Outlining is actually a fantastic tool and you should definitely give it another chance. You can undo all outlining by right clicking in an edit window and selecting Outlining | Stop Outlining. From the right click pop-up menu you can toggle all sorts of outlining options. Also, check out the Outlining pop-up from the Edit menu and you'll see the keystrokes assigned to the different commands.
This was first published in February 2004