Terminology
Row (Or Item) - A horizontal collection of information in your outline. Every time you hit the Enter key, OmniOutliner creates a new item in your outline. Rows grow to accommodate long lines. Generally speaking, the information you enter on a given row all relates to the same item.
Columns - A vertical collection of information in your outline. You create a new column either by clicking the Add Column button in the toolbar, or by selecting New Column in the Outline menu. Generally speaking, a column will represent the same bit of information (i.e. Artist) about several different items (i.e. CDs in your collection). Your outlines can never have less than two columns; the notes column, and at least one content column.
Level - You can select an item, and then choose Indent from Reorganize menu. This moves the selected item a little bit to the right on the screen. Each time you indent an item, you decrease its level by one; each item's level is either the same as the one directly above it (they are "peers"), or the item is one level lower than the item above it (the item is a "child").
Handle - Every item has a handle, which takes the form of a bullet (•) if the next item in the list is from the same level or a higher. If the row does have children beneath it, the handle turns into a triangle, and you can click it to reveal or hide the children. Every row can be dragged by its handle, and dragging a parent brings all the children along.
Gutter - The area of the outline between the left edge and the handle. You can click in the gutter to select a single row, or click and drag to select several rows.
Status Checkboxes - By default, every item has a checkbox just to the right of its handle. Setting the state of a checkbox changes all of the item's children to that state. Checkboxes can be in a mixed state to indicate that some but not all of its children are checked. Use ViewHide/Show Status Checkboxes to toggle the entire outline. Use OutlineSet StatusNone to hide the Checkbox for a single row.
Note Pane - The area at the bottom of the outline window; you can type into the note pane to attach additional text to the item that will not appear in the body of the outline. Any notes attached to the selected item will appear in the notes pane.
Note Icon - A icon which looks like a small slip of paper; it serves to tell you that the item it appears with has a note attached to it. By default, the note column is leftmost in your document.
Content Area - The parts of each item where you type to add information. This includes both the column which contains each item's handle, and any new columns you might add to your outline.
Related Topics
Table Of Contents: Getting Started
What Is An Outliner?
The Document Window
Using OmniOutliner
Saving & Printing Your Outlines