FreeMind- free mind mapping software -

FreeMind
- free mind mapping software -

Home page of FreeMind
Table of key mappings
- File commands:
  New map - Ctrl+N
  Open map - Ctrl+O
  Save map - Ctrl+S
  Save as - Ctrl+A
  Print - Ctrl+P
  Close - Ctrl+W
  Quit - Ctrl+Q
  Previous map - Ctrl+LEFT
  Next Map - Ctrl+RIGHT
  Export file to HTML - Ctrl+E
  Export branch to HTML - Ctrl+H
  Export branch to new MM file - Alt+A
  Open first file in history - Ctrl+Shift+W
  
  Edit commands:
  Find - Ctrl+F
  Find next - Ctrl+G
  Cut - Ctrl+X
  Copy - Ctrl+C
  Copy single - Ctrl+Y
  Paste - Ctrl+V
  
  Mode commands:
  MindMap mode - Alt+1
  Browse mode - Alt+2
  File mode - Alt+3
  
  Node formatting commands:
  Italicize - Ctrl+I
  Bold - Ctrl+B
  Cloud - Ctrl+Shift+B
  Change node color - Alt+C
  Blend node color - Alt+B
  Change node edge color - Alt+E
  Increase node font size - Ctrl+L
  decrease node font size - Ctrl+M
  Increase branch font size - Ctrl+Shift+L
  Decrease branch font size - Ctrl+Shift+M
  
  Node navigation commands:
  Go to root - ESCAPE
  Move up - UP
  Move down - DOWN
  Move left - LEFT
  Move right - RIGHT
  Follow link - Ctrl+ENTER
  Zoom out - Alt+UP
  Zoom in - Alt+DOWN
  
  New node commands:
  Add sibling node - ENTER
  Add child node - INSERT
  Add sibling before - Shift+ENTER
  
