44
User Guide
If you want to arrange your templates in sub-folders, you can click Create Folder to create a
sub-folder before clicking Save.
To overwrite an existing template:
Select an existing template and click Save to overwrite it with your new template.
To delete an existing template:
Select an existing template and click Delete.
Custom templates are saved with the extension .mvtx in your Document and Settings folder.
Opening a mind map
When you start MindView, the first screen you see is the Welcome dialog. This dialog lets
you browse for an existing document or select a recently used document.
If you have closed the Welcome dialog, you can open an existing document as follows:
Click the MindView Button.
Choose Open.
You can also press Ctrl + O.
MindView also lets you open online documents. For more information about working
collaboratively on documents hosted on a shared online workspace, see "Setting up an online
workspace
" and the other topics of the "Collaborating" chapter of this documentation.
Note that you can open several mind maps in MindView at the same time. Each one is displayed in
a separate tab in the MindView workspace and is treated as a separate document.
An asterisk on the right of the document name indicates that you have made changes to the
document which you have not yet saved.
You can easily go from one document to the other by clicking the relevant tab or pressing Ctrl
+ Tab.
Notes:
If you are trying to open a password-protected document created with MindView Business
Edition, you will need to enter the password before proceeding.
If you open a document created with MindView Business Edition in the standard version of
MindView, any data relating to MindView Business Edition features which are not supported in
the standard version (such as task data or calculation values) will not be visible. If you then
save the file in the standard version of MindView, this data will be lost. If the file has been
password-protected in MindView Business Edition, this password will also be removed when
saving the file in the standard version.
MindView also lets you open MindManager® files (with extension .mmap) from version X5
onwards.
Opening documents created with previous versions of MindView
MindView 4 lets you open documents created with previous versions of MindView. However once
you make changes to the document and save it with MindView 4, the document is no longer
compatible with the previous version.
The auto-recovery feature (see "Saving a mind map
") will only become active once you have
saved the document in the new format.
41
44
MindView 4 Documentation
Entering a branch label
By default, the root of a newly created mind map contains the label "Subject" and new branches
appear with the label "Idea".
Replacing the default label
Just click the root or branch to select it and start typing.
When you have finished, press Enter or click outside the root or branch.
Unless your label is quite short, a resizing handle appears when you hover the right side of the
frame surrounding the label. You can use this handle to resize the branch label by dragging it in the
direction required.
By default, the text wraps around automatically when you type long labels. If you want to force
the next part of your label to start on a new line, press Ctrl + Enter at the end of the line. You can
disable the automatic text wrapping by unchecking the relevant property in the View properties.
See "View properties: General tab
" for more information.
Your map will be clearer if you keep your root and branch labels short. If you need to enter
longer notes, use the Text Note editor. You can also enter comments to serve as reminders while
you build up your map. See "Inserting text notes
" and "Inserting comments
" for more information.
Editing a label
To replace the existing label, just click the branch to select it and start typing the new label.
You can also edit the existing label. There are several ways of entering Edit mode:
Click the label once to select it and press F2, or
Click the label once to select it and click it again after a short time, or
Right-click the label and choose Edit Text in its local menu.
Once you are in Edit mode:
Place the cursor at the required position and start typing.
When you have finished, press Enter or click outside the label.
Pressing Esc while in Edit mode will leave the existing label unchanged.
Inserting branches
MindView lets you insert main branches, sub-branches and pre-branches in your mind map:
A main branch
is a branch directly connected to the root.
Main branches represent the main topics related to the subject of your map.
A sub-branch
is a branch belonging either to a main branch or to a sub-branch of
higher level.
Sub-branches represent the various levels of sub-topics in your map.
A pre-branch
is a branch you insert before a sub-branch.
MindView automatically arranges the main branches, sub-branches and pre-branches as you insert
them to prevent any overlap.
42
32
User Guide
You can however choose to reposition the main branches yourself after their insertion by
disabling Auto-layout mode. See "Moving a branch
" for more information.
As soon as you add a branch, sub-branch or pre-branch, the new branch appears with the default
label "Idea". The procedure for replacing the default label is the same as for the root. See "Entering
a branch label
" for more information.
Inserting a main branch
To insert a main branch:
Click the root and press Enter or Insert.
You can also:
Double-click the root, or
Click the root and choose Home | Insert | Branch or Home | Insert | Sub-Branch, or
Click the root and choose Insert | Branches | Branch or Insert | Branches | Sub-Branch, or
Right-click the root and choose Insert | Branch or Insert | Sub-Branch in its local menu.
Inserting branches at the same level
To add a branch at the same level as an existing branch:
Click the existing branch and press Enter.
You can also:
Click the branch and choose Home | Insert | Branch, or
Click the branch and choose Insert | Branches | Branch, or
Right-click the branch and choose Insert | Branch in its local menu.
