3D view for mind maps and presentations: iMindMap 5 adds the ability to view your mind maps with a 3D perspective – not true 3D, where a mind map would have topics extending in all directions, but rather the ability to rotate your 2D mind map in 3D space, with some depth effects on topics and lines (see the image above right). This new view is also available in the program’s presentation mode, which promises to add greater visual impact to your iMindMap-based presentations.

iMindMap Online: Online collaboration environments, where you can easily share your maps with others or simply keep a backup of all of your mind maps in the “cloud,” have become increasingly popular. When iMindMap 5 is released, ThinkBuzan will also launch iMindMap Online, which apparently will contain a web-based version of its mind mapping software. The developer’s marketing materials say that you will be able to “use it as a standalone product or as a partner to your desktop version.” It looks like iMIndMap 5 will also support real-time collaboration on mind maps within this web environment. No word on pricing at this time.

Multimaps: iMindMaps will enable you to create multiple mind maps – each with their own central topic – on a single page. You will be able to link them together as well. At this early stage, when I haven’t been able to see the program in action or play with it, I’m not sure if this will be as useful as the ability to link between a main mind map and linked sub-maps, but we’ll see.

New SmartLayout capability: iMindMap 5 replaces separate mind map and speed mind map modes with a single SmartLayout mode, which enables you to let the program draw new topic lines for you, or to insert them by hand. In addition, SmartLayout will automatically arrange topics for you, preventing overlaps between them. Past versions of iMindMap enabled you to select layout styles that were organic looking or more corporate and linear. SmartLayout promises to simplify this and give you a greater level of control over the appearance of your mind maps. It sounds like the developer has been trying to make iMindMap even easier to use, especially for first-time users. But without a copy of version 5 in hand yet, I can’t say whether or not they succeeded.

New ribbon toolbar: The toolbar of iMindMap 5 has been updated to look like the Microsoft Office 2010 ribbon interface in Windows. The Mac version of the program will also support the latest Mac user interface.

Smartcells: iMindMap 5 will enable you to incorporate spreadsheets, flowcharts and sketches within your mind maps, expanding the types of information that you can include within them.

Filters: It’s nice to see that iMindMap 5 will add a filter tool, enabling users to show or hide map content based on a number of criteria, including unfinished tasks, links to files and  branches containing certain words. In my opinion, if you’re going to be working with large, complex maps, filtering is a must.

Project management: While iMindMap 4 offered some basic project management tools, version 5 builds upon that with a new Gantt view. You will also be able to view task information from within map view using a new side panel.

For more details on the other new features of iMindMap 5, please visit the new product page on the ThinkBuzan website.

To promote the upcoming launch of version 5, ThinkBuzan is running a special promotion: If you purchase iMindMap 4 now, you’ll get a free upgrade to version 5 when it’s released, plus a free 3-month subscription to iMindMap Online. Click here to take advantage of this great deal.

http://www.thinkbuzan.com/uk/promo/imm5

Adding branches to iMindMap for iPhone is accomplished in a similar fashion to the desktop mind mapping program of the same name: You tap a branch once to select it; a red inside of a blue circle appears at the end of it to designate that it’s the active branch; it’s very easy to see this on the iPhone’s screen, compared to one or two other mind map apps, where it’s a little harder to see which topic is currently selected. To create a new branch, you tap the red dot; the selector turns into a larger, pale red dot appears to let you know that the app is ready to create a new branch. You then drag your finger from it; a new branch grows outward, following the path of your finger.

On this computing platform, where everything is accomplished using the iPhone’s touch-sensitive screen, the experience of creating a map is even more organic, because of the iPhone’s tactile user interface. If you tap on the outer blue circle, a four-pointed arrow appears, and you can easily drag an existing map branch with complete freedom. On a computing platform where it’s hard to accurately tap the screen in a precise location, it’s clear that the developers have done their homework, designing a user interface that not only remains faithful to the desktop version of iMindMap but also plays very well on the iPhone’s diminutive touch screen. Nice job!

You can also add “box branches” for topics that need to contain more than just one or two keywords. Your topic description, as the name suggests, is contained within a rectangular box.

To embellish your mind map’s branches, you click on an “edit” button, which opens a dialog box that enables you to add icons, change branch color, add links and notes, and delete the branch. Centralizing these controls within a single dialog box was a wise design decision, because it enables iMindMap for iPhone to have a very minimalist toolbar – in keeping with the app’s organic nature.

iMindMap for iPhone can be used in both horizontal and vertical modes; the program’s virtual keyboard works in both orientations. Zooming is supported through the commonly-used two-finger “pinching” gestures.

