: cafe finds “Café”.
• Each word must appear in the entry or in an entry above it. act arrival finds an Arrival heading inside Act I, but not one elsewhere.
• Matching text is highlighted, and the boards and columns above each match stay visible, so identical headings remain easy to tell apart.
• When a board, column or group of cards matches, everything inside it is shown.

Press ↓ to move from the search field into the list, or Enter to go straight to the first match. Escape clears the search, and the branches open and close again as they were before you searched.

Go to an entry

Select an entry, or move to it with the arrow keys and press Space. The keyboard focus stays in the outline, so you can go on to the next entry. If you changed the text in the meantime, the outline still finds the same heading or group. If it’s gone, FlowBoard says so.

In Board View, FlowBoard opens the right board and focuses the card. A heading or @GRP group lands at the top of its column, whether the card shows rendered text or its raw source. On the way, FlowBoard opens what hides it: a folded heading section or @GRP group, or a collapsed group of cards. If the filter hides the card, FlowBoard clears the filter and tells you. Selecting a board opens it. Selecting a column brings it into view.

In Read View, the reading pane scrolls to the heading or group. If Read View doesn’t show that card with its current options, FlowBoard switches back to the board and says why.

In Story Map, the outline leaves your panels as they are:

• Selecting a heading, @GRP group or card selects the card on the canvas. While Linear view is open, it scrolls to the heading or group. Linear view doesn’t open by itself. When you open it later, it starts at the place you chose.
• Selecting a board, column or group of cards selects it and, while the canvas is shown, frames it on the canvas.

Rename, move, duplicate and delete

The outline also reorganizes the document. Right-click an entry (on iPad and iPhone, touch and hold) for Rename entry, Toggle selection and Move selected entry; for cards and columns, the menu also offers to duplicate or delete them. Every change can be undone with Cmd+Z.

Rename. Press Enter or F2, double-click the entry, or click its label a second time after a moment. Type the new name, then press Enter to save or Escape to cancel. This works for boards, columns, groups of cards, headings and @GRP groups. A card is renamed by its first line.

Move. Drag an entry to its new place, or use the keyboard:

1. Press Option+M to pick up the focused entry, or the selected cards or columns.
2. Choose the destination with the arrow keys.
3. Press Enter and choose Before, After or Inside that entry. Escape cancels.

Cards go into columns or groups of cards; headings and @GRP groups move between Markdown cards. For a quick step, Option with an arrow key moves the focused entry right away: cards in every direction (left and right into the next column), columns left and right, boards up and down.

Duplicate. Add Shift: Shift+Option with an arrow key puts a copy beside the original, in that direction.

Delete. Press Cmd+Backspace and confirm. Deleting removes the cards or columns with everything they contain.

Select several. Press Shift+Space to add the focused card or column to the selection, or extend it with Shift+↑ / ↓. You can also Cmd-click or Shift-click entries of the same kind. Moving, duplicating and deleting then apply to all of them.

To move or delete entries, the outline has to show the whole document: clear the search, choose All boards, and turn on Cards without headings. Renaming, moving and deleting aren’t available while the document is read-only.

See where you are

The outline highlights where you are working, and tints the entries that contain it:

• In Board View, the focused card, and within it the last heading or group scrolled past the top of its column.
• In Read View, the card and heading at the top of the reading pane.
• In Story Map, the place at the top of Linear view, or the selected card while Linear view is closed.

After you select an entry, it stays highlighted while you look around it. Once you scroll most of a screen further, or move to another card, the highlight follows you again. To bring the current entry into view in the outline, choose Reveal current position.

Options

Select Outline options (the sliders button at the top of the outline):

Section	Option	What it does
Scope	All boards	Lists every board in the document
	Active board	Lists only the active board
	Visible boards	Story Map only: lists the boards shown on the canvas
Show	Cards without headings	Lists cards that have no heading by their first line
	Heading levels	Shows each heading’s level or level name
Navigate	Reveal current position	Opens the branches around where you are and scrolls to it
	Expand all / Collapse all	Opens or closes every branch. The two arrow buttons beside the options button do the same

FlowBoard remembers these options on each device. The scope is remembered separately for Board View and Story Map.

Use the keyboard

Keys	Action
Cmd+Option+O	Show or hide the outline
↑ ↓	Move through the entries
Home / End, Page Up / Page Down	Jump to the first or last entry, or by a page
→	Open a branch, or move into an open one
←	Close a branch, or move to the entry above it
Space	Go to the entry
Enter or F2	Rename the entry. In a read-only document, Enter goes to it
Shift+Space	Add the card or column to the selection, or remove it
Option+M	Pick up the entry to move it; choose a place with the arrows, then Enter
Option+arrow key	Move the entry, or the selection, one step
Shift+Option+arrow key	Duplicate the entry, or the selection, in that direction
Cmd+Backspace	Delete the selected cards or columns
Any letter	Start a search
Escape	Cancel a move, then clear the selection or the search. Otherwise, return to the board or the map

Next

• Read View reads a board as one continuous text, with the outline beside it.
• Story cues explains @GRP groups and the other cues.