Another problem is that: When I open multiple tabs, if I want to save all of them, I have to click button "File -> Save all open maps" twice.
I don't experience these problems in any other mindmap apps.
However, these problems are not serious, I can live with them, and as you can see from my answer to the last question, FP is still the best mindmap app for me.
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I want to encourage you to report the bugs you observe like the save all open maps bug in bug reports. If I can reproduce them usually I try to fix them. Some of reported bugs can not be reproduced or fixed, but not reported or unclear bugs have no chance to be removed.
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About "save all open maps" - sometimes my windows crashes unexpectedly
(freeplane has nothing to do with it other than being a victim!) and I
relly so much in severall open maps that I hit "save all open maps" many
times a day. To make it speedier, use shortcut Ctrl-Shift-S (believe I put
this shortcut on purpose but not sure, maybe its a default) and always
works flawlessly (no need for second-try).
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Auto-safe-interval: if I remember well (not at pc now) I also use it (with
lower timeout) and saved me already a couple times. Its great to have it.
Nonetheless sometimes I finish something big and I press Ctrl-Shift-S to
make sure all is saved at that particular moment. Also I get this "safe"
feeling when I see all maps being saved :)
What do you use Freeplane for?
- Brainstorming
- Project management (high level only)
- Knowledge management
- Bookmark manager
- Writing
Which alternatives do you know?
- Mindjet Mindmap
- Freemind
- XMind
Which advantages does Freeplane have?
- Simple and clear maps
- Customizable via scripts (unfortunately a bit complicated to learn/ utilize)
- Outstanding support from developers and power users !!!
- Open Source
- Multi platform and portable (in case I'm forced to use a Windows machine)
- Free (makes it a lot easier to recommend it to students etc.)
What advantages do the alternatives have?
- The only ones I came across (I usually don't use alternatives anymore) were the following features in Xmind:
+ Gantt View
+ Business Charts, esp. the Matrix view
When do you use Freeplane and when do you use the alternatives?
- I exclusively use Freeplane
- Only reason for me to install Xmind (free version) would be if I needed to convert a mindmap to FP format as I can't import it to/open it in FP directly.
In general I think it's nice to have a few use cases to show what can be done with FP. But in terms of gaining more users it's the presence of FP in Google search and in reviews. Also the presence on websites like Biggerplate. Last but not least the ease of process for users to switch to FP, i.e. to transfer/convert their existing mindmaps to FP.
Big thanks to the Dev Team!
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protocols of meetings, brain storming (evaluated and managed in a second step)
collaboration between maps and users
inter-map-connections (using hyperlinks to jump between levels and nodes)
collaborational edit of maps e.g. on GitHub (using Collaboration addon)
project management (each project = one separate mindmap)
documentation of project structure
task management (using GTD addon)
use of hyperlinks into project file system, WEB and intranet
documentation and interconnection of technical details
program structure documentation (in case of SW development)
...
knowledge management (each subject = one separate mindmap)
syntax of programming languages
snippets of code for specific use cases
documentation of expertise details (cautions, hints,...)
...
base for presentation of contents (in development)
PDF will be externally generated (using mm2beamer application)
Which alternatives do you know?
Mindjet Mindmanager
Freemind
XMind
Which advantages does Freeplane have?
highly configurable map design using styles and format settings
fast and flexible user interface for movement, edit and activities
EXCEL-style calculations of node contents
incredible SCRIPTING opportunities to easily realize own functionalities
fast and deep-level support from developers
open source with the opportunity to really get involved in a great team
...
What advantages do the alternatives have?
some views and charts off-the-box (these could be provided via scripts, though)
When do you use Freeplane and when do you use the alternatives?
I exclusively use Freeplane
only import / export of maps to collaborate with other people
I'd recommend to provide one Wiki page for each feature description (I'd love to help creating these). Using screenshots and short, clear and descriptive words to enhance the goals, effects and ease of usage. From a "what's new map" or a "feature map", these description pages could be easily hyperlinked, thus found and accessed.
Last edit: nnako 2016-07-19
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What do you use Freeplane for?
The biggest use for me is an ongoing journal that I have been keeping in various forms since 1986 (started out as hand-printed in sprial bound books). And with the advent of clones, I finally get to do what I've always wanted: to have information housed by subject and housed chronologically on different main branches of the mindmap. If a subject needs to be updated on a given day, I simply copy it from the subject location, which is always where I put it, and clone it in the new date area. I use it for other things, too, but that's the main use for me right now.