One of the best features of the desktop version of iMindMap that has been incorporated into this well-designed mobile version is speed map mode – which enables you to quickly add a series of topics to your map without dragging them using the selector. On the iPhone platform, this has been implemented very elegantly. You select speed map mode using a lightning bolt icon on the app’s toolbar. You then click the add topic button to add your first topic, tap in a branch title, and then click on a small “plus” button; iMindMap for iPhone adds the branch and automatically opens another one, awaiting you to type in a title for it. Very slick!

iMindMap for iPhone makes it easy to e-mail your completed mind maps to yourself, where you can continue to develop them in the desktop version of the app, with which it has complete compatibility.

Considering that ThinkBuzan is a late entrant to the iPhone mind map app game, its development team has done an excellent job creating a tool that is fun and engaging to use. It contains just enough functionality to enable you to quickly capture your ideas in visual form, along with some supporting details, and then export them to the desktop version of iMindMap for further development. If you want  to see a simple demo of what this terrific mind map app can do, ThinkBuzan has posted a 5-minute video to You Tube that highlights its main features.

I also think it’s a brilliant move by ThinkBuzan to give away iMindMap for iPhone. By offering it for free, they have removed a barrier to people downloading it. Granted, most apps don’t cost more than a few dollars, but still, it’s more of a mental barrier than anything. By giving it away, ThinkBuzan stands a better chance of generating a large number of downloads from the Apple AppStore, which hopefully will further propel its popularity – and will further ThinkBuzan’s mission of growing the popularity of mind mapping worldwide.

But that would be selling it short, according to Tony Buzan and Chris Griffiths, in their new book, Mind Maps for Business: Revolutionise Your Business Thinking and Practice.

The real reason that mind mapping is so powerful is because it is a whole-brained thinking technique that makes optimal use of both sides of your brain, according to the authors:

“When used together, each side of your brain simultaneously reinforces the other in a manner that provides limitless creative potential and strengthens your ability for greater associations. This in turn leads to greater intellectual firepower. The process of creating a mind map employs the entire range of cortical skills.”

So what does this mean to your business?

“Mind maps can revolutionize the way you run your business on a day-to-day basis, allowing you to really think about a situation from every angle in a way that is concise and, important, does not waste precious time… In general, mind maps facilitate the core business skills – such as making choices; organizing your own and other people’s ideas; individual and group creativity; analysis; defining and solving problems; setting time and amount targets; and especially memory and communication – all the elements that are essential for successful business management.”

The bottom line is that mind mapping is an essential skill for tackling the complex, multi-faceted business challenges we face today.

Am I “preaching to the choir” by sharing these thoughts with you? Perhaps. But I know that this blog is read by many people who are just starting to become familiar with this visual thinking technique and the software that empowers it. They’re asking, “How can I use mind mapping to make a difference in my business?” Dr. Buzan and Chris Griffiths have painted a concise, compelling picture of its business benefits.

Besides, even if you are a seasoned mind mapper, it’s good to be reminded from time to time of the fundamental principles that underlie the ways in which you think.

Since I first told you about Mind Maps for Business, I have have had an opportunity to read quite a bit of it. I can now strongly recommend it to anyone who is seeking a way to bring greater efficiency, organization and creativity to their work.

As you might expect, Buzan Online’s mind mapping program, iMindMap, is featured in the book’s many illustrations and examples, but thankfully the book is NOT a blatant sales pitch for its software. The principles and applications of hand-drawn mind maps and computer-based mind mapping are its focus, and iMindMap is simply a supporting character.

Very few details on its functionality are available at this time, but screen shots from the affiliate newsletter show an app that carries over the organic look and feel of iMindMap to this popular mobile computing platform.

If you want to know more about the planned functionality and release date of this app, you can sign up to receive notifications via e-mail here.

I can’t wait to play around with this fascinating new application. I hope it integrates well with the desktop version of iMindMap!

A powerful new presentation mode: iMindMap 4.0 will offer a powerful new presentation mode, making it possible for users to share their ideas visually. It has some neat capabilities, including a two-screen setup – so you see a special presenter view with a menu bar at the bottom of the screen that controls your presentation and notes for your reference, but your audience only sees your map. Also, the presenter view displays a timer, which shows you how much time you have spent on the current slide and the presentation in total. You can click on links within your maps to display linked files and web pages.  If your map contains links to child maps, those are displayed in your presenter menu, so you can jump back and forth easily between the parent and child maps. The program will even remember where you were in the parent map, so you can continue from the point where you left off – nice!  Finally, Buzan Online says that iMindMap’s new presentation mode supports a large number of peripherals for controlling presentations – something that I believe is a first for mind mapping software.