  Node editing commands:
  Edit selected node - F2
  Edit long node - Alt+ENTER
  Join nodes - Ctrl+J
  Toggle folded - SPACE
  Toggle children folded - Ctrl+SPACE
  Set link by filechooser - Ctrl+Shift+K
  Set link by text entry - Ctrl+K
  Set image by filechooser - Alt+K
  Move node up - Ctrl+UP
  Move node down - Ctrl+DOWN
Installation
- Links
  - Download the Java Runtime Environment (at least J2RE1.4)
  - Download the Application
- To install FreeMind on Microsoft Windows, install Java from Sun and install FreeMind using FreeMind installer.
- To install FreeMind on Linux, download Java Runtime Environment and FreeMind application itself. First install Java, then unpack FreeMind. To run FreeMind, execute freemind.sh.
- On Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X, you can also simply double click the file freemind.jar located at the folder lib to run FreeMind.
Browsing the files on your computer
- To browse files on your computer, switch to file mode in pull-down menu using Modes > File.
- You browse the file tree as if it was a mind map.
- To make a folder the central node of the map, in node context menu use Center.
- To view, edit or execute a file, follow the link of its node.
- The file mode is currently not very useful. It is a demonstration that it's not too difficult to feed data into the tree from other source than mind map. There is no evidence that people would actually use this mode.
Browsing mind maps
- To browse mind maps rather than to edit them, switch to browse mode in pull-down menu using Modes > Browse. Unless used in FreeMind applet, this function is useless.
- The reasons for having a separate browsing mode are technical. Browsing is the only thing you can do in FreeMind applet which can be put to your website. Normally, you would not use browse mode in FreeMind.
About modes
- Although Freemind is primarily a tool for editing mind maps, it is designed to be able to view data coming from various data sources. To make a specific data source available for viewing in FreeMind, a programmer has to write a so called mode for that data source. File mode is an example. We do not know of any other modes implemented. It is not clear if anyone would really want to make use of this architecture; it's here to be exploited if someone wants to.
- There is code almost ready for scheme mode which enables you to edit scheme programs. Again, the usefulness is far from clear. Unlike mind map mode, other modes are more of a demonstration of what is possible rather than something actually in use.
Installing FreeMind applet at your web site
- You can install the applet at your website so that other users can browse your mind maps.
- Download the applet, that is freemind-browser.
- The downloaded archive contains freemindbrowser.jar and freemindbrowser.html. Create a link from your page to freemindbrowser.html. In freemindbrowser.html change the path inside so that it points to your mind map.
- Applet's jar file must be located at the same server as the map itself, for java security reasons. You have to upload the FreeMind applet jar file and your mind map file to your web site.
Using the FreeMind applet
- In FreeMind applet, you can only use the browse mode; you cannot edit remote maps. Click a node to toggle folding or to follow a link. Drag the background to move the map. To search the map, use node context menu.
Changes in user interface in version 0.6.5
- Some of the keyboard settings have been redefined so that they align themselves with what we consider shared standard or intuitive use. Some of the new keyboard settings are modelled on Microsoft tools. New key settings include enter for creating of new siblings below the node, insert for creating new children, F2 for editing nodes - here the Microsoft influence is apparent while there is no intuitive reason to have F2 for node editing. But once you get used to it in all the applications you use, you want to have that one in FreeMind too.
- The keyboard settings can be changed in pull-down menu Tools > Preferences.
Credits
- Authors
  - Joerg Mueller
    - ponders@t-online.de
    - University of Freiburg, Germany
  - Daniel Polansky
  - Petr Novak
  - Christian Foltin
    - christian.foltin@gmx.de
  - Dimitri Polivaev
- Smaller contributions
  - Andrew Iggleden
    - Installer Windows
  - Bob Alexander
    - Eclipse howto
  - David Butt
    - Tutorial flash
  - David Low
    - Helpful
- Translations
  - Bob Alexander
    - Italian translation
  - Knud Riishøjgård
    - Danish translation
  - Takeshi Kakeda
    - Japanese translation
  - Kohichi Aoki
    - Japanese translation
  - Alex Dukal
    - Spanish translation
  - Hugo Gayosso
    - Spanish translation
  - Sylvain Gamel
    - French translation
  - Koen Roggemans
    - Dutch translation
  - Rafal Kraik
    - Polish translation
  - Goliath
    - Korean translation
  - Miles a.k.a. filmsi
    - Slovenian translation
  - William Chen
    - Chinese translation
  - Radek Švarc
    - Czech translation
  - Balázs Márton
    - Hungarian translation
  - Luis Ferreira
    - Portuguese translation
  - The credits for translations are probably incomplete. If we have forggoten you, let us know. All people who we know to contribute a least an incomplete translation are listed.
Press Ctrl + F to search. Press Ctrl + G to find next. To make the search global, press Esc before searching.
Press right arrow to unfold a text box.
Introduction
- FreeMind makes it possible to create so called mind maps. Still, many people use it as an alternative to a tabbed notebook or a personal information manager.
- Information is stored in text boxes, called nodes. Nodes are connected together using curved lines called edges.
- This is a documentation for FreeMind 0.8.0. Keyboard mappings and positions of functions in menus can change from version to version.
Demonstration of some features
- Appearance
  - Nodes can have different colors.
    - Red
    - Green
    - Blue
  - Node can have various background colors
    - This
    - That
  - Nodes can have different font style
    - Bold
    - Italics
    - Bold and italics
  - Font of nodes can have different size
    - small
    - normal
    - bigger
    - Large
      - OOh
  - Different font families may be used
    - This
    - Or that
    - Or that one
  - Different node styles can be used
    - Fork
      - Fork
      - Fork
    - Bubbled
      - Bubbled
      - Bubbled
- Nodes can be folded
  - Fold
    - Hidden
  - Tree
    - Oak
    - Beech
    - Elm
- Nodes can contain followable links to ...
  - Web pages
    - http://www.google.com/
    - www.google.com
      - Freemind thinks this is executable :)
  - Local folders
    - C:/Program Files/
    - /home/
  - Executables
    - C:\WINNT\regedit.exe
      - You see that the node is executable by icon.
  - Any document on your local computer or your company network
- Multiline nodes
  - You can see multiline nodes as a paragraph or as several paragraphs. If you're going to build knowledge base using FreeMind, there is no way for you to avoid using them. Instead of having a plain test file to keep your set of notes, you can have one short node with many multiline nodes as its children.
  - "Science is facts; just as houses are made of stones, so is science made of facts; but a pile of stones is not a house and a collection of facts is not necessarily science." --Henri Poincaré
- Short multiline nodes with newlines
  - Line,
    and second,
    
