TreeLine

Some would call TreeLine a PIM (Personal Information Manager), others would call it an Outliner, but the truth is that it’s just an open source graphical software implemented in Python/Qt for storing almost any kind of information, including HTML, plain text, numbers, times, dates, URLs and booleans.

At a glance, the application features a tree structure that helps you keep your things organized, provides multiple views (left-hand, left flat, right-hand and output), it exports data to HTML, and it can export or import ODF text documents as outlines.

Features, lots of features

It is no doubt that TreeLine is a full featured application, as it includes a wide range of functionality, among which we can mention support for several fields for each node, forming a minimal database, support for various node types that have different sets of fields, as well as support for defining the node format, including output lines, tree-view icon and fields for each node type.

The navigation functionality of the software includes a find command that quickly searches through all node data, a fast incremental search command that can be used to find a matching node title, as well as next and previous selection commands, which lets you to quickly move between different parts of the tree.

TreeLine’s formatting functionality allows the user to copy information from a different TreeLine file, and the app’s dialog for configuring data types has several tabs that allow you to effortlessly set all field, output and type parameters. Redo and Undo commands are also implemented.

The software is also capable of converting files in batch mode via the built-in command-line interface, imports and exports generic XML files, transforming the application is a basic XML editor, imports and exports bookmarks in the XBEL or Mozilla file formats, and lets users to filter nodes.

Under the hood and supported OSes

As mentioned, TreeLine is written entirely in the Python programming language and uses the Qt GUI toolkit for its graphical user interface. It is supported on all GNU/Linux distributions, as well as on the Microsoft Windows operating systems, being compatible with both 64-bit and 32-bit computers.

What is new in this release:

• Bug Fixes:
• Fixed a major regression in 2.0.1 that broke data editors for most specialized field types (number, math, boolean, choice, etc.)
• Compatibility Notes:
• There are some file format changes between TreeLine 1.4.x and this version of TreeLine.
• Older files opened in this version are automatically converted when saved.
• Files saved in this version may not be fully compatible with TreeLine 1.4.x.

What is new in version 2.0.0:

• Updates:
• Modified the Treepad file import to use SpacedText fields to more closely match Treepad formatting.
• An optional plugin was written that can export files to the Treepad text file format.
• The TreeLine icon was replaced with a new one. Thanks to David Reimer for contributing the artwork.
• The German and Portuguese GUI translations were updated.
• Updated the long text sample file to include the SpacedText field type, and added a conditional equation to the math sample file.
• Updated the Math Field section of the documentation.
• Compatibility Notes:
• There are some file format changes between TreeLine 1.4.x and this version of TreeLine.
• Older files opened in this version are automatically converted when saved.
• Files saved in this version may not be fully compatible with TreeLine 1.4.x.

What is new in version 1.9.7:

• Notes:
• This is an unstable development snapshot of a full rewrite of TreeLine. It is nearly ready for a stable release, but it could still contain bugs. Testing and bug reports are appreciated.
• The GUI and documentation translations are not yet complete.
• New Features:
• Added comparison operators and conditional if statements to math field equations. The operators can be used with a new boolean result type, or as a part of numeric, date, time or text expressions.
• Text operators were made available in math field equations, and the result type can be set to text. This allows math fields to combine text from other fields, replace substrings and change capitalization.
• Updates:
• Added a "file saved" status bar message.
• Added a German GUI translation.
• Updated the Portuguese GUI translation.
• Bug Fixes:
• Fixed a focus problem that made Combination and AutoCombination field editor pull-downs unusable.
• Fixed a focus problem that made the pull-downs in choice and boolean field editors unusable on Linux.
• Compatibility Notes:
• There are some file format changes between TreeLine 1.4.x and this version of TreeLine.
• Older files opened in this version are automatically converted when saved.
• Files saved in this version may not be fully compatible with TreeLine 1.4.x.

What is new in version 1.9.5:

• Notes:
• This is an unstable development snapshot of a full rewrite of TreeLine. It is not yet complete and could contain bugs. Testing and bug reports are appreciated.
• The GUI and documentation translations have not yet been done.
• New Features:
• Added a math field type that is configured by defining an equation. The field value is automatically calculated based on references to numerical values in other nodes. See the "sample_math_fields" file for a usage example.
• Added a Clear Formatting command that removes font changes and links from data editor text.
• Made source code changes necessary to support user interface translations into other languages. The actual translation work remains to be done.
• Updates:
• Add scroll bars to the pull-down editors for combination fields with many entries.
• Reduce the truncation of external link URLs when generating default display names.
• Use Unix-style newlines for saved TreeLine files to keep files consistent across platforms.
• Update the CSS code in exported HTML with navigation panes to improve the appearance in some browsers.
• Optimize some undo information to reduce the amount of data in memory.
• Move sample files into a separate directory to avoid future translation conflicts.
• Clarify a Linux installer error message when checking for the Python 3 version of PyQt.
• Include MSVCR DLL files in the Windows installer.
• Bug Fixes:
• Fix problems applying multiple configuration changes while the Configure Data Types dialog box remains open.
• In the Title List editor, splitting a title into two lines now creates a new node without losing the children and parameters of the original node.
• Fix the undo command in the Title List View so that deleted lines/nodes are properly restored.
• When sorting nodes by fields, properly handle a reverse direction.
• Fix problems with the find and replace command when a particular node type is specified.
• Fix problems defining conditional types from the Configure Data Types dialog box.
• Correctly apply font size formatting to selections with mixed font sizes.
• Fix the height of long text field editors with customized data editor fonts.
• Fix HTML export of Base 64 images.
• Missing Features (not implemented yet):
• Support for plugin extension modules.
• Language translations for the GUI and documentation.
• Compatibility Notes:
• There are some file format changes between TreeLine 1.4.x and this version of TreeLine.
• Older files opened in this version are automatically converted when saved.
• Files saved in this version may not be fully compatible with TreeLine 1.4.x.

What is new in version 1.9.4:

• Notes:
• This is an unstable development snapshot of a full rewrite of TreeLine. It is not yet complete and could contain bugs. Testing and bug reports are appreciated.
• The GUI and documentation translations have not yet been done.
• New Features:
• Created new documentation, including a TreeLine file with details and a text file with basic usage instructions. Both are accessible from the help menu.
• Added customizing of default fonts used in the tree, output and editor views.
• Added a new SpacedText field type that holds plain text and preserves all spacing.
• Combination and auto combination field types now use a simpler checkbox style pull-down editor.
• An autosave option was added.
• A unique ID reference field was added to the file info fields to allow node unique IDs to be included in output formats.
• A plain text paste command was added to paste non-formatted text to data editors.
• Added an option to set the child indent offset amount.
• Updates:
• The last size and position of the print preview window are remembered and restored.
• When printing, nodes with long text content are split between pages.
• In multiple page HTML exports, relative links in the content are adjusted based on the directory depth.
• Bug Fixes:
• Fixed problems outputting completely blank nodes.
• Problems with the contains and true/false conditional rules were fixed.
• Fixed issues displaying several editor link dialogs in quick succession.
• In the configure data types dialog, the output format cursor no longer moves when switching to other field references.
• Missing Features (not implemented yet):
• Support for plugin extension modules.
• Language translations for the GUI and documentation.
• Compatibility Notes:
• There are some file format changes between TreeLine 1.4.x and this version of TreeLine.
• Older files opened in this version are automatically converted when saved.
• Files saved in this version may not be fully compatible with TreeLine 1.4.x.

What is new in version 1.9.3:

• Notes:
• This is an unstable development snapshot of a full rewrite of TreeLine. It is not feature complete and probably contains bugs. Testing and bug reports are appreciated, but the stable release (TreeLine 1.4.x) should be used for critical work.
• The documentation is not included yet. It needs to be updated to cover the new features.
• The GUI and documentation translations have not yet been done.
• New Features:
• Added controls in the Tools menu for customizing TreeLine's keyboard shortcuts.
• Controls for customizing TreeLine's toolbar buttons were added to the Tools menu.
• New dialogs were created for conditional finding and filtering of nodes. Specific conditions can be applied to individual types and fields, and the conditions can be saved.
• Find and replace functionality was added to search and change nodes' text data. The search can be limited to specific types and fields.
• A new option for output data in tables was added to the Type Config pane of the Configure Data Types dialog. Each line of the output format becomes a column. Any text at the start of the format line that is followed by a colon becomes a table heading.
• An option to add bullets to the output of child nodes was added to the Type Config pane of the Configure Data Types dialog.
• Added View > Previous Selection and Next Selection commands to step through the node selection history.
• Updates:
• Nodes can now be reordered by dragging and dropping them between sibling nodes.
• The keyboard entry of dates and times into fields was made more flexible by allowing entries such as 4-digit years that don't exactly match the entry format.
• Any text selection is now used as the default name for links inserted into text fields.
• Links to local named anchors in a node's HTML text content now work if they don't conflict with any node unique IDs.
• Line spacing in output views was made more consistent.
• Improved the efficiency of restoring node open/close states when opening files.
• Bug Fixes:
• Errors when pasting text with varying font sizes into data editors were fixed.
• Various issues with conditional data types were fixed, including problems with pasting conditional nodes and prompt updating when the types change.
• Problems with undoing the dragging and dropping of a node were fixed.
• Fix the extremely slow operation of the View > Expand Full Branch and Collapse Full Branch commands.
• Fix improperly placed branch lines in printed output.
• Missing Features (not implemented yet):
• Plugin support.
• Language translations.
• Help documentation.
• Font appearance options for views.
• Compatibility Notes:
• There are some file format changes between TreeLine 1.4.x and this version of TreeLine.
• Older files opened in this version are automatically converted when saved.
• Files saved in this version may not be fully compatible with TreeLine 1.4.x.

