The last few weeks we’ve been digesting all of the new features that were announced at Apple’s virtual Worldwide Developer Conference. We’re excited about the transition to Apple Silicon and all of the new features we can bring to MindNode with iOS 14 and macOS 11. You can read about our impressions of the conference in the Wall Street Journal. We’ve also been hard at work on bringing you our latest update and with it new styling options, improvements to Visual Tags, and a significant change to our Smart Layout Engine. Let’s dig in!

We’ve added new styling options, giving you more ways to organize your thoughts. You can now create borderless main nodes (finally!), use an embedded style in the horizontal layout, and a line style when mind mapping in a vertical layout.

We’ve updated the popup tags menu with the ability to enter tag highlighting mode, and remove tags (swipe the tags to the left on iOS).

We’ve made tag highlighting mode even more powerful. Now, when you highlight two or more tags, you can display them as a union, showing nodes with any of the chosen tags, or intersection, showing you nodes which have all of the selected tags.

Our layout engine is what makes your mind maps look great and determines how your nodes move as you create your mind map. With this update, branches will now appear centered to their parent node.

As always, there’s plenty of smaller improvements and bug fixes in this update. For full details check out our release notes.

MindNode 7.3 is a free update and is available now on iOS, iPadOS and Mac.

MindNode 7.3 is now available with new node shapes, improvements for Visual Tags and a new smart layout engine.

New Styles, Improved Tags, and Smarter Layouts

Every platform has a different way of interacting with its devices. On iOS, you tap the touch screen to navigate your content. The iPad works similarly but is opening up to new ways of working with it. This chapter of Hidden Features will focus on a few shortcuts that rely on the traditional keyboard and mouse/trackpad interaction, available on the Mac.

Cross connections are a great way to link ideas that are on different mind maps. You can create them with a keyboard shortcut (⌘ + L), or by selecting the option in the Node menu. Another way is holding down Shift ⇧ and clicking & dragging between two nodes. Hold down Shift ⇧ + Option ⌥ to create an inverted connection.

On iOS, you use your fingers to swipe around on the screen to navigate your canvas. On the Mac, you can do the same with a trackpad and a 2-finger gesture. If you're using a mouse, simply hold down the spacebar and click and drag the canvas.

The trackpad lets us interact with the Mac through a variety of gestures. Most of them are based around swiping, pinching, and using multiple fingers, however, one of the more subtle gestures is force touch. You can use force touch in MindNode to instantly create a new main node anywhere on your canvas.

That's it for this entry. The next Hidden Features will explore how we use iOS gestures as shortcuts in MindNode.

Learn about various hidden shortcuts in MindNode on the Mac

MindNode's Hidden Features – Mac Shortcuts

MindNode is made by IdeasOnCanvas, a small, independent company based in Vienna, Austria. Since our founding, 12 years ago, we’ve grown from a one-man team to a group of 11 people, working on improving, developing, supporting, and designing the world’s most delightful mind mapping app. In this new series, we’d like to take the opportunity to introduce our team and give you a glimpse into the people that make MindNode happen. Without further ado, meet Andreas.

Hi Andreas! Who are you and what do you do at MindNode?

I'm Andreas, a student at the University of Vienna and I'm working in support here at MindNode. That means that I help our users with all sorts of problems and questions regarding MindNode. I use the information provided by users to file bug reports for engineering and I forward ideas, feature requests, and general feedback to the whole team.

Did you use mind maps before you worked at MindNode?

Since I'm a person who likes to visualize thoughts and ideas, I occasionally used mind maps to structure information before writing papers for university. I mainly used pen and paper for such mind maps and the limitations of maps on paper annoyed me but I didn't know MindNode back then.

​I still like to create mind maps before writing a paper for university. However, now I'm using MindNode to do so and it's just fantastic! I can quickly rearrange branches, detach and re-attach them, add images and links, and quickly restyle the whole mind map without much effort. Basically, all those things that are not easily done on paper. I have also used mind maps for presentations at university and at meetings of a volunteer student organization I am a member of. 

Are there any features that are particularly important for you?

I don't think that I can name a specific feature. What makes MindNode such a precious tool is the whole experience of effortless mind mapping and the visually pleasing design. 

What are some of your favorite uses of MindNode?​

I discovered that using MindNode for presenting my ideas to others is actually a lot of fun. Especially Focus Mode improved that by a great deal.

Has working at MindNode changed how you use mind mapping?

