Write the plan

Use Outline when you want to think through a goal and write several tasks at once. The smaller outline beside the Board and Calendar is useful for adding or rearranging work without leaving those views.

The startup goal in Outline, with research and building tasks indented beneath their parents. — One plan, with each task under the work it supports. You can keep breaking it down as you learn.

Using a phone or tablet? Follow the touch steps.

Add several tasks

Open Outline and select Launch a startup. Press Enter to add a task.

Type Check whether people need the product, then press Enter again. This saves the task and opens a field for another task at the same level.

Add Build a first version and Find the first customers the same way. Press Esc in the empty field to stop.

Break a task down

Select Check whether people need the product and press Enter. In the new task field, press Tab to put it underneath that task.

Write Write down the problem you want to solve and press Enter. Continue with Find five people who have that problem and Arrange conversations with them.

While writing a new task:

Key	What it does
`Enter`	Save and add another at the same level
`Tab`	Put the new task under the previous one
`Shift` + `Tab`	Move the new task one level out
`⌘` / `Ctrl` + `Enter`	Save and stop writing
`Esc`	Discard the current unsaved text and stop

The tasks you’ve already saved stay in the plan.

Write with touch

In Outline, tap your goal’s title, then Add task in the action bar at the bottom.
Type a task and choose Done.
To break that task down, tap its title, choose Add subtask, then write and choose Done again.

Phone task writer with an Adds to: Launch a startup parent label and Cancel and Done buttons. — Check Adds to before saving. Done keeps the task; Cancel discards the current unsaved words.

Change the structure

Select a task and press F2 to rename it. Use Alt + ↑ or ↓ to move it among tasks with the same parent. Alt + → puts it under the previous task; Alt + ← moves it one level out.

You can also drag tasks, or open a task’s menu and choose Move to…. A task must stay under a goal or another task.

In the small outline beside the Board or Calendar, Enter opens details rather than adding a sibling. Use the task’s Add subtask menu command, or +, to start writing below it.

See the plan as a map

Map shows the same hierarchy with connections between tasks. Use it if you find the shape easier to follow that way. On a selected task, Tab starts a child and Enter starts a sibling. Map isn’t offered on phones.