What is new in version 1.9.2:

• Notes:
• This is an unstable development snapshot of a full rewrite of TreeLine. It is not feature complete and probably contains bugs. Testing and bug reports are appreciated, but the stable release (TreeLine 1.4.x) should be used for critical work.
• The documentation is not included yet. It needs to be updated to cover the new features.
• The GUI and documentation translations have not yet been done.
• New Features:
• Added a spell check tool. This requires either aspell, ispell or hunspell to be installed.
• Included a node numbering field type with several formatting options. An update numbering command fills in the sequence.
• Added a command to add a category level based on a subset of data fields.
• Added a flatten by category command to combine parent fields into child nodes.
• A new flatten by link command flattens the structure and provides internal links to the former parent nodes.
• An arrange by link command restores the structure based on parent internal links.
• Updates:
• Allow file URL drag-and-drop on active external link data edit widgets.
• Change the Linux installer to use the 'share' directory in place of 'lib' for python files.
• Update the Windows binary to use version 3.3 of Python.
• Bug Fixes:
• Fix out of sequence output lines when output formats are longer than ten lines.
• Fix problems with unique IDs and internal links when indenting and unindenting nodes.
• Avoid widget focus problems when editing data on conditional types.
• Maintain the output format cursor position when changing fields in the configure dialog.
• Fix importing of generic XML documents that have nodes with no data.
• Missing Features (not implemented yet):
• Plugin support.
• Language translations.
• Help documentation.
• Font appearance options for views.
• Previous/next selection history commands.
• Customized keyboard shortcuts.
• Customized toolbars.
• Prefix/suffix sibling tags for HTML tables, bullets, etc.
• Compatibility Notes:
• There are some file format changes between TreeLine 1.4.x and this version of TreeLine.
• Older files opened in this version are automatically converted when saved.
• Files saved in this version may not be fully compatible with TreeLine 1.4.x.

What is new in version 1.9.1:

• This is another unstable development snapshot of the full rewrite of TreeLine in Python 3.
• It includes many new features and bugfixes.
• It's still not feature complete, but it's far enough along to be usable for many users.
• This version should not be used for any critical work, but testing is appreciated.

What is new in version 1.9.0:

• This is an unstable development snapshot of a full rewrite of TreeLine in Python 3.
• It includes many performance and usability improvements.
• It's still not feature complete, but it's far enough along to be usable for many users.
• This version should not be used for any critical work, but testing is appreciated.

What is new in version 1.4.1:

• Fixed several bugs involving use of encrypted files and imported files.

What is new in version 1.4.0:

• Notes:
• This is a new stable release, ending the 1.3.x development series.
• This release is available in English, French and German, although the French documentation is not completely up to date. Volunteers to do additional translations are welcome.
• Updates:
• The file browser used for editing path-based fields now remembers the previously used directory.
• Added icons for the New Window and Close Window commands so they can be added to toolbars.
• Bug Fixes:
• Fixed a bug that could keep the column control from being enabled during HTML export.
• Major New Features Since 1.2.x:
• Different files can be open in multiple TreeLine windows within the same TreeLine session. This is controlled with commands in the new "Window" menu.
• The "Window->New Window" command creates a new window with views of the same TreeLine file. Changes in either window are saved in the same document.
• Starting TreeLine (from a shortcut, file association or command line) will activate an existing TreeLine session if it is already running.
• An "Add internal link" context menu has been added to text boxes in the data editor. It prompts for another node to be clicked with the mouse, then an inline internal link is added with that node's reference information.
• Added an "HTML directory pages" export option. This will export a directory structure with an HTML file for every node. A navigation pane on the left side of each page contains links to nearby nodes.
• New dialog buttons will restore the default configuration when customizing toolbars or shortcuts.
• A new text search function has been added to the help viewer.

What is new in version 1.3.5:

• This release fixes some minor bugs, including a sorting issue, properly showing child lines in print preview and optionally disabling click-to-rename.

Requirements:

• Python
• Qt
• PyQt
• An XML parser is required, such as the expat library or the PyXML package
• If spell checking capability is desired, either the aspell (preferred) or ispell programs are required (these are packaged with most distributions