Working at MindNode has changed my use of mind-mapping by a great deal. I would say that I'm using it more extensively now; mainly because of the interaction with our users. It's really amazing to see all the diverse use-cases and what our users can accomplish with MindNode.

Meet the team that makes MindNode happen.

Keyboard shortcuts can be a powerful tool when trying to avoid distractions and staying focused. When you’ve become acquainted with an app and its shortcuts well enough, they can start to feel like a natural extension of your hands as you type away. MindNode has many shortcuts that we all know from other apps, like ⌘ + C & ⌘ + V for copy and paste. But in this edition of Hidden Features, we’d like to show you a few shortcuts that will help your fingers stay on your keyboard and mind map more efficiently.

Smart text shortcuts make it easier to create notes, tasks, and tags while typing. Turn them on in the settings panel, and use them on the canvas and in Quick Entry.

You can create a note while editing your node title by adding a new line (⌥ + Enter), typing "--" and adding one more new line. Everything that you write below the two hyphens will turn into a note.

Add a hashtag at the end of a node title, followed by a word to add a new tag instantly. Do the same with other nodes, and they will all have the same tag.

Add "-[]" to the beginning of any node title to create a task. If you add "-[]" to a parent node, it will transform all child nodes to tasks.

Most keyboard shortcuts require the use of a modifier key, like Shift ⇧, Option ⌥ , or Command ⌘. However, if you're using the on-screen software keyboard on your iPhone or iPad, you don't have access to most of these keys. That's why we've added a few shortcuts that work without a hardware keyboard.

Add a new child node while typing by entering three spaces.

If you want to add a new sibling node, just hit the Enter key three times.

If you create a node by accident, you can remove it by hitting the delete key three times.

That wraps up our coverage of advanced text shortcuts. Our next topic will be Mac shortcuts.

Learn how to take advantage of advanced text shortcuts in this chapter of Hidden Features.

MindNode’s Hidden Features – Advanced Text Shortcuts

It’s not often that Apple surprises us with a with a major new feature that completely transforms how we interact with a device. Yet, this spring they accomplished that with the announcement of pointer support in iPadOS 13.4 and the introduction of the new Magic Keyboard.

We’ve been using MindNode with the Magic Keyboard for the last few weeks. Based on our experience we gradually added pointer support to MindNode 7.1, and today we’re happy to share our first enhancements (with more to come soon).

Like on the Mac, you can now use the pointer to easily select multiple nodes using a rubber-band selection. Making it very easy to move multiple nodes or change the style.

Hint: this is also possible with touch input, by long pressing on the canvas and dragging your finger

The pointer also makes moving and rearranging your nodes slightly simpler. Now, you can instantly click and drag a node.

When you’re working on a Mac, the cursor is constantly adapting to what you’re doing. We’ve taken the iPad’s playful, animated pointer and made it transform to the node well, tasks, notes, tags and the resizing knob.

Trackpad support makes an already fantastic mind mapping experience on the iPad even more powerful. Combined with our vast collection of keyboard shortcuts and gestures, it makes capturing your thoughts a breeze.

MindNode 7.2 is a free update and is available now on iOS and Mac. For a full list of all of the bugfixes and improvements, check out our release notes.

MindNode 7.2 is out now with trackpad support for iPadOS

In our last post we explored various features that can be triggered with a long-press action on iOS. All of the gestures we saw were focused on the four icons in the inspector panel. In this installment of Hidden Features we’ll conclude our focus on long-press actions by digging deeper and showing a few other spots you can press down a bit longer.

Focus Mode lets you put a spotlight on a single thought on your mind map. While in Focus Mode, you can tap on any other branch to see an option to refocus to it, or you can use a long-press action to refocus instantly.

Entering a custom node width is a useful feature when you’re trying to create a unified style across several nodes. One way to set the width is by tapping the + and – buttons in the style panel. However, if you long-press “Width” you can open a text field to enter the number you wish.

You can change the color of any element of your mind map by using the built-in color picker. While it’s very easy to pick a nice shade of blue with the sliders, there are times where you need the same shade as your company's logo. Long-press the color picker to enter the precise hex value you need.

When you’ve put in the effort of making your mind map look just like you want it, it makes sense to save it for later, or even to share it with others. If you long-press the + symbol in the themes panel you can instantly extract a theme based on your mind map style and give it a name.

That’s a wrap for long-press actions. Our next Hidden Features post will be focused on advanced text shortcuts in MindNode on Mac and iOS.

Learn how to use long press actions in MindNode on iOS and discover some hidden features.

