freemind tutorial

©2008 Presage Technologies, LLC.

click2try™ Tutorial

Freemind

Freemind

©2008 Presage Technologies, LLC. 2

Copyright©2008‐2009PresageTechnologies,LLC.

You may freely distribute or publish this content provided you publish the content in its entirety and include all existing copyright notices, attributions, links, and acknowledgements to click2try™, Presage Technologies, LLC. and to organizations mentioned explicitly or implicitly herein.

Freemind


Contents

Introduction .....................................................................................5

Creating a New Mindmap ..................................................................6

Inserting Child Nodes .......................................................................6

Inserting Sibling Nodes ....................................................................7

Adding Hyperlinks.............................................................................8

Linking Two Nodes..........................................................................10

Inserting a Note..............................................................................12

Formatting Nodes in Clouds ............................................................13

Formatting a Mindmap....................................................................15

Exporting a Mindmap ......................................................................17

Resources .......................................................................................18

Freemind


Freemind


Introduction If you’re still wondering what the big excitement is about mind-mapping, it’s probably because you’ve never tried Freemind. Freemind, besides being free, gives you an incredible range of capabilities that go far beyond just brainstorming. Of course, if you want to brainstorm, Freemind has everything you could hope for in a creativity tool. But, Freemind doesn’t stop there. With its ability to embed links, dates, and files, Freemind becomes the perfect tool for research, project planning, and for documenting things like your network or your system resources.

Just how can Freemind help you?

▪ Ease-of-use improves your problem-solving success rate ▪ Makes brainstorming fun ▪ Collaborate and communicate easily ▪ Capture and organize seemingly disparate data ▪ Get a big picture view ▪ Collect data in one document

In this tutorial, you’ll learn some of the basics of using Freemind. Although you’ll learn even more when you dive in and play with the tool yourself, this tutorial will help you learn more about:

▪ Creating mind maps ▪ Creating and inserting nodes ▪ Inserting hyperlinks ▪ Inserting notes ▪ Formatting mind maps ▪ Exporting mind maps

Once you’ve tried Freemind, you’ll be searching for projects to brainstorm, plan, and document!

NOTE: A note on terminology. The terms “mindmap” and “mind map” tend to be used interchangeably, not only on the Web, but within many mind mapping applications themselves. In this tutorial, the variant you’ll see most often is “mind map” in two words. Freemind features often include the single word variant, so you may see those in headings or in descriptions of specific commands.

Freemind


Creating a New Mindmap

Creating a new mind map is easy. It’s like creating a new document in a word processing program. For the purposes of this tutorial, let’s create a plan for a new network at your company. This example will allow you to see how you can use Freemind to brainstorm, plan, and document.

To create a new mind map:

1. Start Freemind, if it’s not already started. 2. Double-click the oval in the middle of the document, where it says “New

Mindmap.” 3. Type “Build Network.” 4. Click anywhere in the white space outside of the edit box. This redisplays the

mind map oval with the new name. 5. Select File > Save. The Save dialog opens and the mind map name will be

prefilled with the name you entered. 6. Click Save.

Now you’ve created a basic mind map. Next, you’ll add child and sibling nodes to the mind map and begin to build the details of your project.

Inserting Child Nodes

A child node is a direct descendant of a main node in your mind map. Assume you are brainstorming a project to construct a new network for your company. You might define several child nodes, for example, to interview stakeholders, perform sizing tasks, and research costs. Each of these child tasks becomes a node, hanging off the main “Build Network” node. Each child node will likely have many other child nodes, as well, as tasks tend to multiply as we identify more detail in a plan.

To insert a child node:

1. Click the light bulb icon in the main toolbar. You can also select Insert > New Child Node from the main menu, or press the Insert key on your keyboard, if you have one.

2. Type the name of your node. For example, type “Interview dept heads.” 3. Repeat the previous two steps to add more child nodes. 4. To add a child node to one of your child nodes, select the child node, for

instance, the “Interview dept heads” node, and then click the light bulb icon again. This time, the node will appear to the side of the currently selected node.

