T.8 Outline Mode

Outline mode is a major mode much like Text mode but intended for editing outlines. It allows you to make parts of the text temporarily invisible so that you can see the outline structure. Type M-x outline-mode to switch to Outline mode as the major mode of the current buffer.

When Outline mode makes a line invisible, the line does not appear on the screen. The screen appears exactly as if the invisible line were deleted, except that an ellipsis (three periods in a row) appears at the end of the previous visible line (only one ellipsis no matter how many invisible lines follow).

Editing commands that operate on lines, such as C-n and C-p, treat the text of the invisible line as part of the previous visible line. Killing an entire visible line, including its terminating newline, really kills all the following invisible lines along with it.

Outline minor mode provides the same commands as the major mode, Outline mode, but you can use it in conjunction with other major modes. Type M-x outline-minor-mode to enable the Outline minor mode in the current buffer. You can also specify this in the text of a file, with a file local variable of the form `mode: outline-minor' (see section AD.2.5 Local Variables in Files).

The major mode, Outline mode, provides special key bindings on the C-c prefix. Outline minor mode provides similar bindings with C-c @ as the prefix; this is to reduce the conflicts with the major mode's special commands. (The variable outline-minor-mode-prefix controls the prefix used.)

Entering Outline mode runs the hook text-mode-hook followed by the hook outline-mode-hook (see section AD.2.3 Hooks).

T.8.1 Format of Outlines		What the text of an outline looks like.
T.8.2 Outline Motion Commands		Special commands for moving through outlines.
T.8.3 Outline Visibility Commands		Commands to control what is visible.
T.8.4 Viewing One Outline in Multiple Views		Outlines and multiple views.
T.8.5 Folding Editing		Folding editing.