MindNode's Hidden Features – Long Press Actions in iOS – Pt. 2

Since we released MindNode 7 several months ago, much has changed. Our team has not seen each other personally for over a month. We’ve all found ways of adapting to working at home, taking care of our kids, pets and coordinating over Slack. Yet, one constant has remained throughout the lockdown, which is our work on MindNode. We’ve been busy fixing bugs, improving existing features, and adding several new ones as well. Here’s what we’ve prepared for MindNode 7.1.

We’ve added two new node shapes, hexagonal and octagonal to help you emphasize certain ideas and further personalize your document.

We’ve also looked into more ways that you can customize your mind maps. Now, you can decide where your images and stickers are placed, to the side, above or below your ideas.

Many of us begin our weeks by creating a mind map of what we would like to accomplish. With our new Shortcut Action you can create a workflow to automatically export your documents to Reminders, Things & OmniFocus.

We’ve also added basic support for Pointer Interactions on iPadOS 13.4, with full support coming with MindNode 7.2, and several bug fixes and improvements. For a full list check out our release notes:

MindNode 7.1 and the upcoming 7.2 release are free updates for all MindNode 7 users.

We hope that you’re all doing well, wherever you’re spending the lockdown, and we look forward to hearing your feedback on our latest update.

MindNode 7.1 is out now with new node shapes, customization options and more.

Shortcuts, Shapes and Repositioning Images

While the spread of the new corona virus has impacted our lives, we've all taken preventative measures and have switched to working from home. Instead of chatting with each other in our office kitchen, we're now doing daily team video chats. With our kids at home, our productivity has naturally slowed a bit, but we are adapting and are still hard at work on the next update. In the spirit of a recent post by Jason Fried, we want to offer you a small glimpse into our current home office setup.

"My home office setup is a MacBook Pro with an external display and nothing else. Rarely pen and paper. That black thing behind the display is a PlayStation 4."

"I share my home office with my two cats. For testing MindNode and supporting our users I have a MacBook Pro (+ second screen, stand, Magic Keyboard & Trackpad), two iPads (+ keyboard & Apple Pencil), an Apple Watch and iPhone XR. Also a notebook, highlighter, pen & sticky notes."

"When I work at home I normally work from the kitchen table. For the quarantine, we built a home setup in our bedroom. From the office, I brought home a monitor, an office chair and peripherals.  We also 'borrowed' a desk from our daughter. My wife and I share this setup at the moment."

"Luckily, I have my company iMac here at home. Otherwise MacBook Pro 13", late 2013"

"My usual home office is a IKEA standing desk, Mac Pro with XDR plus 27” LG, a RødeCaster with AudioTechnica mic and headphones for podcasting, as well as my cam for video work. Audio is done with a smaller Bose Setup and some stereo-linked HomePods in the rear. Oh, and I use all the lighting gear for video stuff to bring this room to blinding daylight brightness, which helps a lot with the mood right now. :)"

"My wife and I converted our dining table into a shared home office. My half of the table features a MacBook Pro with an external monitor and an iPad Pro."

"My desk didn’t really change due to Covid-19. Just the office in Impact Hub Ostrava that I share with 2 others is just for me in these days. Featuring Ikea motorized desk, old but still good 24” HP display, 16” MBP, 11” iPad Pro, B&O headphones, Magic Mouse."

"My office is in my bedroom. I reassure myself of the existence of the outside world with a desktop wallpaper of my last holiday. I use two video-led panels on microphone stands to brighten up the room."

The spread of the new corona virus has impacted all of our lives. Here's how we've adapted to working from home.

One of the philosophies that go into the design of all of MindNode’s features is that the app stays out of your way, letting you focus on your thoughts and create your mind map. Simultaneously we put a lot of effort into making our features as powerful and easily accessible as possible. We take advantage of the various types of gestures and shortcuts that are possible on the Mac and on iOS to make mind mapping intuitive and a delightful experience. So we’d like to shine a light on some of the interactions in MindNode that are slightly hidden, and will help you become a power user.

A long press action is triggered by holding your finger down on the screen of your iPad or iPhone on a particular element for about a second. This gesture can add an extra layer of functionality to a button or element that you normally tap, which is how we added a few of the following hidden features in your actions panel.

You can easily change a node into a task by using the Command + Shift + T keyboard shortcut, or by finding the feature in the actions panel, however there is one more hidden shortcut to make this happen. Simply highlight the branch you would like to transform into tasks, and long press the inspector panel icon (the three dots) and voila! You’ve just made some tasks. Long press the icon again to remove them.