Freemind


If you have child nodes with child nodes, you’ll likely want to add sibling nodes too. Keep reading to find out more about sibling nodes.

Inserting Sibling Nodes

Sibling nodes are nodes that are equally related to the parent node. For example, create a child node called “Identify performance bottlenecks.” This would be an important task to undertake if you’re trying to build a new, improved network. You’ll want to make sure you understand the kinds which applications on your network cause the most performance hits, and you’ll also want to identify the most common IT requests related to network bandwidth problems. So, your “Identify performance bottlenecks” task will have at least two subtasks. These two subtasks are equal in value, and can be performed independently of each other. That makes them perfect candidates for sibling nodes.

To insert sibling nodes:

1. Create your child node “Identify performance bottlenecks.” 2. While that node is still selected, click the light bulb icon in the main toolbar. 3. Type “Review performance reports.” 4. Press the Return/Enter key on your keyboard. This should automatically

insert a sibling node directly underneath the last node you inserted. 5. Type “Review IT trouble tickets.” Your sibling nodes should look like those in

the following graphic:

Freemind


You can select any node and add child or sibling nodes to accommodate as many details as you want to capture. If your ideas or plans are equivalent to the main child nodes, such as “Calculate sizing data” in this example, then select the “Build Network” oval and insert a new child node.

Adding Hyperlinks

The ability to add hyperlinks is one of the most powerful features of Freemind. You can link to documents, websites, and to other types of local files.

To add a hyperlink:

1. Click one of the nodes to select it. For example, click the “Create preliminary design” node.

2. Right-click and select Insert > Hyperlink (File Chooser). This opens the file browser dialog.

3. Select a file you want to link to, and then click Open. You may need to change the file type at the bottom of the file browse dialog to All Files. By default, the dialog only shows Freemind files. After you link the file, an arrow appears next to the node containing the link.

4. Click the arrow to open the file.

You can also enter a link manually, if you like. This is especially useful when you want to link to a known website.

Freemind


To add a manual hyperlink:

1. Click one of the nodes to select it. 2. Right-click and select Insert > Hyperlink (Text Field).

3. Enter the location you want the link to point to. It can be a Web page, an FTP

site, a local network share, or some other external or internal location. In this case, the hyperlink points to an external Web site.

4. Click OK to save the link.

Freemind


Linking Two Nodes

You may find it necessary to link two nodes. There are a couple of ways to accomplish this. One is to create a graphical link between the nodes, so that the relationship is visible to anybody who views the mind map. The other way is to create a local hyperlink between the nodes, so that when you click one node, you are directed to the other. This can be very helpful as a reminder, for example, when two items are mutually dependent.

Creating a Graphical Link between Nodes

1. Select a node on your map. 2. Hold the Ctrl key on your keyboard and select another link. You should see

two highlighted or grayed-out nodes. 3. Right-click and select Insert > Add Graphical Link. This creates a link

between the two nodes. 4. To change the direction of the arrowhead, or to remove the arrowhead, add

another arrowhead, or remove the link entirely, right-click on the graphical link itself, to display this dialog box:

The black dot next to an item identifies the option that is currently selected.

Freemind


Creating a Local Hyperlink

Next, create a local link between two or more nodes. This type of link, which will also be indicated by an arrow next to the link, lets you jump from a clicked link to another node on the map.

1. Select the node you want to point to another node. 2. Hold down the Ctrl key and select one or more target nodes. 3. Right-click and select Insert > Add Local Hyperlink. This adds the link

arrow icon to the first node you selected. 4. Click the arrow icon. Freemind highlights the target node.

This feature is very useful when you have a large mind map that contains many details. As you’ll find, many items in your mind maps will have some sort of relationship to other items. Hyperlinking is one way to reinforce those relationships, visually and functionally.

In the graphic below, the two IP addresses, when clicked, both highlight the “Engineering” node, indicating that the Engineering department network has reserved those addresses.