    and yet another will do,
    so what do you think of that?
- You can emulate labelled edges
  - Tree
    - is a
      - Oak
    - is a
      - Beech
    - is a
      - Elm
  - Tree
    - <>
      - Leaf
    - <>
      - Trunk
- You can have icons in a node
- You can have clouds
  - With custom colors
- You can have graphical links
  - Connecting node
  - To another
  - With different color
  - And different routing
- Node can be positioned freely
  - One
  - Another
Creating and deleting nodes
- To create a child node, press Insert.
- To create a child node while editing another node, press Insert while editing.
- To create a sibling node below, press Enter.
- To create a sibling node above, press Shift + Enter.
- To delete a node, press delete.
- To delete a node while keeping for pasting, press Control + X.
- Alternatively, use node context menu, by right-clicking a node.
Editing node text
- To edit a node, press F2, HOME or END key, or in node context menu use Edit. To finish editing a node, press ENTER.
- To replace the text in a node with new one, start typing.
- To force long node editor when editing a short node, press Alt + Enter.
- To split a long node, use the button Split at the top of long node editor, or press Alt + S in the long node editor.
- To insert a newline in long node editor, press Control + Enter. You cannot insert newline in short node editor.
- To copy a selection to the clipboard while editing long node, press right mouse button and choose copy.
- To insert a special symbol like ©, insert it into your favorite text editor like Microsoft Word first, and then paste it into FreeMind.
- By default, Enter finishes editing of a long node, and Control + Enter inserts a newline. By unchecking the check box "Enter confirms" you can reverse the function of the mentioned key combinations, i.e. ENTER enters new line and CONTROL ENTER finishes editing. You can set the default value of that check box in preferencess. Moreover, the value of the box is saved during a session of FreeMind.
- FreeMind fully supports unicode. Thus you can use the script of your choice.
Formatting a node
- To make a node bold, press Ctrl + B.
- To make a node italic, press Ctrl + I.
- To change the text color of a node, press Alt + C.
- To change the background color of a node, in node context menu use Format > Background color.
- To increase node font size, press Control + plus (not plus on numeric keyboard).
- To decrease node font size, press Control + minus (not minus on numeric keyboard).
- To change the font family, use the field in the main toolbar.
- To copy formats of a node, press Alt + C
- To paste formats onto a node, press Alt + V.
Using physical styles
- To apply a physical style, in node context menu use Physical Style > Style of Your Choice. To speedup applying physical styles, use keyboard shortcuts as shown in the node context menu.
- To add your own physical style, given that you are a technical user, edit them in the file "patterns.xml" located at the folder ".freemind" in your home directory.
- A remark on the file patterns.xml follows. Physical style applies to node, if there is a <node> tag. It applies to edge, if there is an <edge> tag. <node> tag can have <font> tag as a child. Study the file "patterns.xml" supplied with FreeMind.
Highlighting nodes with clouds
- Clouds are well suited for highlighting a region. Highlighted are the node and all its descendants.
- To add a cloud, press Ctrl + Shift + B or in node context menu use Insert > Cloud.
- To change the cloud color, in node context menu use Format > Cloud color.
- Clouds can have various background colors like green ...
  - ... or brown.
Adding hyperlink
- To add a hyperlink to a node, press Ctrl + K or in node context menu use Insert > Hyperlink.
- To remove a hyperlink, set the hyperlink to empty after pressing Ctrl + K.
- To link to a mail address, set the hyperlink as mailto:don.bonton@supermail.com.
- To link to a mail address with giving a subject, set the hyperlink as mailto:don.bonton@supermail.com?subject=Last phone call.
- Hyperlinks can link to web pages, local files, or email addresses.
Adding Icons
- A node can have several icons.
- To add icons to a node, select a node and click one of the icons displayed in the left toolbar. While moving the mouse cursor to the left toolbar, hold ALT or CONTROL so that you do not loose focus.
- To remove one icon, press red cross at the top of the icon toolbar.
- To remove all icons, press trash can icon at the top of the icon toolbar.
- To add a new icon to a node without using the left toolbar, press Alt + I.
- There is no option to use your own icons; you can choose from the icons offered by FreeMind only.
- To hide or show the icon toolbar, in the context menu at the background use Toggle Left Toolbar . The icon toolbar is called left toolbar there.
- The icons as attached to this node are included, and more.
Adding graphical links
- To create a graphical link between two nodes, drag a node and drop it to another node holding both shift and control keys; release the mouse button before releasing shift and control keys.
- Alternatively, drag and drop using right mouse button.
- To change the color of the link, use link context menu, by right-clicking the graphical link.
- To change the arrows of the link, use link context menu.
- To delete a link, use link context menu,
- To navitage to one of the end nodes of the link, use link context menu.
- To change the routing of an arrow link, drag it and move it.
- An example of graphical link follows.
- Example
  - Link to another part
  - Node with folded subnode
    - Subnode
  - Another link
Searching
- To find text in a node and all its descendant nodes, press Ctrl + F or in node context menu use Node > Find.
- To find next match of your previous search, press Ctrl + G or in node context menu use Node > Find Next.
- To search the whole map, position the node to the central node by pressing Escape before searching.
- The search is a breadth-first search. That corresponds to the idea that the deeper a node, the greater the detail described in the node.
- Remember that not the whole map is searched, only the node and its descendants.
Selecting multiple nodes
- To select multiple nodes, hold control or shift while clicking.
- To add single nodes to already selected nodes, hold control when clicking.
- To select a continuous range of nodes, hold shift when clicking, or hold shift while moving around with arrow keys.
- To select a complete subtree, hold Alt while clicking, or hold shift while moving with arrow keys from a node to its parent.
- To cancel the selection of multiple nodes, click on the map background or onto an unselected node.
- To select all visible nodes, in pull-down menu use Select All Visible.
- To select all visible nodes of a branch, in pull-down menu use Select Visible Branch.
Dragging and dropping
- You can move nodes around using drag and drop.
- To drop a node as a child, position the cursor at the outter part of the node while dropping.
- To drop a node as a sibling, position the cursor at the top part of the target node while dropping.
- To copy nodes rather than move, hold control while dragging, or drag with middle mouse button.
- To edit an existing map, drag its file and drop it on the background of FreeMind; this works at least in Microsoft Windows operating system.
