Documentation

Introduction

Outliny helps you:

• Structure ideas with nested outlines templates.
• Collaborate in real time with teammates.
• Organize templates, emails in one place.
• Export beautifully formatted documents or emails via API.

Whether you’re drafting a novel, brainstorming a presentation, or automating invoice generation, Outliny makes it simple to capture, arrange, and render your content.

Create an Account

Your First Outline

1. Log in and click New Outline.
2. Give it a title (e.g. “Blog Post: The Future of AI”).
3. Start typing your first item.

Core Concepts

Features

• Rich Text & Media: Bold, italics, code blocks, links, images, and file attachments right inside your outline.
• Version History: Track changes over time and revert to any previous version in a single click.
• Export Options: Download your outline or rendered document as Markdown, PDF, Word, or PowerPoint via our UI or API.
• Custom & Prebuilt Modules: Use custom modules or select from our library of prebuilt modules to extend your outlines and templates effortlessly.
• Team Invitations: Invite anyone to join Outliny and collaborate in your workspace.
• MJML & HTML Conversion: Convert MJML templates to HTML and render HTML directly to PDF or email formats within the platform.
• CSV to PDF: Upload CSV files and convert specific columns into PDF documents in bulk or individually.
• Media Uploads: Upload images, PDFs, and other media assets to include in your outlines and templates.
• Shareable Projects & PDFs: Generate shareable links to your PDFs or projects, grant public access or restrict to specific users without extra permissions.

Base URL

https://outliny.com/api

Authentication

To interact with the Outliny API, you must authenticate your requests using an API key. Keep this key private and never expose it in frontend or client-side code.

POST /api/v1/emails/generate-html
Content-Type: application/json
Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY

{
  "template_id": "67eb70b13db3897294",
  "data": {
    "first_name": "Jane",
    "invoice_number": "INV-1001"
  }
}

Or using JavaScript (Fetch API):

fetch('https://api.outliny.com/pdf/generate', {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: {
    'Authorization': 'Bearer YOUR_API_KEY',
    'Content-Type': 'application/json'
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({ template_id: 'your-template-id',
   data: { name: 'Jane Doe', invoice_number: 'INV-1001' } })
})
.then(res => res.json())
.then(console.log);

Security Best Practices:

• Never expose your API key in frontend code or public repos. Use environment variables instead.
• Regenerate your key immediately if compromised.
• Always use HTTPS to encrypt data in transit
• Use multiple keys for separate environments (development, production) for isolation.

Postman Collection

Outliny provides a ready-to-use Postman Collection to help you explore and test our APIs effortlessly, without writing code.

What’s Included?

• Authentication headers
• Generate a PDF
• Batch Generate PDFs
• Get a Submission
• Expire Submission
• List Submissions
• Generate PDF Preview for Data
• (Coming Soon) Email generation endpoints

1. Open Postman and click Import.
2. Choose Link or File and paste/upload the Outliny collection.
3. Set your API Key in the Authorization header (Bearer Token).
4. Replace placeholder variables (template_id, data) with your actual values.
5. Hit Send to test!

Example: Generate a PDF

• template_id – found in your Outliny dashboard.
• data – dynamic date you want injected into the template.

{
  "template_id": "abc123-template-id",
  "data": {
    "full_name": "John Doe",
    "invoice_id": "INV-2024-0091"
  }
}

Test Before You Code:

Using Postman helps validate your request structure and data before implementing your integration in code. Ideal for:

• Debugging data issues.
• Verifying template rendering
• Testing new endpoints

Next Steps:

• Install an API Client
• Authentication
• Testing new endpoints

Integrate the API

1. Create a Template using Outliny’s visual builder (PDF or Email).
2. Retrieve the Template ID from your dashboard.
3. Send API Request with your dynamic data (see examples above).
4. Receive a rendered PDF or email payload in response.

• PDF Templates: Single-page (PDFme) or multi-page (GrapesJS)
• Email Templates: Built with MJML and editable via drag-and-drop.

FAQ

Support and Feedback