Idea processors are computer programs that can aid the user in creating outlines by allowing the user to move, reorder, renumber, expand upon, or delete entries with a push of a button. The question is whether these programs are useful and should be offered to students. Theoretically, an idea processor prioritizes ideas by placing them in a hierarchy. Unfortunately, the idea processor does not really set priorities; it attaches labels indicating priorities that the writer has set. The confusion is between labels or symbols (which are on paper or in the computer) and ideas (which are in the head). The basic limitations of the idea processor are that (1) the meaning of an item on a list is not stable, and (2) the appropriate symbol for the meaning must change when any of the things the item depends on change. Three things need to be adjusted when a program command is used: the idea of what the item means, the idea of what other items mean, and the symbol. The question is whether having to update items is more likely to be a distraction or a way of gaining new insights. Idea processors are not likely to be useful to the ordinary user. Rather, they are likely to be useful to people who regularly plan with outlines, who tend to write things that they are sure about, and who rarely update entries in paper and pencil outlines. (HOD)