Search and Filter: Finding information within your outlines

In order to find the information that you have added to your outline The Outliner of Giants supports both free text search, as well as a wide range of filters.

Using the free text search you can search within or across your outlines for nodes that contain specific terms within their titles or wikis.

To perform a free text search add the terms to the search box within the toolbar at the top of the screen, and select the [ ] button to search within the current outline, or the [ ] button to search across all of your outlines.

When performing a free text search you will also be offered a list of quick results as a drop down under the search field as you type. Selecting one of these items will take you to a hoist of the relevant node.

Using the filter by checked status you can filter within or across your outlines for nodes that have been marked with a specific checked status.

To filter nodes with a given checked status simply use checked:yes or checked:no in the search box, or click ‘Unchecked’ or ‘Checked’ from within the filter view (accessed by clicking the [ Filters ] button within the outline toolbar).

Using the filter by label color you can filter within or across your outlines for nodes that have been marked with a specific label color.

To filter nodes with a particular label simply enter label: followed by the color into the search box – e.g. label:red – or select the label color that you would like to filter by from within the filter view (accessed by clicking the [ Filters ] button within the outline toolbar).

Using the filter by highlight color you can filter within or across your outlines for nodes that have been marked with a specific highlight color.

To filter nodes with a particular colored highlight simply enter highlight: followed by the color into the search box – e.g. highlight:red – or select the highlight color that you would like to filter by from within the filter view (accessed by clicking the [ Filters ] button within the outline toolbar).

Using the filter by font color you can filter within or across your outlines for nodes that have been marked with a specific font color.

To filter nodes with a particular colored font simply enter font: followed by the color into the search box – e.g. font:red – or select the font color that you would like to filter by from within the filter view (accessed by clicking the [ Filters ] button within the outline toolbar).

Using the filter by priority you can filter within or across your outlines for nodes that have been marked with a specific priority.

To filter nodes with a given priority simply enter priority: followed by the priority number into the search box – e.g. priority:1 – or select the priority that you would like to filter by from within the filter view (accessed by clicking the [ Filters ] button within the outline toolbar).

Using the filter by date you can filter within or across your outlines for nodes that have been marked with a specific date. Nodes with a date stamp applied can be filtered in a number of ways: those marked with a date before the given date; those marked with a date on the given date; and those marked with a date after the given date.

Using the search box you can enter before:yyyy-mm-dd, before:yesterday, before:today, and before:tomorrow to filter nodes that are marked with a date before the given date, yesterday’s date, today’s date, or tomorrow’s date respectively.

Using the search box you can enter on:yyyy-mm-dd, on:yesterday, on:today, and on:tomorrow to filter nodes that are marked with a date on the given date, yesterday’s date, today’s date, or tomorrow’s date respectively.

Using the search box you can enter after:yyyy-mm-dd, after:yesterday, after:today, and after:tomorrow to show filter nodes that are marked with a date after the given date, yesterday’s date, today’s date, or tomorrow’s date respectively.

Using the search box you can enter last: or next:, followed by a number, to show the nodes marked with a date within that number of days.

You can also select the date that you would like to filter by from a calendar within the filter view (accessed by clicking the [ Filters ] button within the outline toolbar).

Using the filter by tag you can filter within or across your outlines for nodes that have been marked with a specific tag.

To filter nodes with a given tag enter tag: followed by the tag text into the search box – e.g. tag:author-name – or select the tag that you would like to filter by from within the filter view (accessed by clicking the [ Filters ] button within the outline toolbar).

Using the filter by hash-tag you can filter within or across your outlines for nodes that have a specific hash-tag within their title or wiki text. To create a hash-tag simply precede any word with the hash character – e.g. #tag – and that world will be converted into a clickable hash-tag.

Once you have performed a search or filter you can then sort the results returned by alphanumric value, checked status, label color, highlight color, font color, priority, or node date.

To sort the results click the root node to expose its toolbar, click the [Sort ] button, and then select the sort that you would like to apply to the results.

You can edit individual nodes within the results as though they were part of an outline, such as updating a term used across your outline, or applying a tag to nodes that should be within a particular category.

Using the multi-select functionality you can also apply certain actions to the search results in bulk. Once you have started a multi-select session, choose the action that you would like to apply from the toolbar at the top of the view, and each of the selected nodes will be updated accordingly.

Note that actions that involve adding new nodes, or moving existing nodes, cannot be applied within search results.

To make use of this functionality simply sign up and create your first outline (it’s free!).

Marking nodes for information about applying different markings to the nodes within your outlines.

Selecting nodes for more information on how to select the nodes within your outlines.

Sorting nodes for more information on how to sort a list of siblings.