Which alternatives do you know? Pretty much all of the ones available for PC and that are online.
Which advantages does Freeplane have? I'm not going to mention that it's free for we users. Well - I guess I just did... The learning curve, while not shallow, is not overly difficult either. Once you see the basics, the user interface makes sense and I can accurately anticipate how Freeplane let me do something new, if it comes up. The ability to do a lot with just the keyboard is also very good. I like that new siblings can be set to take the style of the currently selected one. One more big advantage is that the Freeplane data files are text rather than binary. That means Windows Search can work on them. Most other mindmaps create binary data files.
What advantages do the alternatives have? Other mindmaps allow for prettier designs and some of them provide the ability to do online work, meaning I don't have to have my computer with me.
When do you use Freeplane and when do you use the alternatives? I no longer use the alternatives, though I occasionally explore new iterations or new mindmap programs when they come out.
One more thing that you didn't ask. Do I use Freeplane in conjunction with other programs? Yes. I use it in conjunction with TheBrain. TheBrain stores my mindmaps and that gives me the ability to text search all of my mindmaps from within TheBrain. (I can also do a Windows search, because TheBrain has its own root for data files. Also TheBrain lets me attach all kinds of files that I don't want cluttering up my mindmaps, but which at some point I might want to point to. TheBrain makes that fairly straightforward for me.
Regards,
- Bal
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What do you use Freeplane for?
I've used it daily in my work for the past 10 years. As a teacher, I used it for organizing
math curriculum
thoughts on student progress and how to improve
the design of new teaching methods
As a software developer, I use it to:
plan out algorithms
keep track of release plans
generally organize my thoughts.
Which alternatives do you know?
XMind
Which advantages does Freeplane have?
It's faster, and of course open source
What advantages do the alternatives have?
XMind (and other commercial software) is more professional looking, and appears better on high dpi displays
Although XMind doesn't support mobile devices, there are number of other
mind mapping tools that do. I like having a mind mapper on Android because I
always have a device with me, so I can capture impromptu thoughts. And as some
of you know, I am working on m3 - Mobile Mind Mapper to achieve this.
When do you use Freeplane and when do you use the alternatives?
I only use Xmind when Freeplane isn't available due to employer restrictions
on installing software that isn't commercially supported. As mentioned above,
I use my m3 for on-the-go thoughts.
Last edit: Glen Reesor 2016-07-21
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-- What do you use Freeplane for?
Note taking, configuration and change management, documentation, information correlation
-- Which alternatives do you know?
Freemind (where I came from)
SimpleMind - which I sometimes use crossplatform between all my devices
-- Which advantages does Freeplane have?
Scriptability - I can extend functionality
Open source - I can understand how something is implemented and see behind the curtain, sometimes modify source code
Good, motivated and responsive developers - I can reach, have my voice heard and contribute
Maturity - It works quite stable and I never lost any information
-- What advantages do the alternatives have?
SimpleMind has good touch support and I can seamlessly reach / update maps from my phone, tablet and desktop.
-- When do you use Freeplane and when do you use the alternatives?
At work, I can confidently say that, my second display is dedicated to FreePlane all the time. I link whatever I do to FreePlane. It's like my diary
Outside work, on the go, I usually use Simple Mind, since it doesn't lock me up to a Windows environment (I have my phone with me all the time)
Hope this helps..
Kind Regards,
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As a Linux user I'm used to having virtual desktops. Couldn't work without them.
I do know it's not the same as having a second physical display, but it might ease the pain. Even if I have a second monitor available I utilize my virtual desktops.
While with the majority of Linux Desktop Environments the feature of virtual desktops is available out of the box, at least the basic functionality can be also achieved under Windows with tools like VirtuaWin
Hope that helps :)
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@Linuxuser123 Thanks for the VirtuaWin tip - I mostly use corporate windows
to work (not my choice) and linux at home. Virtual desktop is a great idea
with one display, good point.
Same experience here in regard to being forced to use Windows in corporate environments. What helps me a lot are portable applications as you don't need to install anything and the policies are mostly not that granular to forbid to run them :) And VirtuaWin is portable, as is FP :)
Btw. also VERY nice and handy: MobaXterm. One executable that offers you plenty of Linux on Windows.