In practice, this presentation toolset worked very smoothly for me. If you think iMindMap’s organic interface is a pleasure to use in map mode, just wait until you try this new presentation view! Clicking on the forward button of the presentation toolbar causes your map branches to smoothly and organically “grow” into place. It looks very elegant, among the best mind mapping software presentation modes I’ve seen. I created a video (below) so you can see how smoothly this works:

Click here to view the video in a new window.

Enhanced drag and drop: iMindMap’s drag and drop capabilities have been expanded for version 4. You can now drag text or images from other applications into your mind maps. Shortcut keys have been added that give you a higher level of control over what’s being created as you drop external content into your maps.

Audio notes: iMindMap 4 will enable you to add all recordings directly to your branches as another way to enhance your creative process. In other words, instead of having to type the detail of your idea into notes, you can record an audio clip and continue adding branches to your map, even as you dictate the details of your previous idea into the audio file. The developer also recommends utilizing this feature in group brainstorming sessions, where participants may be generating many ideas rapidly. You can record what’s going on in the room, and then listen to the recording later to add further details to your map.

Text mode: iMindMap v4.0 includes a revamped text mode, which displays images, notes and links. Any text-based content can be edited from within text mode, and images can be edited using iMindMap’s built-in sketch application. Basically, anything you can do in map view you can now do in text view.

Box branches: Previous versions of iMindMap placed in topic text directly on the branches, following their curves. This was in keeping with one of Tony Buzan’s core principles of mind mapping: each topic should only be a single word, to maximize the opportunity for further free association and creativity. For those of you who don’t want to be shackled by this limitation, iMindMap 4 adds “box branches,” topic text that is encircled by a rounded rectangle. The developer says that this feature is useful for adding quotes, product names, processes or definitions to your mind maps. To create a box branch, you simply hold down “S” key when dragging a new branch from an existing one – nice! Normal “organic” branches can be converted to box branches via a right-click command.

Floating topics: iMindMap v4 offers the capability to create floating topics, ideal for capturing ideas on the fly.  This type of map topic can be added using a keyboard hotkey (CTRL-T), making it easy to quickly add ideas to your map as you think of them without breaking your creative flow. You can later move these ideas into the proper locations within your mind map.

Simplified toolbar: One of the primary goals of the developers of iMindMap 4 was to add more functionality to the program, while at the same time simplifying the toolbars. Why pursue such a paradoxical goal? Buzan Online views iMindMap primarily as a thinking tool, and wants to enable the mind mapping process without the technology getting in the way. To achieve this goal, they implemented a floating pop-up toolbar that reminds me of the “ghosted” toolbar that appears at the cursor location whenever you’re editing text in Microsoft Word 2007. This places the most common tools in the workspace where they’re needed, and reduces the need to mouse over to the program’s top toolbar to select commands. It’s a first for mind mapping software, and should be a real productivity enhancer!

Enhanced Word import: iMindMap 4.0 will enable you to import any Microsoft Word document, using the document’s heading styles as a guide – and converts them appropriate topic and sub-topic hierarchies. I tried this with a simple document with some Heading 1, Heading 2 and Heading 3 styles, plus some body copy, and iMindMap 4 did a faithful job of converting it into topics, subtopics and notes. This feature will only work if your documents utilize Word’s heading styles (I don’t use them in any of my documents).

Printing improvements for large maps: One of the challenges faced by all developers and users of mind mapping software is how to print large maps effectively. If you try to print a large map on a single page, you end up with topic text is so small that it is unreadable. To get around this limitation, iMindMap 4.0 will enable you to print your map as one branch per page (with its associated sub-topics), plus an overview map. This is a clever solution to the problem, because the printouts give you both a high-level view for context, and a series of detail views of your map by major content area.

Auto-image find: This is a neat new capability: It uses keywords associated with each image in its massive online image library to help you select an appropriate image for your map. Simply select your branch, click the “find image” icon on the new branch pop up menu and iMindMap will automatically try and find appropriate images.

Conclusion

If you do a lot of presentations with mind mapping software, you may want to take a serious look at iMindMap version 4.0, which will be launched in May. During the month of April, Buzan Online is running a special promotion: If you purchase iMindMap 3 before the end of April, you will automatically receive a licensed copy of version 4 when it’s released. Click here to learn more.

Outlook integration: You can now  import Outlook contacts into iMindMap, and send tasks and project milestones to Outlook and defined contacts. As you know if you’ve read this blog for a while, I’m an Outlook user and am a huge fan of this type of integration. Kudos to the developer for adding it to iMindMap. This should be of great interest to many business users.

