Opal for Mac

User Reviews

• My go to outliner

  AkopmanNovember 15, 2012

  Pros

  Simple, almost no learning curve, does the job

  Cons

  Files only save in the proprietary format. No way to share files with others who do not own the application except by printing it out.

  Summary

  Love it.

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• Very useful

  squidbotDecember 9, 2009

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  Cons

  Summary

  This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />I use this as a "mind mapper" without all the graphical clutter, just a quick way to relate thoughts in a hierarchical layout. Opal isn't littered with features I don't need, but also has everything I do need tucked away like exporting. Great app!

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• A Great Program

  MaxTrackerFebruary 15, 2009

  Pros

  Cons

  Summary

  This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />I've been using Opal 1.2.2 for the last few days. I find this program very comfortable to use - it is easy to make it fit my needs and the way I work. For instance, I can easily enlarge the size of the text on my screen without changing font size. I can give alternating lines a different colour of my choice to easily differentiate and enclose lines of text. It is obvious that the creators of Opal have put a lot of thought and experience into making this program. They seem to know what a user like myself needs. I had occasion to contact the programers - on a Sunday! - and was quite astonished to have almost immediate responses that were both succinct and helpful. The help section is excellent. One thing that puzzled me, though, was that the part about preferences says that you can set a preference to allow you to give any menu item whatever keyboard combination you want. I couldn't find this in the preferences but would love to have it in the future. Or maybe someone could tell me how to do this in case I have just missed something. Another thing I would like to see would be a highlighter feature with a button on the toolbar - such as in Scrivener or DevonThink, among others. There is a workaround possible in Opal by using copy and past style, but this isn't quite as convenient as a dedicated highlighter. Personally, I am very grateful for Opal and look forward to using it for some intensive and constructive outlining - as I used to do with ACTA.

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• What a pleasure.

  AkopmanFebruary 3, 2009

  Pros

  Cons

  Summary

  This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />It's nice to rediscover an old friend (Acta reincarnated) . In lieu of the old Acta I've been using OmniOutliner (OO). OO is a powerful program but has a steep learning curve and far more features than I need or want. Opal in contrast is extremely intuitive, meets all my needs, and is affordable. After using it for one hour I purchased the program.

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• Excellent Program

  jesse_kermanDecember 9, 2008

  Pros

  Cons

  Summary

  This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />I got this app to outline screenplays, and I am now using it for my Christmas list, and for a task list to complete a small project as well. I definitely recommend it. It is simple and straightforward, and has all the features I want, but is not loaded down with unnecessary things. I like that in only a short time, one can get used to the shortcut keys and navigate easily within the program (I prefer keyboard to mouse - especially when using my laptop). I am working on changing the shortcuts within the OSX system preferences to better suit my needs, so my one suggestion for future updates is to include an in-program way to customize keyboard shortcuts, but that is really my only suggestion. I find Opal to be very helpful for organizing my thoughts. IMHO, it is well worth the small price. (I also want to say that the documents that come with it which explain not only how to use Opal, but also how to use outliner applications in general, are very well written and a great bonus)

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• ACTA is Back!

  nydhoggJanuary 4, 2007

  Pros

  Cons

  Summary

  This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />Except now it's called Opal. The classic early Macintosh outliner ACTA has been brought up to date without adding the bloat found in other outliners, but still adding a great new search feature and multiple topic selection, a very handy feature. The property of selecting a topic with a single click and opening it with a double click (carried over from ACTA) is a particularly big winner - I can't stand outliners that open a topic with a single click - what, do these people never reorganize their outlines?! It opens all my old ACTA outlines and runs as a Universal App providing a great bridge to the latest Macs. Kudos to David Dunham and A-Sharp - Web Heroes in my book! Jim PS: I was a beta tester, but I have no financial interest in the product.

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• Almost great, will definitely get better

  imagodocOctober 28, 2006

  Pros

  Cons

  Summary

  This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />Opal is the OSX ceation of David Dunham, the original creator of Acta. So naturally, Opal has the look and feel of that famous pre-X outliner. Without question, Acta was the very best of its class, and Opal has the potential to reach that same height. It is a stable program, easy to use, and most important for any REAL outliner, it is fast and efficient. I have tried everything out there, from OmniOutliner to NoteTaker and NoteBook. Even TAO, which is an excellent outliner, has too many bells and whistles that in my opinion obstruct rather than facilitate outlining. (Has ANYONE figured out TAO's styles and library panels???) These programs try to do everything, which is fine as long as what you don't want to do is seriously OUTLINE! For everyone else (as the saying goes) there is Opal. There are some minor bugs that need to be worked out, and the Export function nees to allow for the proper exporting of formats (e.g., hanging indents). I have no doubt David will soon correct these minor issues. When he does, Opal will (IMHO) achieve Acta's rare combination of power, simplicity and ease of use, and that ain't bad!

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• The best budget outliner

  davesartOctober 9, 2006

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  Summary

  This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />This is a gorgeous Mac OS X program. Iâ??m particularly impressed by how you are enhancing the functionality by leveraging Appleâ??s Mac OS X APIs to the maximum: Services, text formatting features, spell checking, export capabilities including HTML output, and everything else.

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