If your node has a note attached to it, you can quick preview the content of it by long pressing the notes/tag symbol. A preview will appear on your canvas as long as you keep your finger pressed on the screen.

Next time you want to add an image to your mind map that you have saved in your iCloud folders instead of your photo stream, long press the images symbol and the file manager will show up.

If you like the way a particular node looks, you can quickly copy its style to your entire map, nodes on the same level or the rest of the branch. Select the node you like and long press the style symbol to choose where to apply your look.

That's all for now. Hidden Features will be a recurring series on our blog, showcasing more gestures and interactions throughout MindNode on macOS and iOS. Our next topic will be long press actions in iOS.

MindNode's Hidden Features – Long Press Actions in iOS – Pt. 1

My name is Christopher Grant and I am a professional artist working in the medium of oil on large format canvas to create traditional Abstract Expressionist works.

How has MindNode been a part of your workflow?

While I mainly use MindNode in my professional work, one of the more interesting uses I’ve found is creating cartographic style concept maps for a game I play with friends, Dungeons & Dragons.

Originally it was just a part of my workflow, utilizing other applications along side it. Now, however, MindNode is the workflow. Almost everything I do for our games begins and ends with MindNode. From brainstorming and creating adventures to expanding our cartographic maps. It is the constant brainstorming that is the workspace rather than a jumping-off point.

Tell us more about how you use mind mapping for creating an adventure.

During our gameplay, players will adventure through fictional places I’ve created for them as the Dungeon Master. A Dungeon Master is like a storyteller and the Players are like the main protagonists of the story. Rather than using traditionally drawn maps, I create concept maps where each node represents a specific place such as a town or dungeon.

Are there any features in MindNode that help in particular?

When players explore new areas I’ve not yet created, something that happens a lot in our games, I can quickly create new nodes describing them. It’s this ability to not get bogged down with the multiple keystrokes that makes it so desirable. It’s fast to create maps! This drastically reduces preparation time and perhaps more importantly helps keeps our fictional world where it should be, in our imaginations.

Another important feature of MindNode is one most people may not even consider a feature, it’s esthetics. Because these mind maps that are created for our games are often shared, it’s important they look good. MindNode’s mind maps are quite esthetic and thus I’m not forced to spend large amounts of time making changes in order to make our maps pretty. As such, the app feels lighter, faster and more fluid than other mind mapping applications.

"Almost everything I do for our games begins and ends with MindNode." – Christopher Grant

How Christopher Creates Adventures with Mind Maps – Being a Dungeon Master

MindNode 7 is now available on the App Store, the Mac App Store, and Setapp. This release adds Visual Tags, a new feature that helps you add more context to your thoughts. We have also introduced our new MindNode Plus subscription and a new Free Editor.

Tags are a great way to categorize and add more context to your thoughts. You can use them to prioritize ideas and bring focus to a related group of ideas that are otherwise not connected. Using our tag highlight mode, you can focus on a group of tags to discover new connections between your ideas. 

We’ve also updated our outline to support tags. Now when you’re browsing your mind map in outline mode, you can see which tags you’ve assigned to your nodes.

Visual Tags can also be added to your thoughts while typing them up in Quick Entry. Simply select the tag symbol to add a tag to your node or just type # and the following text will become a tag. This #-shortcut will also work when you edit your nodes on the canvas.

With MindNode 7 we have also changed our business model from a one-time purchase to a subscription. MindNode Plus is our new cross-platform subscription that unlocks all of MindNode’s features on Mac & iOS. 

MindNode 7 is a free upgrade for all existing MindNode 5 and MindNode 6 customers. This means that if you purchased MindNode 5 or 6 your app will automatically update to MindNode 7 and you will get Visual Tags and all other enhancements for free. New features in future releases will require MindNode Plus.

MindNode Plus is available as a monthly and annual subscription. Initially, the monthly subscription will be priced at $2.49 and the yearly at $19.99 (local prices will vary based on taxes and currency conversion).

We have also introduced a new Free Editor, which allows basic editing operations like adding nodes, editing titles, reordering and folding. Documents can also be imported and exported. Even when your subscription has elapsed, you are never locked in and you always have access to your data.

For more information about our decision to change our business model please read our previous blog post, and if you have any questions about your license please check our extensive FAQ about MindNode Plus.

With only 9 months since  MindNode 6, a major point-update last fall and now MindNode 7 with Visual Tags and a major update to our business model, we have entered a new era for MindNode. In the future, we will be able to bring you new features and updates much more frequently. 

