Workflowy is a web application, adapting the outliner model to organize data.
The outliner model, although quite popular for many, did not see a bloom similar to the task lists at the dawn of GTD. While it is mainly used for brainstorming and planning, it could be perfect for keeping lists of all kinds in just one view.
This is exactly the model Workflowy implements. Being a very lightweight and fast application, with the addition of tagging and an easy to use interface, it will help you to plan your projects and even organize your life, if the outline model is your thing.
To start using the application requires a registration process and you will be greeted with a minimal designed menu bar and a blank workspace. You can begin adding entities to your outline and with the press of the enter key, each one will get a bullet.
When you click on one of the entities you’ve just created, a beautiful animation will be shown (the entity opens and moves upwards) presenting you with its contents: Another outline.
You can navigate this way to any item in your outline and add child elements and there is a path-like title on top at all times to know your exact position in the outline.
The application is very fast and responsive and supports a small set of keyboard shortcuts to all of its functions, which you can learn really fast and navigate in your outline with ease.
Workflowy gives you also the ability to add some metadata to your entries in the form of tags, with preceding characters # and $. This will group entries together when you click on a tag of an entry or run a search for it. The developers suggest to use @ for people and # for other contexts (like #important, #today etc.) but they can be used however the user prefers it.
Needless to say that outline entities can be moved, indented, promoted/demoted, duplicated and even have notes added to them at will. Sharing of entities (Workflowy items) is supported as well.
There are some great tutorials accessible when you click the help menu, which includes short videos explaining each feature of the application. Users can also print or export their data but unfortunately no mobile application is available although there is a mobile site available.
In conclusion, Workflowy is a very good outliner and its uniqueness lies to the fact that it’s web-based. Like all outliners it can be used for various purposes while its speed and ease of use will satisfy any user. In GTD terms, it could be used to maintain a full system even lacking due dates and reminders or it could supplement task list users who need a project management tool.
Workflowy is free (500 items per month) and there is also a premium plan which gives users more data space.