I'll stop now... we're on the FP forum :)
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Since I think that extensibility through scripting is one of the most powerful features of FreePlane, to give an idea on how I extended functionality in freeplane by scripting, I wanted to share a picture of my Tools - Scripts menu. I can give more details on any of the scripts upon request when I have some more time. You'll notice that I even reassigned some of the direction keys to custom scripts.
Other than that, I can say that recently I switched to Outline View as a general preference.
What do you use Freeplane for?
Note-taking, brainstorming, daily journal, idea-collection.
research-paper-writing
Which alternatives do you know?
atom.io - an open-source text editor with a lot of interesting add-ons (also for note-taking, writing)
(Excel)
Which advantages does Freeplane have?
Every node and thought gets a time-stamp.
Hierarchy
Keyboard-shortcuts, fast. Formulas
compared to other mindmap-tools:
open-source, open file-format that will still be readable in 30 Years
What advantages do the alternatives have?
Syntax Highlighting
more add-ons
doesn't look like it's from the 90ys ;)
When do you use Freeplane and when do you use the alternatives?**
mostly freeplane
Last edit: Dimitry Polivaev 2016-08-04
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What do you use Freeplane for?
Note taking; research; flow charts, concepts, documentation, ...
Probably a bit unusual is my use of Freeplane for legal texts like this: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/en/ALL/?uri=celex%3A32013R0575
(scroll down a bit to find the text)
This kind of text is unreadable for me, esp. because there are thousands of references to articles spread over the whole document. So I have copied the text into a mind map (> 15 k nodes). It's extremly useful for me.
Which alternatives do you know?
Freemind; InfoRapid; Xmind; yED
Which advantages does Freeplane have?
It's fast and stable, 15 k nodes are no problem.
It is easy to use, e.g. I can insert images with copy & paiste instead of "right click - chose image from HD - ...".
The features make sense.
It is portable.
What advantages do the alternatives have?
They look better at first glance.
But it is possible to create attractive maps with FP. And I like it's rustic look. I am a bit fed up with all this stylish stuff.
When do you use Freeplane and when do you use the alternatives?
I use Freeplane for everything and sometimes yED for fancy charts.
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**What do you use Freeplane for?**
- Research
- Documenting/Visualizing structures
- Keeping tabs on things...
- Problem solving
**Which alternatives do you know?**
- Mindmanager
- Mind
- Visimap
- YEd
**Which advantages does Freeplane have?**
- In no specific order
- User community
- The developers, more than an honourable mention...
- The scripting
- Attributes
- And more...
**What advantages do the alternatives have?**
- Eye Candy
- Higher corporate acceptance factor.
**When do you use Freeplane and when do you use the alternatives?**
- Freeplane
- Always for my own tasks/objectives
- Others
- When eye candy can sell a proposition
- Occasional exports to XMind
- YEd
- For sociogram like analysis
- For non-mindmap doable structures
Last edit: Dimitry Polivaev 2016-08-04
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What do you use Freeplane for? Research/Bibliography Notetaking/meeting management Information management/Analysis Journals/Diaries
* Scratchpad/parking lot for ideas
Which alternatives do you know? Mindmanager XMind
Which advantages does Freeplane have? Very helpful and engaged user community Active development--new features continually being offered/discussed
* Powerful scripting and programatic tools (e.g., conditional formatting, filtering, attributes)
What advantages do the alternatives have? Better marketing--use cases to help people understand what the product can do for them Acceptance in larger user communities drives ever more acceptance
* Perhaps a better fit with what new users perceive as mindmapping (more artistic, less structured, more freeflow--interestingly, this I think is one of the barriers for acceptance of Freeplane: Users have tried the "prettier" tools and found that they aren't very deep and are "more trouble than they're worth." so they perceive opportunities to use Freeplane as "been there, done that.")
When do you use Freeplane and when do you use the alternatives?
* I use Freeplane exclusively. Its one of three software tools I use everyday
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**What do you use Freeplane for?**
For work and personal use.
I use freeplane all day at work to put notes, I use it basically as a workspace, then later I can return after quickly to the context of the work that was done.
**Which alternatives do you know?**
None on PC. I was using I thought on IPhone but now I have an android and I don't use mind mapping at the moment on the phone.
I don't see the point of using multiple mind mapping software on PC, you just take the best (freeplane) then you do all your maps with it.
**Which advantages does Freeplane have?**
Many functionality and great community.
It is just extremely useful and pleasant to work with.