We are looking forward to hearing your feedback and please don't forget to check out the release notes for all new MindNode 7 changes - like new stickers, a new theme and better system integration on iOS. 

Add More Context to Your Thoughts – MindNode 7 has Landed

Could you tell us a little bit about yourself?

My name is David and I am working as a freelance React Native developer and bootcamp instructor specializing in cross-platform application development. I work remotely and I love building things for happy users.
My other mission is helping people to earn time by sharing all my automation and life hacks!

I am using MindNode for a lot of things, but basically it's for dumping my brain.

As a developer — and especially in the JavaScript world — it's really complicated to stay up-to-date with all the different technologies. When I am reading a great article, instead of just bookmarking it, I make a manual curation for my own work. I found this technique really effective for the memory, because when I am working with clients or during a bootcamp I remember the location of the bookmark on my giant mind map.

As a React developer I am always thinking in terms of a tree of component (It's more or less the same as a giant HTML page with plenty of nodes). When I jump on a new project, I used to draw the application component tree on a whiteboard. Now I am using MindNode, it helps me to visualise the interactions and state.
As an automation Nerd I am using a lot of tools like Zapier to connect API's together. It's really powerful for creating automated flows like the classic onboarding. It's ok when you have simple interactions, but when it become more complex I always create a mind map to reflect all the different scenarios.

Your first release to the store for your mobile application

Going to vacations can be a stressful experience. As humans being we like to complete tasks. That's a great opportunity to use the feature "add task to node" and export them to notes to complete my packing list from my phone!

What features in particular have been important for you?

When you are working 8 hours on a tool, every seconds matters. I am a power user of Alfred, a productivity app which boosts your efficiency with hotkeys.

One of my main problem is time. If I want to edit a mind map here is the classic workflow:

It's very slow, I don't have time for this. This is why I am using Alfred to automate the workflow.

This allows me to quickly copy/paste urls if I want to bookmark them.

According to me, the most important feature with MindNode is sharing files in different formats (.pdf,.png or .markdown) I am using it all the time!

When I need to write a blogpost I can quickly export my MindNode document (with option +  command + e) to a markdown file and illustrate my thoughts with a nice image.

Feel free to contact me on Twitter if you want some automation advice with MindNode 😉

"When I am working with clients or during a bootcamp I remember the location of the bookmark on my giant mind map." - David Leuliette

How David Develops with Mind Maps – Automating and Planning

From time to time we update our privacy policy to adapt it to changing legal requirements and updates to our services infrastructure. Today we released a significant update and we want to ensure you are aware of it.

We updated many parts of the policy to improve its clarity and added more details on how long we retain data. We also added a new section to document how we process data of applicants. Due to local Austrian rules, we also changed the required legal age for data collection from 14 to 16.

You can find our updated version of the privacy policy here. If you have any feedback or need help, please drop us a note at privacy@mindnode.com.

We are excited to announce that we are going to ship MindNode 7, our next major update, early next year. MindNode 7 will add Visual Tags - a brand new feature to bring more context to your ideas. With this release, we are also introducing a new Free Editor and customers can unlock our full feature set with our new MindNode Plus subscription. For all existing MindNode 5 and MindNode 6 customers, MindNode 7 will be a free upgrade.

We will share more information about our new tagging feature in the coming weeks. Today I’d like to focus on our motivation behind changing our business model and what it means for the future of MindNode.

What we learned from MindNode 5 and MindNode 6

Over the last two years, we released two major updates: MindNode 5 was a paid upgrade and MindNode 6 was a free upgrade. When we started working on MindNode 7 we knew that our next release would be a paid upgrade and we closely looked at our experience with the recent updates.

While MindNode 5 was a very popular release with our customers, we weren’t happy with how our new upgrade mechanism worked. As the App Store has no native support for paid upgrades, we tried to work around this limitation, by using differently priced In-App Purchases. This sounded like a great solution on paper and worked great in our tests, but we ran into many issues in real-life situations. Our discount mechanism had to launch a previous version of MindNode to check for eligibility. This did not always work as we had imagined it and resulted in a bumpy experience for some customers.

With this in mind, we knew that we didn’t want to go down the same path again. A subscription-based model showed the most promise to meet our customers’ needs as well as our own when we mind mapped our options.

There are several reasons why we believe subscriptions are the right choice for the future of MindNode.

With subscriptions, we can deliver updates to our users much more frequently. In the past, we had to hold back completed new features for over a year until we had finished all other features that made up a major update.

Going with subscriptions also decreases the entry price for new customers. This is particularly useful for people who may only need MindNode occasionally, for example, a freelancer who is kicking off a new client project.

