Natara Bonsai
8 likes
Natara Bonsai is a Palm OS and Windows Mobile outliner application with a Windows desktop client that also works as a full-featured standalone outliner and task manager. The Bonsai 5 Desktop Edition offers multiple views of a hierarchical outline: single-, dual- or triple-pane...
License model
- Paid • Proprietary
Application types
Country of Origin
United States
Platforms
- Windows
- Windows Mobile
- HP webOS
Discontinued
Official site inaccessible, but app still available on download sites.
Features
Natara Bonsai News & Activities
Highlights All activities
Recent activities
POX added Natara Bonsai as alternative to 2dTaskBoard- MarMi updated Natara Bonsai
Natara Bonsai information
Developed by
Natara Software Licensing
Proprietary and Commercial product.Alternatives
50 alternatives listedSupported Languages
Comments and Reviews
Natara Bonsai 5 Desktop Edition is the best kept secret of the outliner software world. As it started life as a sync client to the Palm app, it has somehow never been recognised for the superb standalone writing tool that it is. I have used it for years, and it's still my no. 1 outliner (on Windows 7). Even many Palm users have just considered it mostly a to-do list manager or project manager, but it has some very powerful outlining functions.
Key strengths:
Highly customisable interface. It can be set up as a 1-, 2-, or 3-pane outliner. Multiple windows can be open and tiled.
Fast entry of data, quick to move outline items around with keyboard shortcuts or mouse clicks or drag-and-drop.
List can be collapsed per levels 1-4, or all expanded just by a mouse-click.
You can zoom in (hoist) at any level and cancel zoom with one click.
You can select to have check boxes.
You can select to have columns with various to-do list functionality.
You can set up a default colour scheme for background and font.
Outline text can be coloured in automatically on the basis of hierarchy level or other optional attributes.
Various search and filtering options.
Tabbed interface of outlines open.
Multiple standard import and export file options (.MM, .RTF, .HTM, text, CSV etc.) that can be expanded with custom templates (.OPML).
I use it mainly as a two-pane outliner for developing new writing or for analysing reading notes that I took in and imported from Freeplane. Then I export it into Word as .RTF and edit the text further. I also use a whole range of other outliners that have their particular strengths (Noteliner, Outline 4D, ConnectedText, Scrivener, The Guide, Whizfolders), but Bonsai is my number 1 favourite outliner when it comes to quick outlining and analysis of complex lists. See some further discussion about the strengths and weaknesses of Bonsai here.
[Edited by dr_andus, July 31]
[Edited by dr_andus, July 31]
[Edited by dr_andus, July 31]
[Edited by dr_andus, July 31]
At the moment all the alternatives for Bonsai seem to be to-do list type software. However, Bonsai it's not just a to-do list manager. When the to-do functionality is switched off, it is a full-featured outliner, i.e. a writing application. Therefore it should be also listed as an alternative to other single- or dual-pane outliners such as UV Outliner, Noteliner, The Guide or Inspiration.
But it is no more active, what a pity.