The scripting is very useful.
The xml format is way better than the binary format I saw with concurrents. Xml is searchable with external tools and can be modified, searched and replaced etc.
**What advantages do the alternatives have?**
I don't use any.
Project management could be better in Freeplane, with features like the app called TodoList.
**When do you use Freeplane and when do you use the alternatives?**
All (work) day, and also from home for personal use.
I don't use alternatives. I do have some basic notes app on my phone and also I have some notes that remained in OneNote or Word doc.
Last edit: Dimitry Polivaev 2016-08-04
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I too miss having some capability for using mindmaps on my mobile device. Everyday I come across information while mobile that I would like to capture in a mindmap and have resorted to using something like Google docs to make a running list of things to go back and add later. Awkward.
Does anybody have a mobile alternative? Perhaps a separate discussion thread is better, to avoid clogging up Dimitry's survey here.
Q!
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I use it to organize everthing. I find it very flexible and powerful.
Which alternatives do you know?
TheBrain, RightNote, XMind, etc.
Which advantages does Freeplane have?
It is very flexible and poweful.
It is very fast.
What advantages do the alternatives have?
Two things would make FreePlane much better for me.
1) The ability to "attach" files to nodes.
2) The ability to keep links to files, nodes, etc. up to date when things
or moved or changed.
I realize these are major changes.
When do you use Freeplane and when do you use the alternatives?
I like to have everything in one system.
I have abandoned the alternatives.
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I apologise for the long reply. It looked a whole lot shorter in a mind map :-)
Dimitry, thanks for inviting me.
Answers
**What do you use Freeplane for?**
Note taking
Live webinars
Live seminars
Talking with clients
Thoughts that get lost otherwise
Condensing information
Non fictions books reduced to their essence
Complex writing
Acts of Parliament
Software Menus
Beats reading the manual most times
Research
Drop useful URLs into a map to explore later
Random notes from different sources
Wikipedia
Planning
What needs to be done
What's the order of doing them
What shows me it is finished
Analysing
Arguments
Creating
Articles
Seminars
Webinars
Videos
Code (Python in my case)
**Which alternatives do you know?**
Xmind
Simplemind
MindManager
MindMeister
Freemind
**Which advantages does Freeplane have?**
Simple Interface
Clean Interface
Fast
Simple Import & Export
Non-Proprietary file format
Allows a lot of fun in background analysing thosuands of Google keyphrases
**What advantages do the alternatives have?**
Better marketing (I say this gently)
**When do you use Freeplane and when do you use the alternatives?**
I use Freeplane whenever I am at my desk
Simplemind on my iPad
Last edit: Dimitry Polivaev 2016-08-04
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By "stable" I mean how consistent the behaviour of the app is.
Here is one of the problems I currently encounter:
https://sourceforge.net/p/freeplane/discussion/758437/thread/7c0d84b4/
Another problem is that: When I open multiple tabs, if I want to save all of them, I have to click button "File -> Save all open maps" twice.
I don't experience these problems in any other mindmap apps.
However, these problems are not serious, I can live with them, and as you can see from my answer to the last question, FP is still the best mindmap app for me.
I want to encourage you to report the bugs you observe like the save all open maps bug in bug reports. If I can reproduce them usually I try to fix them. Some of reported bugs can not be reproduced or fixed, but not reported or unclear bugs have no chance to be removed.
About "save all open maps" - sometimes my windows crashes unexpectedly
(freeplane has nothing to do with it other than being a victim!) and I
relly so much in severall open maps that I hit "save all open maps" many
times a day. To make it speedier, use shortcut Ctrl-Shift-S (believe I put
this shortcut on purpose but not sure, maybe its a default) and always
works flawlessly (no need for second-try).
What about reducing the auto-safe intervall? Freeplane asks you if you want to recover unsafed changes on next launch.
Auto-safe-interval: if I remember well (not at pc now) I also use it (with
lower timeout) and saved me already a couple times. Its great to have it.
Nonetheless sometimes I finish something big and I press Ctrl-Shift-S to
make sure all is saved at that particular moment. Also I get this "safe"
feeling when I see all maps being saved :)
What do you use Freeplane for?
- Brainstorming
- Project management (high level only)
- Knowledge management
- Bookmark manager
- Writing
Which alternatives do you know?
- Mindjet Mindmap
- Freemind
- XMind
Which advantages does Freeplane have?