It also makes pricing much more predictable. New customers no longer need to wonder about the right time to purchase MindNode, since there will be no more paid upgrades that might unexpectedly surprise them.

A subscription-based model also gives us more flexibility in what we can offer to our users. MindNode can be unlocked on macOS and iOS with a single subscription (this is not possible with one-time purchases on the App Store) and we are exploring how we can offer family and business licenses in the future.

Finally, we have to take into consideration that MindNode is a constantly evolving product, which we want to continue working on. Subscriptions provide us with a stable roadmap for the future where we can continue to adopt new Apple technologies in a timely manner, work on supporting collaboration and expand into new platforms.

We are fully aware that a subscription might not be the best solution for all of our users. This is why we are launching a new Free Editor together with MindNode Plus. Instead of a viewer of MindNode documents, our free version now also allows basic editing operations like adding nodes, reordering and folding them. In the Free Editor, we will also continue to support all import and export formats, so your data is never locked in!

When we considered subscriptions, we also made sure we found a good solution for our existing users. As a loyal customer, you will receive MindNode 7 for free and keep access to all its features in the future, even without subscribing to MindNode Plus. Furthermore, you will continue to receive bug fixes and minor enhancements.

MindNode Plus will launch together with MindNode 7 in early 2020. We will offer a monthly and annual subscription. Initially, the monthly subscription will be priced at $2.49 and the yearly at $19.99 (local prices will vary based on taxes and currency conversion).

I understand that every adjustment in a business model can be confusing or irritating. We’ve tried our best to make this transition as smooth as possible and hope you will continue to support us in the future. We’ve prepared an extensive FAQ and if you have any more questions, please contact us.

We are excited to announce that we are going to ship MindNode 7, our next major update, early next year. MindNode 7 will add Visual Tags - a brand new feature to bring more context to your ideas. We are also launching MindNode Plus, a new subscription.

MindNode 7 – Visual Tags and Business Model Changes

It’s that time of the year again when many of us are updating our iPads & iPhones to the newest version of iOS. While most of the attention is usually given to the new system features Apple has created, developers are also excited to take advantage of new tools and features they can integrate into their apps. And we’re no exception. We’ve been working hard the past three months to make sure MindNode users can benefit from and enjoy what iPadOS and iOS 13 has to offer. Here’s what we’ve been able to create for MindNode 6.1.

Multi-tasking has been a slowly evolving feature of iOS. Starting with being able to have apps running background processes and to the unveiling of a split-screen multitasking mode two years ago. This year the next step is the arrival of having multiple documents open simultaneously from a single app. What this means for you is that now you'll be able to have MindNode open in multiple spaces on your iPad, enabling you to work on multiple mind maps simultaneously.

MindNode users will know we’ve had support for Dark Mode for a while now. However with iPadOS 13 there’s a subtle change in how it works - thanks to systemwide support for Dark Mode. Now you can have Dark Mode active when your iPhone or iPad goes dark, based on the time of day or your system settings, or you can have MindNode’s appearance adapt to the theme of your mind map.

Quick Entry is an easy way to jot down your thoughts in an outline format and instantly transform them into a mind map. With MindNode 6.1 we’ve added the possibility to save your Quick Entries as drafts, so that you can keep working on them until you’re ready to send them to your canvas. Quick Entry Drafts will be coming to our macOS version soon in an upcoming update.

Siri Shortcuts is an easy way to automate tasks that you regularly perform by asking Siri to do them. These tasks can be something Siri learns about your behavior, or workflows you create on your own. With iOS 13 Siri Shortcuts have become even more powerful, by allowing users to add parameters to their shortcuts. What this means is that you can now tell Siri to open a new MindNode document with a title, some text, or the current date already filled in.

To start add the Export Document action from MindNode's shortcuts

Change the parameters to last opened document

Choose the file format you need. Make sure that the export goes to Clipboard

Add the Get Clipboard action from the Sharing shortcuts

Next add the Send Email action from the Mail app shortcuts and change the parameters to send Clipboard to your team's email addresses and enter your subject.

Make sure that the last opened document in MindNode is the one you want to share before you start the shortcut!

With iOS 13 Apple also greatly improved support for Apple Pencil and annotations in general. MindNode 6.1 takes advantage of this in two different places.

You can now add drawings and annotate images directly in MindNode. In annotation mode, you can easily scribble a few comments on your attached images, quickly draw a supply and demand graph for your economics class notes, or start sketching your next backyard project.