Inserting a sub-branch
To add a sub-branch to an existing branch:
Click the existing branch and press Insert.
You can also:
Double-click the branch, or
Click the branch and choose Home | Insert | Sub-Branch, or
Click the branch and choose Insert | Branches | Sub-Branch, or
Right-click the branch and choose Insert | Sub-Branch in its local menu.
43
34
MindView 4 Documentation
Inserting a pre-branch
To insert a branch between an existing branch and its parent branch, you can:
Click the branch and press Shift + Enter, or
Click the branch and choose Insert | Branches | Pre-Branch, or
Right-click the branch and choose Insert | Pre-Branch in its local menu.
Formatting a branch
As soon as you insert a branch in the map, a Format tab appears at the right of the ribbon.
This tab lets you perform different operations on the branch, such as changing its shape, choosing
a different fill color, defining a branch boundary, or selecting different text attributes. See
"Formatting a branch
" for more information.
To apply the same formatting attributes to all the branches, it is however much easier to use the
Design tab, whose predefined styles and design options apply to the entire map. See "Designing a
mind map
" for more information.
Copying branches from an external application
You can easily create a branch structure with main branches and sub-branches by copying several
lines of text from an external document, such as a Microsoft Word document, a Notepad text file or
a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, and pasting them into your MindView document. Any line indented
with spaces or tabs in the external application will be inserted as a sub-branch of the higher level
line.
Similarly, you can copy a MindView branch structure to another application by copying it from
MindView and pasting it in the external application.
Expanding and collapsing a branch
As soon as you add a sub-branch to a main branch or to another sub-branch, a small minus sign
appears between it and the higher-level branch. This allows you to hide the newly inserted sub-
branch and any further sub-branches and concentrate on the higher-level branches. There are
several ways to do this:
Click the minus sign , or
Right-click the higher-level branch and choose Collapse in its local menu, or
Press Ctrl + Shift + "-".
The sub-branch is now hidden, and the minus sign changes to a plus sign .
44
36
User Guide
To redisplay the sub-branch with all its sub-branches, do one of the following:
Click the plus sign , or
Right-click the higher-level branch and choose Expand in its local menu, or
Press Ctrl + Shift + "+".
Navigating between branches
To select a branch, all you need to do is click its label.
The following keyboard shortcuts allow you to navigate easily from one branch to the other:
Up
Select the branch placed above the currently selected branch.
Down
Select the branch placed below the currently selected branch.
Left
Select the branch to the left of the currently selected branch.
Right
Select the branch to the right of the currently selected branch.
Deleting a branch
There are several ways of doing this:
Click the branch you want to delete and press Delete, or
Click the branch and choose Home | Editing | Delete in the main menu, or
Right-click the branch and choose Delete | Entire Branch in its local menu.
If a branch contains sub-branches, you can delete it without deleting its sub-branches by choosing
Delete | Branch Section in its local menu. This causes the sub-branches to move up one level in
the hierarchy to become sub-branches of the parent branch.
Remember that if you delete a branch by accident, you can always cancel the deletion by
clicking Undo in the Quick Access Toolbar or pressing Ctrl + Z.
Designing a mind map
You can customize the look of your map at any time by applying design options to it.
Most design options give you a live preview of their effect on the map. It is therefore easier to
judge the overall effect once you have entered a few branches and sub-branches in the map.
Click the Design tab at the right of the ribbon.
This tab contains all the design options applicable to the current view.
Browse through the Layouts gallery to choose your preferred layout.
For more information about these views, see "Using different views
".
45
25
MindView 4 Documentation
The layouts available depend on the view you are using. If you are using one of the
three Map views for instance, you can choose between the traditional Mind Map layout, the
Left or Right layout or the Top Down layout.
Browse through the Styles gallery to choose your preferred style.
(optional) To further customize the visual aspect of your map, explore the options available in
the Effects and Properties panels.
All the design options you choose here apply to the entire map. You can however apply
different design options to selected branches. To find out how to do this, refer to "Formatting a
branch
".
By default, MindView organizes the map so that the bounding areas containing the branches
and their sub-branches do not overlap with each other. For some map layouts, this may create
large empty spaces between branches which make the map harder to overview. In those cases,
the Compact Map option may produce a better layout by bringing the branches as close to each
other as possible, as shown in the examples below.
Mind map before compacting:
Mind map after compacting:
View properties
In addition to the design options available on the Design tab, the view also has properties that you
can edit in the Properties dialog. The Properties dialog always lists all the properties applicable to
the element currently selected in the workspace.
Click the workspace so that no other element is selected.
Choose View | Show/Hide | Properties to open the Properties dialog.
46
Documents you may be interested
Documents you may be interested
