[DELIVERED] 💡 Feature Request: Presentations in the New Editor 🎥

Andrew Lapidus

Presentation mode is by far our most requested feature for the new editor. Currently, the feature is scheduled to be implemented in Q1 of 2023.

The MM team is super welcoming of feedback as they begin designing and implementing the feature - please feel free to detail your specific use case to help us make sure the new presentation mode fits your team's needs 😀

Best,

Andrew

Susi R.

Second this!

Alex Powell

I used to love using working with the presentation editor to show off mind maps to my clients... would really love this feature in the new editor.

frank_astair

I really need this feature! Loved it in the old editor and it really helped with presenting your mindmaps in a larger round.

Tomasz Stachura

This is a very important feature and I am looking forward to it.

Oliver Wich

Also very important for us to build E-Learning Videos directly out of Mind-Maps. No Extra Presentaion needed.

In Addition a mode where you can show complete different Mind-Maps as a slide show would be very helpfull.

Is there a more specific ETA then Q4? Beginning or End? ;)

Andrew Lapidus

Hi @Oliver Wich , and welcome to the community! 👋

Unfortunately, I can't give a specific date for the exact release, but I can say that the MM product team felt confident enough to promise a Q4 release, even accounting for any unexpected delays.

Sorry to not be any more specific :( I'll be sure to keep this thread updated with changes to the road map!

Oliver Wich

@Andrew Lapidus Thank you very much. Of course i understand that. Thanks for your efforts. Can you give a little sneak preview about the functions? Because i am starting recording E-Learning Videos very soon and i would like to know if i should wait to use the presentation mode 😎

Andrew Lapidus

Hi @Oliver Wich - Unfortunately, I don't yet have access to any preview myself 😓 Rest assured, I'll post more info as soon as I have it!

damians

+1 for this - it's part of the overall value of Mindmeister as a thinking->doing->communicating productivity hub for me.

Christoph Ploedt

Still two months after the last information about this essential feature. Like many of you said before this is an absolutely necessary part of mindmeister. I cannot understand how you can launch a NEW Mindmeister without it.

Andrew Lapidus

Hi @christophploedt and others - definitely understand your frustration here. I agree that presentation mode is an absolutely essential feature - it's by far the most frequent request for the new editor, both internally and externally at Meister. I also find it to be sorely missing in my own use of the tool.

As an update: Presentation Mode remains on schedule to be released this quarter (Q4). The team will begin a final internal and external testing phase at the end of November, with a release final release scheduled in December.

Hope this helps - again, apologies for the long wait and lack of a previous update.

Best,

Andrew

Dan Locke

Please allow again the reversion to legacy editor until this feature is available in the new editor. Mindmeister is not nearly as good as the legacy editor with this feature not being available. People who bought into MM when this feature was available are being short changed.

Christoph Ploedt

Yes the new policy not allowing to roll back is a even bigger problem just now. This is really to blame for.

damians

I have to admit, I miss many of the legacy editor features. MM seems to have gone the way of XMind in a "simple, light" version, rather than the richer, more functional approach of the old version.

TBH, many of the differentiators of MM that brought me to it in the first place have been lost in the re-design. Presentation Mode (with user-defined focus/zoom), Small side-icons, History timeline, Task completion status reflected in MM node - none are present in the new model. I used the old MM as a case study of how my own company's Cybersecurity link analysis and journalling app should be implemented - it was a case study in design brilliance.

Sorry for the rant here; I don't have time to unwind this slowly over time :-) I would love to read the market forces that led it in this direction; I know many apps I fall in love with are often too complex to gain mass-market momentum, and maybe it's the same pressures here. But I feel it is better to share honest feedback to a team and product that has excelled for so long. Feel free to read and delete.

Admin BSF.company

I have quite mixed feelings writing this one because I get both sides of the story. 

On one side, I'm a user and like others mentioned before me, I miss the presentation functionality as well. 

I remember firstly how casual and cool it felt to present something using the old MindMeister presentation tool. It was like a conversation with your audience, and it was also cool being complimented on how practical/original/engaging were my presentations in those occasions when I chose to detour from the classic "slides" approach.

