The app should just fade into the background-the same way your web browser does. After a short learning period to get up to speed, you shouldn't have to stop and think to create a node, or dig through menus to connect two ideas. No app is ever going to be quite as simple, but they should come as close as possible. Mind mapping with a pen and paper is ridiculously easy. For an app to make this list, we dug past the marketing and made sure it was designed from the ground up for brainstorming, not drawing. These kinds of apps generally lack features that make mind mapping easy, like automatically linking nodes, brainstorming modes that let you get a lot of concepts down quickly, and search. While it's true you can make a mind map in them, you could theoretically also use PowerPoint, Photoshop, or MS Paint. A lot of drawing, diagramming, and charting apps are marketed as mind mapping apps-but they aren't. While every one of the mind mapping tools on this list has its own unique benefits, they all meet at least the following criteria: Yes, it has some downsides, but for a mind mapping app to really be better, it has to bring quite a lot to the table. Mind mapping with a sheet of paper and a pen is an incredibly intuitive and natural way to work. What makes for great mind mapping software? SimpleMind for not having to subscribe to anything Stormboard for in-person mind mapping sessionsĪyoa for a modern approach to mind mapping Scapple for fluid, non-traditional mind mapping MindMeister for collaborating on a mind map with a team One of them is sure to be the right way to map your mind. We reviewed close to 40 different mind mapping tools, and after thoroughly testing them, here are the nine best. That's why, if you do a lot of mind mapping, you should consider going digital and using an app. You're limited by the size of the sheet you start with, there's no easy way to digitize it and make it searchable, you can't undo any mistakes or easily make edits, and if you lose your mind map, you don't have a backup. Of course, mind mapping on a piece of paper has its downsides. From those nodes, you draw yet more lines branching deeper into the different concepts, and you keep going, branching out more and diving deeper, until you're out of ideas-and the relationships between things appear. Then you draw lines branching out into new 'nodes,' each with its own related idea or theme. To make a mind map, you start by writing a central idea or theme in the middle of a blank sheet of paper. Used right, it can be a super powerful way to generate new ideas, or connect related ones. Mind mapping is a creative exercise for brainstorming and finding connections.

Drawing software free for mac