- Simple and clear maps
- Customizable via scripts (unfortunately a bit complicated to learn/ utilize)
- Outstanding support from developers and power users !!!
- Open Source
- Multi platform and portable (in case I'm forced to use a Windows machine)
- Free (makes it a lot easier to recommend it to students etc.)
What advantages do the alternatives have?
- The only ones I came across (I usually don't use alternatives anymore) were the following features in Xmind:
+ Gantt View
+ Business Charts, esp. the Matrix view
When do you use Freeplane and when do you use the alternatives?
- I exclusively use Freeplane
- Only reason for me to install Xmind (free version) would be if I needed to convert a mindmap to FP format as I can't import it to/open it in FP directly.
In general I think it's nice to have a few use cases to show what can be done with FP. But in terms of gaining more users it's the presence of FP in Google search and in reviews. Also the presence on websites like Biggerplate. Last but not least the ease of process for users to switch to FP, i.e. to transfer/convert their existing mindmaps to FP.
Big thanks to the Dev Team!
What do you use Freeplane for?
collaboration between maps and users
project management (each project = one separate mindmap)
knowledge management (each subject = one separate mindmap)
base for presentation of contents (in development)
Which alternatives do you know?
Which advantages does Freeplane have?
What advantages do the alternatives have?
When do you use Freeplane and when do you use the alternatives?
I'd recommend to provide one Wiki page for each feature description (I'd love to help creating these). Using screenshots and short, clear and descriptive words to enhance the goals, effects and ease of usage. From a "what's new map" or a "feature map", these description pages could be easily hyperlinked, thus found and accessed.
Last edit: nnako 2016-07-19
What do you use Freeplane for?
The biggest use for me is an ongoing journal that I have been keeping in various forms since 1986 (started out as hand-printed in sprial bound books). And with the advent of clones, I finally get to do what I've always wanted: to have information housed by subject and housed chronologically on different main branches of the mindmap. If a subject needs to be updated on a given day, I simply copy it from the subject location, which is always where I put it, and clone it in the new date area. I use it for other things, too, but that's the main use for me right now.
Which alternatives do you know? Pretty much all of the ones available for PC and that are online.
Which advantages does Freeplane have? I'm not going to mention that it's free for we users. Well - I guess I just did... The learning curve, while not shallow, is not overly difficult either. Once you see the basics, the user interface makes sense and I can accurately anticipate how Freeplane let me do something new, if it comes up. The ability to do a lot with just the keyboard is also very good. I like that new siblings can be set to take the style of the currently selected one. One more big advantage is that the Freeplane data files are text rather than binary. That means Windows Search can work on them. Most other mindmaps create binary data files.
What advantages do the alternatives have? Other mindmaps allow for prettier designs and some of them provide the ability to do online work, meaning I don't have to have my computer with me.
When do you use Freeplane and when do you use the alternatives? I no longer use the alternatives, though I occasionally explore new iterations or new mindmap programs when they come out.
One more thing that you didn't ask. Do I use Freeplane in conjunction with other programs? Yes. I use it in conjunction with TheBrain. TheBrain stores my mindmaps and that gives me the ability to text search all of my mindmaps from within TheBrain. (I can also do a Windows search, because TheBrain has its own root for data files. Also TheBrain lets me attach all kinds of files that I don't want cluttering up my mindmaps, but which at some point I might want to point to. TheBrain makes that fairly straightforward for me.
Regards,
- Bal
What do you use Freeplane for?
I've used it daily in my work for the past 10 years. As a teacher, I used it for organizing
As a software developer, I use it to:
Which alternatives do you know?
Which advantages does Freeplane have?
What advantages do the alternatives have?
mind mapping tools that do. I like having a mind mapper on Android because I
always have a device with me, so I can capture impromptu thoughts. And as some
of you know, I am working on m3 - Mobile Mind Mapper to achieve this.
When do you use Freeplane and when do you use the alternatives?
I only use Xmind when Freeplane isn't available due to employer restrictions
on installing software that isn't commercially supported. As mentioned above,
I use my m3 for on-the-go thoughts.
Last edit: Glen Reesor 2016-07-21
Hello,
-- What do you use Freeplane for?
Note taking, configuration and change management, documentation, information correlation
-- Which alternatives do you know?
Freemind (where I came from)
SimpleMind - which I sometimes use crossplatform between all my devices
-- Which advantages does Freeplane have?
