ThinkTank, an "idea processor" that launched a religion (of outliners)

4 months ago

ThinkTank is a pioneering outliner software from the 1980s, designed to help organize thoughts and ideas in a hierarchical tree structure.
The software was initially developed by Dave Winer, who later released it under the name ThinkTank after rebranding from VisiText.
ThinkTank offers features like folding data, marking and gathering headers, cloning headers for linked updates, and basic word processing within outlines.
Despite its capabilities, the user interface is inconsistent and sometimes counterintuitive, requiring users to adapt to its quirks.
ThinkTank's advanced tools, such as keyword marking and gathering, require users to align their thinking with the software's methodology.
The software includes a built-in word processor for adding text blocks to headers, though it lacks modern formatting options and can be cumbersome for long documents.
ThinkTank's influence is seen in modern outliners and personal knowledge management (PKM) tools, though many users find its workflow unnatural.
The author found ThinkTank useful for initial idea organization but struggled with its lack of flow and mechanical feel.
Modern alternatives to ThinkTank include Drummer, OmniOutliner, Workflowy, and many others, reflecting ongoing interest in outliner and PKM software.
ThinkTank can export outlines to structured text files, which can be converted to formats like Markdown with some effort.

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