Create child maps: This new feature enables you to create a new child mind map from an existing map’s branch contents. This is essential if you’re working with large mind maps. Eventually, they become unwieldy, and benefit greatly from being subdivided into a group of smaller, linked maps.

Project progress icons: iMindMap 3 enables users to record task details within topics, but version 3.1 adds the popular “mini-pie charts,” which visually depict percentage of task completion. Nice!

Create e-learning courses from your maps: iMindMap Ultimate now enables you to create e-learning course from your maps, integrating audio, video, animations, text and interactivity. This new capability also makes it easy to generate an installer file which can be distributed to others who are going to view the e-course. In addition, all editions of iMindMap come with an e-learning course viewer, which enables anyone using the software to interact with the courses and iMindMap.

In addition, the developers have made other usability, stability and security improvements to iMindMap, and have added more central idea images to version 3.1. For more details, please click here.

I’m pleased to tell you that the developer took my concerns seriously, and has addressed many of them in the final version of the program, which is now available.

Here are several of the improvements that they made, in response to my review of the beta version:

More ways to add topics in speed mapping mode: I lamented in my review of the beta version of iMindMap 3 that adding new topics while in speed mapping mode was less than intuitive. In response, the developers have added 3 new ways to add new child topics to your maps:

• INS – to add a new child (and to make it the active branch)
• RETURN – to add a new sibling
• CTRL + SPACE – to edit the label of the existing active branch

Toolbar enhancements: In my last post, I said that I thought that the iMindMap 3 toolbar, with a small number of large toolbar icons, looked somewhat less than professional. The developers addressed this by enabling users to right click the toolbar and select large icons, small ones or small ones without text. I also heard from managing director Chris Griffiths that his development team’s goal in designing the toolbar the way they did was to decrease the number of toolbar buttons (which tend to confuse new users) and ensure that the program didn’t get in the way of users’ creative flow. I guess that makes more sense, now that they have explained it to me.

Adding links and notes to maps: In my first review, I indicated that I couldn’t figure out at first how to add links and notes to my maps. Chris indicated that the program usually ships with help files and instructional videos (which my beta version didn’t have) which should help new users understand how to do this.

I should have iMindMap verson 3.0.2 in my hands shortly, and will let you know if I have any other observations. I will say that I’m blown away by the responsiveness of Chris and his team. They took my feedback to heart, and did something about it. That’s more than you could ever hope to expect from most software developers. Thanks, Chris!

Three new versions: The developer has introduced several new versions of the program: Elements, Professional and Ultimate. Elements is designed for basic mind mapping needs. Professional is designed for business users, and offers integration with Microsoft Office and OpenOffice.org. Ultimate adds project management capabilities and other features.

Improved speed mapping mode: Version 2 of iMindMap contained a speed mapping mode, which enabled you to quickly record ideas using only the keyboard.  This capability has been improved in version 3 to give you greater control over map layout (see auto layout and style below). You can also navigate your map using your arrow keys to select the branches to which you want to add new ideas. Compared to other program’s “brainstorming modes,” I don’t like this one as well. You’re supposed to first select a topic; when you start typing, a text box pops up to capture it, while below it a blank branch is created. When you hit the enter key, your text is added to the branch and another text box appears, ready to capture your next idea. The problem I have with it is that when I select a topic, I can’t get over the fear that when I start typing, my current topic name will be over-written. I much prefer the style of brainstorming where clicking the insert key creates a new topic. This just feels odd to me.

Auto layout and style: Previous versions of iMindMap produced very organic looking maps, with tapered branches that could be reshaped at will.  But the developers of the program realized that, in order to appeal more to business users, it needed to be able to produce more “traditional” looking maps.  iMindMap version 3’s new auto layout and style capabilities address this need.  When you open the “auto layout” dialog box, the first thing you see is a slider control, with a 10-position scale from linear through organic to radial. If you drag the slider more to the right, your map will take anymore organic, “brain friendly” look.  If you drag and more tour the left, the branches of your map will straighten out and will look much more like a typical business-oriented mind map.  I played around with this a bit, and found that while it was nice, it wasn’t all that useful. The linear version of my map still looked fairly similar to the radial view of it.

Focus in and out: This useful command enables you to concentrate in one part of your mind map that time.  When applied to a selected branch, the program hides the rest of your map and treats the selected branch as if it is the center topic of your map you can then focus on adding content to that section of your map, without the visual distraction of the rest of your map.  When you’re done developing that section of your map, you simply focus out to display the entire map once again.  I’ve always been a fan of this functionality, because I tend to get distracted easily.  The less visual distraction, the better I can concentrate. This capability is nicely implemented in version 3.