Scriptability - I can extend functionality
Open source - I can understand how something is implemented and see behind the curtain, sometimes modify source code
Good, motivated and responsive developers - I can reach, have my voice heard and contribute
Maturity - It works quite stable and I never lost any information
-- What advantages do the alternatives have?
SimpleMind has good touch support and I can seamlessly reach / update maps from my phone, tablet and desktop.
-- When do you use Freeplane and when do you use the alternatives?
At work, I can confidently say that, my second display is dedicated to FreePlane all the time. I link whatever I do to FreePlane. It's like my diary
Outside work, on the go, I usually use Simple Mind, since it doesn't lock me up to a Windows environment (I have my phone with me all the time)
Hope this helps..
Kind Regards,
Second-display with freeplane, I do it too. When travelling with laptop (no
second display) I miss it continuously
Hi zipizp,
Are you running Windows?
As a Linux user I'm used to having virtual desktops. Couldn't work without them.
I do know it's not the same as having a second physical display, but it might ease the pain. Even if I have a second monitor available I utilize my virtual desktops.
While with the majority of Linux Desktop Environments the feature of virtual desktops is available out of the box, at least the basic functionality can be also achieved under Windows with tools like VirtuaWin
Hope that helps :)
@Linuxuser123 Thanks for the VirtuaWin tip - I mostly use corporate windows
to work (not my choice) and linux at home. Virtual desktop is a great idea
with one display, good point.
Same experience here in regard to being forced to use Windows in corporate environments. What helps me a lot are portable applications as you don't need to install anything and the policies are mostly not that granular to forbid to run them :) And VirtuaWin is portable, as is FP :)
Btw. also VERY nice and handy: MobaXterm. One executable that offers you plenty of Linux on Windows.
I'll stop now... we're on the FP forum :)
Hello,
Since I think that extensibility through scripting is one of the most powerful features of FreePlane, to give an idea on how I extended functionality in freeplane by scripting, I wanted to share a picture of my Tools - Scripts menu. I can give more details on any of the scripts upon request when I have some more time. You'll notice that I even reassigned some of the direction keys to custom scripts.
Other than that, I can say that recently I switched to Outline View as a general preference.
Regards,
What do you use Freeplane for? Note-taking, brainstorming, daily journal, idea-collection. research-paper-writing Which alternatives do you know? atom.io - an open-source text editor with a lot of interesting add-ons (also for note-taking, writing) (Excel) Which advantages does Freeplane have? Every node and thought gets a time-stamp. Hierarchy Keyboard-shortcuts, fast. Formulas compared to other mindmap-tools: open-source, open file-format that will still be readable in 30 Years What advantages do the alternatives have? Syntax Highlighting more add-ons doesn't look like it's from the 90ys ;) When do you use Freeplane and when do you use the alternatives?** mostly freeplaneLast edit: Dimitry Polivaev 2016-08-04
What do you use Freeplane for?
Note taking; research; flow charts, concepts, documentation, ...
Probably a bit unusual is my use of Freeplane for legal texts like this:
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/en/ALL/?uri=celex%3A32013R0575
(scroll down a bit to find the text)
This kind of text is unreadable for me, esp. because there are thousands of references to articles spread over the whole document. So I have copied the text into a mind map (> 15 k nodes). It's extremly useful for me.
Which alternatives do you know?
Freemind; InfoRapid; Xmind; yED
Which advantages does Freeplane have?
It's fast and stable, 15 k nodes are no problem.
It is easy to use, e.g. I can insert images with copy & paiste instead of "right click - chose image from HD - ...".
The features make sense.
It is portable.
What advantages do the alternatives have?
They look better at first glance.
But it is possible to create attractive maps with FP. And I like it's rustic look. I am a bit fed up with all this stylish stuff.
When do you use Freeplane and when do you use the alternatives?
I use Freeplane for everything and sometimes yED for fancy charts.
**What do you use Freeplane for?** - Research - Documenting/Visualizing structures - Keeping tabs on things... - Problem solving **Which alternatives do you know?** - Mindmanager - Mind - Visimap - YEd **Which advantages does Freeplane have?** - In no specific order - User community - The developers, more than an honourable mention... - The scripting - Attributes - And more... **What advantages do the alternatives have?** - Eye Candy - Higher corporate acceptance factor. **When do you use Freeplane and when do you use the alternatives?** - Freeplane - Always for my own tasks/objectives - Others - When eye candy can sell a proposition - Occasional exports to XMind - YEd - For sociogram like analysis - For non-mindmap doable structuresLast edit: Dimitry Polivaev 2016-08-04
What do you use Freeplane for?
