Migrate to DocxManager from Writing Outliner

○This article is intended for existing Writing Outliner users.

Writing Outliner is another software by us which is supposed to be replaced by DocxManager, so you can import your existing writing projects into DocxManager and continue work on them.

DocxManager is the new vision of Writing Outliner – most of the “for large writings” cool features found in Writing Outliner plus document management tools, and plus web publishing of your documents.

 

The Implementation Difference of DocxManager and Writing Outliner

DocxManager is developed as a window container for Microsoft Word while Writing Outliner was developed as an Add-in software for Microsoft Word.

In other words, DocxManager’s embeds Microsoft Word into its window, while Writing Outliner’s approach is other way around – it’s embedded into Microsoft Word.

But basically the user interface is quite similar – from the left to the right there are the outline view, the document window (Word) in the middle, and the document metadata pane is on the right side.

Another difference is how the two stores the document data:

1.    In DocxManager your documents are stored in your disk folders as usual, and the document metadata are stored in the tiny SQLite database files (with the .metat file extension) located in the same folder as your documents.

2.    In Writing Outliner all your documents and metadata are stored in a special zip file (with the .woprj file extension)

So basically there is zero data format lock-in with DocxManager.

 

Steps to Import a Writing Outliner Project File

1.    You start DocxManager.

2.    You create a new project folder or open a project folder.

3.    You import the Writing Outliner project using the main menu, as shown in the following screen capture:

4.    Once imported, you can start continue working on authoring your documents.

 

A Final Words

While DocxManager is not an exact clone of Writing Outliner feature-wise, we intend to make DocxManager a complete feasible replacement for Writing Outliner, although might with some unavoidable compromises due to the different vision and implementation approach of the software.

So you are welcomed to give us any suggestions and questions if you find any difficulty during your transition from Writing Outliner to DocxManager.