Baby steps with Outliner plugin

[CrouchingPython]

Things I have tried

Installing, uninstalling, activating, deactivating, reading docs at git, watching YT videos

What I’m trying to do

I need to know how to enter bullet points. Windows 10, OBS 1.0.3. Is there some key combination I’m not aware of? I can enter text and tab/shift tab, but I’m not getting any bullet points, folding, etc.

After that, I want to be able to export to PDF, but don’t see where I choose that.

[I-d-as]

For bullet points, you can just begin a line with - (a dash and a space) and then start typing your text. A somewhat easier way to initiate bullet points is to set a hotkey for the Toggle bullet list command in the Hotkeys section of the Settings. I have mine set to ctrl Enter. As far as I know this used to be the default, but I am not 100% sure that is still the case. All of what I just mentioned is completely independent of the Outliner community plugin, but will of course work in conjunction.

In terms of exporting to pdf, assuming you are using the desktop application you can simply set a hotkey for the command. Or, you can right click on the tab to reveal a menu that includes pdf export as well as many other useful commands. Good luck!

[CrouchingPython]

OMG, a dash followed by a space! You’ve saved my day. I looked at so many videos and scanned help files, the discord, etc. and couldn’t find that anywhere. Guess I wasn’t looking in the right place…

As for exporting to PDF, I did try that with that command from the command palette, but the output seemed pretty messy, ie: asterisks showed up instead of bolding, and runover lines didn’t wrap to the margin of the starting item but all the way to the left margin.

What am I doing wrong here? And thanks for that dash and space!

[I-d-as]

You’re welcome! It’s hard to say what the issue might be. To better help, maybe you could share a screenshot of a sample note in Source mode along with another screenshot of that note’s messy exported pdf. Thanks.

[CrouchingPython]

Hmm. I think I found one problem while trying to screenshot. In editing mode, I have everything indented as I wanted in my outline. When I switch to reading mode, all the indentation is gone and all the lines are left-aligned.

What did I do wrong there?

[I-d-as]

I know this will sound confusing, but that actually sounds like normal behavior for Markdown formatting in Obsidian in certain cases. But, I’d rather not speculate because I’m not 100% sure until you are a bit more specific about exactly what you have typed and what the results are or simply share a screenshot demonstrating the issue. Thanks.

[CrouchingPython]

Oops forgot to post screenshots!

[rigmarole]

@I-d-as is correct. This is normal Markdown behaviour. You can’t indent lines like this in Markdown.

If you want to have indentation like this, it needs to be bullets. Otherwise, Markdown automatically removes all extra space from a line.

- Game Design
    - Kodu
        - Setup and requirements
        - Free program
        - Only runs

You can learn more about Markdown syntax here: Basic Syntax | Markdown Guide

But also you can open up the Sandbox help vault, and browse around and see how they use the syntax.

Also, to make a bullet, you don’t need to type out the dash and space. You can also run the command Toggle bullet list, which can be assigned to a hotkey, if it isn’t already. That command can make it easy to automatically add bullets to a big selection of lines, instead of typing them out one at a time.

1. Make a selection (one line, or many lines)
2. Type ctrl-P to open the command palette
3. Type Toggle bullet list
4. OR assign that command to a hotkey.

[CrouchingPython]

OK, thanks. I think it’s starting to sink in. So even though it looked like I had an outline (of sorts) in Edit Mode, I really didn’t. Bummer. But live and learn…

Question – so the hyphen space = bullet behavior. Is that default Obsidian, or is that the Outliner plugin?

Thanks for helping a noob out.

[Dor]

Default markdown

[CrouchingPython]

Thanks for the answer! So how do I use the Outliner plugin, if I’ve installed and activated it?

[I-d-as]

You can just use the - ( dash and space) and create outlines. In terms of Outliner plugin, like all plugins, you can utilize and customize the available hotkey commands it provides. You can also adjust its settings by going into the Obsidian settings and clicking on the Outliner section. I’m sure you saw the documentation and demos on Github. But, if not, they are probably worth checking out. In terms of this forum, you will probably have more luck asking specific questions with detailed explanations of what you have tried and what you are trying to do. Screenshots and screen recordings are useful. I hope this helps. Good luck. Thanks.