Research/Bibliography
Notetaking/meeting management
Information management/Analysis
Journals/Diaries
* Scratchpad/parking lot for ideas
Which alternatives do you know?
Mindmanager
XMind
Which advantages does Freeplane have?
Very helpful and engaged user community
Active development--new features continually being offered/discussed
* Powerful scripting and programatic tools (e.g., conditional formatting, filtering, attributes)
What advantages do the alternatives have?
Better marketing--use cases to help people understand what the product can do for them
Acceptance in larger user communities drives ever more acceptance
* Perhaps a better fit with what new users perceive as mindmapping (more artistic, less structured, more freeflow--interestingly, this I think is one of the barriers for acceptance of Freeplane: Users have tried the "prettier" tools and found that they aren't very deep and are "more trouble than they're worth." so they perceive opportunities to use Freeplane as "been there, done that.")
When do you use Freeplane and when do you use the alternatives?
* I use Freeplane exclusively. Its one of three software tools I use everyday
**What do you use Freeplane for?** For work and personal use. I use freeplane all day at work to put notes, I use it basically as a workspace, then later I can return after quickly to the context of the work that was done. **Which alternatives do you know?** None on PC. I was using I thought on IPhone but now I have an android and I don't use mind mapping at the moment on the phone. I don't see the point of using multiple mind mapping software on PC, you just take the best (freeplane) then you do all your maps with it. **Which advantages does Freeplane have?** Many functionality and great community. It is just extremely useful and pleasant to work with. The scripting is very useful. The xml format is way better than the binary format I saw with concurrents. Xml is searchable with external tools and can be modified, searched and replaced etc. **What advantages do the alternatives have?** I don't use any. Project management could be better in Freeplane, with features like the app called TodoList. **When do you use Freeplane and when do you use the alternatives?** All (work) day, and also from home for personal use. I don't use alternatives. I do have some basic notes app on my phone and also I have some notes that remained in OneNote or Word doc.Last edit: Dimitry Polivaev 2016-08-04
Alexandre,
I too miss having some capability for using mindmaps on my mobile device. Everyday I come across information while mobile that I would like to capture in a mindmap and have resorted to using something like Google docs to make a running list of things to go back and add later. Awkward.
Does anybody have a mobile alternative? Perhaps a separate discussion thread is better, to avoid clogging up Dimitry's survey here.
Q!
Hi Quinbus,
I saw in another thread that MindMup was mentioned, it is a web based app and it works on Android.
https://www.mindmup.com/
But I just tested it, so far it seems nice and it supports import/export from .mm files.
Best regards,
Alexandre
Mindmup
Last edit: Dimitry Polivaev 2016-08-03
What do you use Freeplane for?
Which alternatives do you know?
Which advantages does Freeplane have?
What advantages do the alternatives have?
Two things would make FreePlane much better for me. 1) The ability to "attach" files to nodes. 2) The ability to keep links to files, nodes, etc. up to date when things or moved or changed. I realize these are major changes.When do you use Freeplane and when do you use the alternatives?
I apologise for the long reply. It looked a whole lot shorter in a mind map :-)
Dimitry, thanks for inviting me.
Answers **What do you use Freeplane for?** Note taking Live webinars Live seminars Talking with clients Thoughts that get lost otherwise Condensing information Non fictions books reduced to their essence Complex writing Acts of Parliament Software Menus Beats reading the manual most times Research Drop useful URLs into a map to explore later Random notes from different sources Wikipedia Planning What needs to be done What's the order of doing them What shows me it is finished Analysing Arguments Creating Articles Seminars Webinars Videos Code (Python in my case) **Which alternatives do you know?** Xmind Simplemind MindManager MindMeister Freemind **Which advantages does Freeplane have?** Simple Interface Clean Interface Fast Simple Import & Export Non-Proprietary file format Allows a lot of fun in background analysing thosuands of Google keyphrases **What advantages do the alternatives have?** Better marketing (I say this gently) **When do you use Freeplane and when do you use the alternatives?** I use Freeplane whenever I am at my desk Simplemind on my iPadLast edit: Dimitry Polivaev 2016-08-04