First steps
Your first map, from a single central idea outward.
A mindmap starts with one node and grows outward. This guide builds a small map and covers the moves you will use constantly.
Plant the center
A new map asks for a name and a starting style, then opens on an empty canvas. Press the node tool (or N), click where the node belongs, and type. Name that first node after the subject, as one word or a short phrase. Everything else hangs off it, so keep it broad: "Photosynthesis", not "Photosynthesis chapter 4.2".
Grow branches, not lists
Two keys carry the map once a node is selected: Tab adds a child under it and puts the caret straight in the new node, and Enter adds a sibling next to it. That pair is why a map is quicker to write than to draw. Shift+Tab is the way back, taking a node out from under its parent and dropping it beside it. Double-click any node to reopen its label.
Cross-link the branches
Arm the connect tool (C) and drag from one node to another to link two branches that touch the same concept; drawing the same link a second time takes it away again. A map without cross-links is an outline with extra steps.
Keep a map small enough to take in at a glance, because that glance is what you replay later. When a branch gets crowded, promote it to its own map.
Related
- Editing the canvas: the outliner keys, the tool dock, and the radial menu.
- The map library: where your maps live and how folders find one again.
- Node types and styling: what a node can hold beyond text.