The second improvement is related to screenshots. When you take a screenshot using the Top/Side button and Volume-up button combination you can now get a screenshot of the entire mind map. Annotating and sharing a mind map has never been easier.

While we were getting these iPadOS & iOS 13 features baked into MindNode 6.1 we also were busy squashing bugs, fine-tuning existing features and adding a few others as well. Check out our full release notes for more details.

MindNode 6.1 is available now on the App Store.

MindNode 6.1 is now available! Check out what we've built in our latest release and how we're integrating new iPadOS & iOS 13 features into MindNode.

Multi-Document, Dark Mode and more – MindNode for iPadOS 13

My name is Thomas Dori and I'm a digital strategist who combines his 3 passions - contemplation, communication, and coding - into one business.

Is there one situation or project in which mind mapping helped you the most?

Digital Marketing (Strategies) is a very broad concept. Especially, when you are not working in this field every day, it can quickly feel overwhelming. To help my clients and me see the bigger picture including all the opportunities and necessities I start every project by presenting a mind map that gives a clear overview of what needs to be considered before and while doing digital marketing. We then use a copy of that mind map as a checklist to keep track of what we already thought about and what still needs to be considered. The final result is a clear vision of what the client’s company currently stands for, where it wants to go, and what needs to be done to get there.

How did you get your thoughts out of your head and into a mind map?

My current mind map for digital marketing is probably the millionth version of what it used to be several years ago. It started with the wish to have an overview of types of media (owned vs. shared vs. earned vs. paid). I continued to work on mind maps about branding, personas, social media marketing, and content marketing - and thought "Why not merging them into one huge mind map?" After moving everything around for hours and making it as MECE (mutually exclusive & collectively exhaustive) as possible, I tweaked the wording to get some nice acronyms (BRACES + 4C). The final but also essential step was the styling. I used the brand colors of my agency „Anwert" and the gorgeous stickers that MindNode has built in. Although I love the Auto Layout feature, I used the manual layout in my mind map because I wanted to give some nodes a bit more spacing than others.

How did it feel to finally see all your thoughts in a mind map?

Relieved. This mind map is like my external memory, and every time I look at it, I'm delighted that I have spent so much time to build it. It's like a cheat sheet that helps me to remember everything.

Once you were done with the mind map, what did you do next?

My mind map for digital marketing will never be final. It is the core of what I'm doing in my business every day. And like my business adjusts to new knowledge, trends and customer needs, so will this mind map. But even though it's a living document I use it all the time for myself as well as to support my clients in their (digital) marketing efforts. Most of the time people are stunned by how graspable such a complex topic becomes in a mind map - and how beautiful MindNode makes it look.

Where can people find out more about you and your work?

"Most of the time people are stunned by how graspable such a complex topic becomes in a mind map." - Thomas Dori

How Thomas Shows Clients the Bigger Picture – Creating a Marketing Strategy

My name is Teddy Svoronos and I’m a Lecturer in Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School. 

MindNode is the app that I use to begin the process of developing new classes. When staring down the barrel of a new class session, there is a seemingly infinite number of paths I could go down - huge numbers of topics, examples, and in-class exercises that could conceivably be incorporated into the class. MindNode helps me turn this complexity into a plan. I can group ideas into categories, which then link to one another in ways that gradually emerge as a class plan.

I start by creating as many Main Nodes as possible - using ⇧-Enter to dump all the ideas that pop into my head into a messy group of unstructured ideas. As I do this, I often start seeing connections immediately, so I’ll drag them on top of one another, or creating connection lines between them. If there are images, examples, or tables that I want to reference, I’ll drag them onto the map as well.

The best part is the transition from feeling overwhelmed and without structure to seeing a concrete set of steps to move forward. The mind map ends up being the starting point for further content - handouts and slides and such - but the map is always visible and always guiding how I conceptualize the class.

You can find out more about me on www.teddysvoronos.com or on my Twitter profile.

Teddy's Public Policy Class Mind Map
References: Kleinberg, J., Lakkaraju, H., Leskovec, J., Ludwig, J., & Mullainathan, S. (2017). Human Decisions and Machine Predictions. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 133(1), 237-293.

How Teddy Turns Complexity Into a Plan – Preparing a University Course

My name is Eric Bowers and I'm a Mortgage Loan Originator, business owner, writer/blogger.

That would be working on writing my first novel, the forthcoming The Mayor of Blackout County. My issue with the project was that I had the basic outline in my head, but needed to create more of a timeline so that I didn't get lost within the milestones of the story. I ended up creating a horizontal timeline using Vertical layout with angular branches, which was a great help in creating visual indications of my progress along the story line. 

