Geeky Info

When I heard that a new version of mindmanger was out I was so very excited. In some ways, this is actually putting it quite midly, as to put it simply, this is the application that runs my life on my computer.

In some ways, it is the power of the application that makes it difficult to explain why I like it so much. When I explain the program to new people – well I must admit that evangelising would be a better word – I find that the talk naturally turns to mindmaps. Mindmaps are not as well known as they should be I am finding. In my opinion, mind mapping is one of the most useful ways to either capture thoughts or process thoughts. You can mindmap on a napkin, a notebook or any scrap of paper but Mindmanager from mindjet does mind maping so well it takes mind mapping to another level. When you mind map on paper it can get quite complex and messy. Things you need to cross out are left in place – you can’t easily resize or move items. All of this and more is possible with mindmanager on your computer.

If this is all mindmanager did then I would be happy and an enthusiastic user. However, it does so much more. Mindjet have been moving mindmanager it seems to me to be a dashboard on your data. In otherwords you can link data from many other applications into your map – files, Microsoft Outlook data, pictures etc etc. This has been wonderful for me.

Some thoughts on what’s New In Mindjet MindManager Pro 6

·  Improved Microsoft PowerPoint Export: Quickly preview slides in MindManager before exporting to Microsoft PowerPoint.

This is wonderful. I prepare all my talks and presentations in mindmanager and was constantly fidling with my presentation. I would then need to export it to powerpoint again. This way I can see how it looks in powerpoint with a click of the button.

·   New Insert Attachments: Attach multiple files to a topic for easy file management and map distribution. Attached files become part of your map so that they are never misplaced.

Nice!  This feature fits in well with mindmanager becoming the window on my data or if you like the dashboard on my life.

·   Improved Map Formatting: Make elegant-looking maps with our new formatting tools

I think on of the nicest changes in the new version is the slick font that is used in the default template. On my notebook, which obviously has a LCD screen it looks very very slick. I haven’t tried it on a CRT monitor. This is good because sometimes developers forget in the rush to add features that for a program that people live inside a few visual tweaks is important. Mindjet seems to understand this.

Some of the other new features are:

·    New Organizational Chart Format: Build a data-rich org chart in MindManager

·    New Microsoft Excel Linker:  Display Microsoft Excel spreadsheets in MindManager maps. Simply select a data range in Excel and link to MindManager, your spreadsheet is now displayed in your map.

·    New Microsoft Visio integration: Quickly map out processes in MindManager then export to Visio

·     New Editable Outline View Easily view and edit maps in outline format. Text and image changes made in Outline View are immediately updated in Map View.

·     New Topic Alerts: Get reminded when a Topic action is required. MindManager Topic Alerts synchronizes with your Microsoft Outlook Calendar enabling you to stay current on topic due dates.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 28th, 2005 at 4:30 pm and is filed under mind manager, software. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.