- To create a graphical link, drag and drop while holding right mouse button.
- If you have selected multiple nodes, all are being moved or copied.
- You can drop data from external applications, like files on Microsoft Windows operating system, or pieces of text selected in Microsoft Internet Explorer.
Copying and pasting
- You can copy and paste (multiple) nodes between mindmaps as expected. In addition, you can paste normal text or HTML from other applications.
- If you paste plain text, multiple lines are pasted as multiple nodes, with their depth determined by the number of leading spaces in the text. An example follows.
- Tree
  Oak
  Beech
  - is pasted as
    - Tree
      - Oak
      - Beech
- If you paste HTML, it is pasted as plain text. Additionally, the links contained in HTML are pasted as children of an additional node with text "Links". Example follows.
- Example result after pasting:
  - Shopping (120236)
  - Urban Living (19)
  - Links
    - Shopping
    - Urban Living
- If you paste file list selected in Explorer in Microsoft Windows, it is pasted as a set of links to the files.
- If in FreeMind you copy a branch and paste it into a plain text editor, the tree structure is shown by indentation. Hyperlinks are pasted in <> brackets. An example follows.
- Tree
  - Oak
  - Beech
    - is pasted as
      - Tree
        Oak
        Beech
        Google <http://www.google.com/>
  - Google
- If in FreeMind you copy a branch and paste it into an editor that understands rich text format, the formatting including color and font is pasted too. Hyperlinks are pasted in <> brackets, just like with plain text. Editors that understand rich text format include Microsoft Word, Wordpad or Microsoft Outlook, or some tabbed notebooks in Linux.
- To copy a node without its descendants, press Ctrl + Y or in node context menu use Copy Single.
Moving around
- To move the cursor up, down, left or right, use arrow keys.
- To move to the top of the current subtree, press PageUp.
- To move to the bottom of the current subtree, press PageDown.
- To move to the central node, press Escape.
- To position node freely, drag it by its invisible handle placed at the side of the node in the direction to the root, and move it.
Folding and unfolding
- To fold a node, press space, or in node context menu use Toggle Folded.
- To unfold a node, press space, or in node context menu use Toggle Folded, or press arrow key in the direction of unfolding.
- To fold or unfold nodes in levels, hold Alt while using mousewheel, or press Alt + PageUp or Alt + PageDown. With large maps, use this function carefully; it may lead to memory problems.
- To unfold all, press the gray plus botton at the main toolbar, or in pull-down menu use Navigate > Unfold All.
- To fold all, press the gray minus button at the main toolbar, or in pull-down menu use Navigate > Fold All.
- Folded node is marked with a small circle attached in the outter direction.
Changing to a different mind map
- To change to another already opened mind map, right click on the background and select a different map from the context menu.
Scrolling the map
- To scroll the map, drag the background and move it around, or use the mouse wheel. To scroll horizontally with mouse wheel, hold shift or one of the mouse buttons.
Zooming
- To zoom, use mouse wheel while holding control key, or press Alt + up or down key. Alernatively, use zooming field in the main toolbar.
Using undo
- To undo, press Control + Z, or in pull-down menu use Edit > Undo.
- To redo, press Control + Y, or in pull-down menu use Edit > Redo.
- To set the number of steps kept for undoing, use in pull-down menu Tools > Preferences.
Exporting to HTML
- To export a branch to HTML, press Control + H. Exported HTML page may contain folding support, depending on the settings in preferences.
- To use another exporting function, in pull-down menu use Export > As XHTML (Javascript version).
- To export a map with an overview picture to HTML, in pull-down menu use Export > As XHTML (Clickable image map version).
Exporting as bitmap or vector picture
- To export the map as PNG picture, in pull-down menu use File > Export > As PNG.
- To export the map as JPEG picture, in pull-down menu use File > Export > As JPEG.
- To export the map as SVG, in pull-down menu use File > Export > As SVG. This function is only available if you have installed SVG plug-in.
Exporting to other XML formats
- To export the map to another XML format for that you have an XSLT transformation sheet, in pull-down menu use File > Export > Using XSLT.
- To export the map to an OpenOffice 1.4 Writer document, in pull-down menu use File > Export > As OpenOffice Writer Document.
Importing folder structure
- To import folder structure, in node context menu use Branch > Import Folder Structure. You will be asked for the folder whose structure you want to import. By structure we mean the tree of all (not necessarily direct) subfolders with the links to the files in these subfolders. An example of inserted structure follows.
- Example
Importing Internet Explorer favorites
- To import Internet Explorer favorites into FreeMind, in pull-down menu use File > Import > Explorer Favorites. You'll be asked to enter the path to the folder where the favorites are stored. The folder's name is "Favorites" and you can find on it your disk. On Windows 2000, the path is C:\Documents and Settings\<user>\Favorites.
- Key words: Microsoft Internet Explorer, MSIE, MS IE.
Importing MindManager X5 mind map
- To import MindManager X5 mind map, in pull-down menu use File > Import > MindManager X5 map.
Integration with Word or Outlook
- You can paste maps or branches into Microsoft Word, Wordpad or Outlook messages. In general, you can paste it into any application that understands rich text format. The text formatting and links are pasted too.
- Clicking a mail link (mailto:don.bonton@supermail.com) will open Outlook for creating a new message, if not set otherwise in Windows.
- You can use subject in mail link
- An alternative way of pasting mind map into Microsoft Word is by exporting it to HTML based on headings, copying the HTML and pasting it into Word.
Setting preferences
- To edit preferences, in pull-down menu use Tools > Preferences. Most of the changes take effect only after you restart FreeMind.
- Preferences include keyboard mappings, behavior when exporting HTML, the way node selection with mouse occurs, choice of antialiasing, and more.
- Key words: customizing.
Printing
- You can print either by fitting the whole map into one page, or by printing the map to several sheets of paper. This choice you can set in menu: File > Page Setup > ... .
- To make better use of space, choose landscape in Page Setup.
- Previewing your map before printing is not straightforward. If you have a postscript printer or a generic postsript driver, you can print the map into file and view the postscript file using Ghostview or similar software. If you try to print the map with a printer that does not understand postscript, the resulting file will not be postscript but probably PCL, which is unusable for you.
- You can also print from your browser after exporting map to HTML, or from Word or Wordpad after copying and pasting the map into it. You can also export the map into HTML with headings, copy and paste it into Microsoft Word and print it from there. That way you can change styles as you want.