Expanded export options: iMindMap version 3 contains an expanded set of options for exporting your maps to other formats.  Version 2 offered five export formats, including Microsoft Word, web page, image, PDF or Powerpoint. Version 3 adds exports to Word 97 (docx) or Word 97-2003 (doc), OpenOffice Writer, an interactive PowerPoint option, Impress (the open source presentation application of OpenOffice), and spreadsheet (Excel or OpenOffice Calc). The interactive presentation option saves your map as a PowerPoint file, with the entire contents of your map in a single slide. When you play the slide show, your map appears one branch at a time. Each mouse click reveals another branch or sub-branch, which enables you to present your mind map, one branch at a time. However, this approach can quickly clutter the screen. It would be better if this export format would expand each main branch one at a time, while contracting the rest of them. Also, I think it would give users greater control over the presentation of their maps if a presentation mode was added to iMindMap.

Importing: iMindMap version 3 now imports maps from MindManager and FreeMind. It doesn’t import their native file formats, but rather their XML file types.

Project management system: Perhaps the most welcome addition to iMindMap version 3 is the addition of project management tools, including an integrated Gantt chart view. Task information in iMindMap 3 is accessed via a right-click command; you can input the start and end times and dates for tasks, specify its priority level and the percentage completed.  You can also add any relevant web links to your project data. All of your map topics appear in the Gantt view; there doesn’t seem to be any way to distinguish between those topics that are tasks and those which are not. Task data is only displayed in the Gantt chart below the workspace, not in the map itself. This helps to minimize visual clutter, but does make it hard to know which topics contain task data and which do not. Some sort of visual indicator or icon would be nice.

Interestingly, the project management capabilities of iMindMap 3 include the ability to control the order in which are tasks of your in the project management list.  You can control this by clicking on a branch ordering command in the view menu.  The program then displays the numerical order in which each topic was added to your map, and gives you the ability to manually change those numbers.  When you have finished entering your project data into the program, you can then export it to Microsoft Project.

Screen capture tool: iMindMap 3 enables you to take a snapshot of sections of your map, which you can then paste into other applications as a graphic. The way the developers implemented this is very slick; it couldn’t possibly be any simpler.  When you select the screen capture tool, your cursor turns into a small cross.  You then drag it across the section of your map that you want to appear in your screen capture.  When you release you mouse button, the area you selected will be copied; it you can then pasted into any other application.  I tried it, and it worked great. I selected part of my map and pasted it into a Word document that I was working on; the image appeared to be very sharp, with no loss in quality. At least one other program enables you to create instant screen shots of your maps, but none are as simple and elegant as this implementation. If you want to share a portion of your map with a teammate or colleague, without having to go through the longer process of exporting it, then you may find this new feature to be valuable.

View menu: iMindMap 3 contains a new view menu toolbar button that enables you to quickly switch between different views of your map.  You can select from:

• Mind map view, which is the standard view,
• Navigator view, which opens a side panel that displays an overview of your map – particularly valuable if you’re working with a large complex map)
• Image library view, which opens an image selector panel on the left side of the workspace
• Icon library view, which opens an icon selector panel on the left side of the workspace.

I like the fact that the program keeps these useful resources out of the way, giving you a large, uncluttered workspace in which to develop your maps. But when you need these resources, they are only a single click away. The program opens in mind map view, which gives you the maximum amount of screen real estate in which to create your map. I like the fact that the program gives you as much space as possible to do a “brain dump” of your ideas; you can later turn on the formatting toolbar and some of these other views to enhance your map. At first it does seem odd that the image and icon libraries are included in the “views” menu, when in fact they’re really resources.

Some minor negatives: The toolbar and user interface looks a bit “cartoonish,” which some business users may find to be less than impressive at first glance. At first, I couldn’t figure out how to add notes, links or attachments to branches, something that’s essential for the maps that I create for my work. Turns out that these commands were located within an “insert/edit” command in the right-click menu. It would be better if these were first-level commands.

Conclusion

In version 3, the Buzan organization has done a nice job evolving iMindMap to the next level of functionality for business users. I like the fact that the developers have divided I mind map into several versions, to meet the needs of a greater range of users.  People were just starting out in the world of visual mapping will find the basic version more than adequate for their needs, while business and power users will appreciate the expanded capabilities of iMindMap ultimate. The project management tools are a welcome addition. Still, this ambitious upgrade to an excellent mapping program has a few rough edges – but keep in mind that this is a beta release, and may not completely reflect what the commercial version 3 of iMindMap will look like.