Outline mode is where a piece begins. Instead of starting with a blank canvas, you gather raw material — fragments of thought, spoken notes, pasted text — and let Dear organize them into index cards. Once your cards are in order, you pick a structure, review the AI-generated plan, and send the whole thing to Write with one click.Documentation Index
Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.trydear.app/llms.txt
Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
Switching to Outline
Select the Outline tab on the left side of the toolbar at the top of the workspace. You can return to Write at any time; your cards are preserved between switches.The Explore sub-tab
When you first open Outline, you land on the Explore sub-tab — a staging area for raw input. Use the switcher at the bottom of the panel to move between Explore and Outline. There are three ways to add material:Talk
Press the voice button to start live transcription. Dear captures what you say in real time using live transcription. When you stop, the spoken text is committed as a new index card.
Type
Type a short note directly into the staging area and press Enter (or the send button) to create a card.
Only typed text counts toward your human-written word total. Words that arrive through AI-generated headers are not credited.
The Outline sub-tab
Switch to the Outline sub-tab to shape your cards into a plan. Dear reads your cards and generates a plan summary and a set of suggestions based on the structure you choose.Choosing a structure
Select one of four structures before generating the plan:| Structure | Best for |
|---|---|
| Outline | Hierarchical pieces with distinct sections |
| Freeform | Open-ended writing without a fixed shape |
| Narrative | Stories or sequential accounts |
| Comparison | Side-by-side analysis of two or more subjects |
Reviewing the plan
After you pick a structure, Dear generates:- A plan summary that describes how your cards fit together.
- Suggestions — additional cards you can add to fill gaps in the outline. Each suggestion inserts at a specific position. You can refresh suggestions to get alternatives.