Freemind


Inserting a Note

As you develop more detailed maps, you’ll most likely want to add notes to different nodes, either as reminders to yourself or as notes to other employees who will be viewing the map.

To insert a note:

1. Select a node you want to add a note to. 2. From the main menu, select Insert > Note. This adds a note icon to the

node and opens the note editing window at the bottom of the Freemind screen.

3. Enter your note text. 4. When finished, move the cursor back up to the main mind map area, and the

note editing window closes.

Freemind


Formatting Nodes in Clouds

Often, you need to visually identify a group of nodes, and show their relationship more clearly than with simple graphical links. Also, if you’re creating certain types of diagrams, such as network diagrams, you’ll need to show areas of the network that exist outside of or inside the network firewall, for instance. Freemind clouds let you create this visual relationship in a striking way. You can create a cloud around one or more nodes and color the cloud to either set it apart or to use the color to represent additional meaning.

To create a cloud:

1. Select one node or multiple adjacent nodes. 2. Right-click and select Insert > Cloud. Freemind surrounds your selected

node or nodes with a gray cloud. 3. Right-click the node and select Format > Cloud Color. 4. Choose a color from the color picker.

Freemind


That’s it. You can also format nodes to appear in “bubbles” which are rounded rectangles. And there are many formatting options available, such as using any of the many icons Freemind offers to uniquely identify your nodes.

Freemind


Formatting a Mindmap

There are many ways in Freemind to format your mind maps and the nodes and connectors of your mind map. Let’s walk through a few of those formatting options.

Setting an Automatic Layout

Freemind has an automatic layout and formatting option, which, when selected, applies a number of pre-defined formats to your entire mind map. Generally, these formats make your mind map easier to read and identify nodes based on their level in the hierarchy, through color and font size.

• From the main menu, select Format > Automatic Layout. This sets the layout for the entire map, as shown below:

Formatting a Node in a Bubble

1. Select the node you want to format.

Freemind


2. Right-click and select Format > Bubble. This formats the selected node in a rounded rectangle. You can also change the color of the border and the background.

Folding and Unfolding Nodes

Whenever you add sibling and child nodes to other nodes, Freemind establishes a toggle feature that allows you to fold and unfold those items to simplify the view of part or all of the mind map. While not specifically a formatting function, this feature is good to know about when it comes time to reviewing or explaining large, detailed maps. If one or more nodes appear to have a small empty circle to the left of the node name, that means the node has children or siblings. Click the node to unfold it. Click a node that contains children or siblings to close it. The small empty circle will appear next to the main node.

Using the Physical Style Menu

The physical style menu provides a set of pre-defined formats that you can choose from for your nodes. You can also define your own set of styles by editing the “patterns.xml” file in your Freemind directory.

1. Select a node on your mind map. 2. Right-click and select Physical Style > style name.

Freemind


Exporting a Mindmap

Freemind lets you export to a variety of formats that make it easy for you to share your mind maps. You can export to graphics formats, such as JPEG and PNG, to document formats, like PDF and OpenOffice.org Writer format, or to HTML and XHTML and XSLT.

To export a mind map:

1. With a map open, select File > Export. 2. Choose a format. 3. Select a location and provide another file name, if needed. 4. Click Save.

The file will open in whatever application you have on your system that supports the file type you selected.

Freemind


Resources For more information about Freemind, see the following resources:

Freemind http://freemind.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Main_Page – Main wiki page on SourceForge, contains lots of information and links to the download site, additional resources, reviews, and much more.

Freemind FAQ http://freemind.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Asked_questions – Dozens of common questions and detailed answers about how to install, run, and use Freemind.

Freemind Accessories http://freemind.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Forums – Third-party plug-ins and add-ons for Freemind.

Freemind Forums http://freemind.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Forums – Main index site to several forums about Freemind.

freemind tutorial

Documents

small empty circle

light bulb icon

select insert

select format

select file

mind map

mind maps

main menu