I began, as I often do, with the Quick Entry feature. I input the main goal of what I was trying to accomplish, which was, "Write novel". Quick Entry seems to be at the core of what MindNode represents to me; a literal canvas upon which I can just let my mind wander. I entered a few major milestones into the outline entry area in Quick Entry, and then clicked "Create Mind Map". As the weeks and months went on I was able to add to the mind map using my iPhone and iPad or of course, my MacBook. It's important that MindNode is installed everywhere so that when inspiration strikes I have captured my thoughts.

See here for the map for the novel. It's not overly useful because I have folded up the details as it has the entire story contained there in milestones and major events. One thing to note: I created a separate theme for this particular mind map, to coincide with the overall feel of the story...that's a hint, but it always puts me in the right mindset.

In a word: relieved. I thought,"There. Now you have no excuse not to write this novel, because the elements are in place."...and what was funny was I just began writing, checking off tasks that I had assigned to various pieces of the story. Getting the main points out propelled me forward as a writer.

Because it obviously contains spoilers, I only showed the mind map to my wife who exclaimed,"Wow that looks great! What app is that?" (I'm not joking, either. She hadn't used MindNode for a while and was impressed with the layout capabilities).

How MindNode Propels Eric Forward – Writing a Novel

For many years our website was only an afterthought. We pride ourselves on sweating over every single detail in our app, but we neglected all other channels of communication with you.

Last year we embarked on a journey to change this. As a first step, we updated our onboarding emails earlier this year. These are the emails you can subscribe to when you first launch MindNode. The 3-email-course takes you from how to create nodes to how you can style your documents and while doing so teaches you a little bit about Apple Strudel - a typical Austrian dessert. You can subscribe to this course on our new Learn page or preview the first email here.

While working on our new onboarding emails, we also started a project to revamp our website. The goal was to no longer present MindNode as two separate apps (with dedicated feature pages), add focus on how you can use MindNode (something that comes up a lot in support emails) and to find a fun & delightful design that better fits with the app.

A lot of team effort went into creating our website, but it wouldn't have been possible without the fantastic work and collaboration from our graphic designer Isabella Thaller, our web designer Thomas Strobl and marketing consultant Thomas Dori. 

I hope you like our new website. Let us know what you think.

My name is Rosemary Orchard and I'm a developer by day, and a blogger and podcaster by night!

It's hard to pick just one, any complicated idea starts out as a mind map for me to let me get to grips with all facets of it. I'm currently working on a course to help people learn JavaScript to use with apps like Drafts and MindNode has been extremely helpful letting me keep track of and organise all my ideas.


I usually start in quick entry mode on iOS. My iPhone is usually the device in my hand so I start listing things there, then I jump into the mind map as the ideas slow down, and add to what I have and rearrange things.

Depending on the mind map I can feel anything from awed to overwhelmed! In this case I feel rather daunted by the tasks ahead, creating a whole course, but also calmed because I can see where everything is and what I've already completed is marked off.

I shared my mind map with a few friends for feedback before tweaking it. Then I printed it out on A3 paper so I could stick it on my wall! It's colourful and a great reminder of my goal right now.

"Creating a whole course, but also calmed because I can see where everything is and what I've already completed is marked off." - Rosemary Orchard

Blog

New Styles, Improved Tags, and Smarter Layouts

MindNode's Hidden Features – Mac Shortcuts

Meet the Team – Andreas

MindNode’s Hidden Features – Advanced Text Shortcuts

Trackpad Support for MindNode is Here

MindNode's Hidden Features – Long Press Actions in iOS – Pt. 2

Shortcuts, Shapes and Repositioning Images

Greetings from Our Home Office

MindNode's Hidden Features – Long Press Actions in iOS – Pt. 1

How Christopher Creates Adventures with Mind Maps – Being a Dungeon Master

Add More Context to Your Thoughts – MindNode 7 has Landed

How David Develops with Mind Maps – Automating and Planning

Updates to Our Privacy Policy

MindNode 7 – Visual Tags and Business Model Changes

Multi-Document, Dark Mode and more – MindNode for iPadOS 13

How Thomas Shows Clients the Bigger Picture – Creating a Marketing Strategy

How Teddy Turns Complexity Into a Plan – Preparing a University Course

How MindNode Propels Eric Forward – Writing a Novel

Welcome to Our New Website

How Rosemary Teaches JavaScript – From Awed to Overwhelmed

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