Using rich text by means of HTML in nodes

Nodes starting with <html> are rendered using HTML contained in them. This feature is helful only for technically minded people. An example follows.

HTML Example

There are several items:

Item one
Item two

And we have boldface or italics. Underlined a ~~strike-through~~ as well. We can have table:

Cell1	Cell2
Cell3	Cell4.

We can have various foreground colors.

There is no support for HTML nodes and pictures in exporting to text or RTF (Word, Wordpad). At least, using HTML is convenient for publication on the Web using Freemind's Applet.

Using pictures in nodes
- To insert a picture into FreeMind, press Alt + K, or in node context menu use Insert > Image. By inserting a picture, you lose all the text you had in the node. Images inserted in this way are not correctly pasted outside FreeMind and they need not to be correctly exported to HTML. Pictures in FreeMind are a preliminary feature.
- Supported picture formats are PNG, JPEG and GIF.
- To turn links to images into visible images, press Alt + K. You can drag and drop several image files into FreeMind, select them as multiple nodes, and turn them into images by pressing Alt + K.
- A more technical and not so user friendly way to insert an image follows. It is possible to include HTML in nodes. You have to start the node content with the tag <html>. This way, you can have pictures in the nodes.
- For example
  <html><img src="linked/Apple.png">
  <html><img src="file://C:/Users/My Documents/Mind Maps/Linked/Apple.png">
- You can use relative links in the images.
- Example of pictures, working on some Windows distributions
Using experimental file locking
- Current version of FreeMind has experimental file locking, disabled by default. Current implementation does not perfectly prevent race conditions, but it should be fine for most of practical purposes.
- File locking makes sure that more users do not edit the same map at the same time, preventing them from incidentally overwriting the information from each other.
- To enable experimental file locking, in pull-down menu use Tools > Preferences.