Welcome to Traverse
What Traverse is for
Start loose
Add rough ideas
Turn promising ideas into branches
Leave uncertain ideas parked until they connect
Add detail only where it helps
Use notes for supporting material
Move through depth
Select a parent
Open its children in the next column
Keep walking down the branch without losing the path
Keep work portable
Import OPML from other outliners
Export OPML for round-tripping
Export Markdown when you are ready to write elsewhere
The main views
Column view
Auto
Good for browsing one path
Good for seeing where the selected item lives
Manual
Good for comparing nearby branches
Good when filters reveal several matches at once
Use Option-Up and Option-Down to move between visible nodes at the same level
Outline view
Expand and collapse sections
Move through visible items with arrow keys
Use Option-Up and Option-Down to jump between siblings
Inspector
Built-in fields
Type
Heading
Bullet
Quote
Fountain
Task
URL
Mark
Note
Custom fields
Strings
Checkboxes
URLs
Good starter use cases
Project planning
Phase
Milestone
Task
Decision
Risk
Research maps
Topic
Source
Claim
Evidence
Counterpoint
Writing outlines
Chapter
Section
Point
Example
Transition
AI-assisted starting points
Describe the goal, audience, and constraints
Choose a structure
Generate, review, and reshape the nodes
Editing essentials and useful shortcuts
Add a sibling with Return
Add a child with Tab
Children can nest as deeply as the work needs
Parent
Child
Use Command-F to focus on a branch
Select the branch
Focus
Edit without distraction
Clear Focus
Move quickly without the mouse
Arrow keys follow the active view
Option-Up and Option-Down jump between peers
Control-Command-Left and Right move through recent selections
Option-Command-C copies a link to the selected node
Attributes, filters, and export
Attributes
Type
Fountain
Tasks
URLs
Marks
Notes
Filters
Search text and notes
Show only to-do items
Show marked or tagged items
Export
OPML
Markdown List
Markdown Document
Fountain
Current view as PDF
Free and Traverse Pro 3
A generous Free foundation
Create, import, and edit as many library outlines as you need
Open external OPML files read-only
Use Column and Outline views, notes, tasks, URLs, marks, and text search
Export and continue using every attribute already present in an outline
Go further with Pro
Turn outlines into documents and screenplays
Build reusable systems
Describe work your way
Find the signal in large outlines
Move from prompt to editable structure
Edit files where they already live
Unlock Pro in Settings
If Pro is not active
Next step: open the Tutorial