So, I get the feeling of having acquired some functionality that later is defaced. Having to deal with stuff like that is actually one of the reasons I got into tech, so I can build digital solutions where I'm the one calling the shots.

In short, it has happened to me in the past, and it surely feels awful.

However, I believe that's not what's going on here, and for me, this is the other side of the story. 

In an attempt at looking this request objectively, I'd say:

The feature in question is being re-implemented.

Probably most here don't have the background on "why" the feature "went away" along with the old editor, so I'd try to clarify a bit in the following lines:

The whole tech stack behind MindMeister was revamped with the launch of Project Panda, about one year ago.

Panda, which is how the new interface is named, is the result of a full refactoring made to the code base behind the web application we love and use every day, called MindMeister.

For those not involved in web application development, I'll illustrate what a code refactoring of a live web application looks like:

Imagine for a moment you're traveling in your car from point A to point B, when suddenly you find out your current engine is unable to take you to your destination.

So, while the car is still moving, a Mechanic has to replace the engine making sure the car never stops because if it stops, everybody inside is dead, including the Mechanic.

That's what code refactoring of a live web application looks like.

Of course, not always we can live through a code refactoring process without a little sacrifice, and that's precisely what, I think, is going on here. 

It's a little sacrifice we're going through, so we can get better and more powerful solutions in the near future.

Just think about it, MindMeister launched in 2007 with a great vision of how mind mapping should be done, and I believe not only they have delivered, but they've evolved as well.

They're still evolving, and that's good news for all of us 🥳

We're evolving with them. We're currently "inside a car" called Meister, and (IMHO), these little sacrifices are unavoidable when you decide to be part of any tech ecosystem, as a customer, as an employee, or as a founder.

Even if you decide to be the one calling the shots, you'd eventually face this kind of situations.

What reasons could one have for assuming such a challenge, like refactoring your code base; you might ask? --> Many, from the point of view of a tech startup like Meister.

For example:

• Performance optimization: make the app run better with less computational resources.
• Costs optimization: less computational resources means savings can be reinvested in more development of new features, so, more innovation.
• Adoption of new technologies paradigms: new tech paradigms like the implementation of microservices for example allow for easier escalation and innovation.

Trust me, this isn't the first nor the last time we'd see something like this.

"Optimize Resources, Maximize Results" isn't just a motto to live by. It's the "bread and butter" of all people inside the tech world, including us. No matter the role; founders, operators, customers. It's how the tech world works.

So, I hope these lines help you rethink this interesting discussion from both sides of the fence.

Best regards.

Andrés D'Andrea

Christoph Ploedt

@Andres D'Andrea Thank you for your explaining response.

For me it is much more simple.

• Meister developed a new version of Mindmeister on a new engine. You all know about the features of the old version and how important basic features are for some customers.
• The new version lacks of some of these basic features.
• Nontheless you force your users to change to the new version quite fast. Even there is not even a edit feature on the mobile app.
• One day you decide you stop rolling back so the old version of a map. And you not even announce this.

I am really sorry for writing this but for users this is a nightmare and I am loosing trust in a before absolutely reliable tool for my daily work and processes.

Andrew Lapidus

Hi all - I’ll jump into this thread to provide some more information. First off, I appreciate the honest discussion here. No need to be concerned about deletion @damians — imho your feedback is both respectful and very legitimate.

@Andres D'Andrea is totally correct about the driving force behind the new editor - the original MindMeister was created in 2006 - an eternity in this industry. At a certain point, it became clear that the archaic engine was severely limiting, resource intensive, and would not be a sustainable tool for the future. The new editor is far more future proof and optimized for development within the Meister Suite.

That being said - you’re absolutely right that the new editor is missing certain features, most obviously presentation mode, but also custom themes and other items mentioned in this thread. The decision to ship the new editor without certain features (incl. presentation mode) was based on data which showed that users weren't making much use of these features. Unfortunately, data can be misleading and interpreted wrongly, as happened here. This was a mistake.

What I can say as that we are trying to do better. The MindMeister team has since prioritised feature parity as their first goal: to plug the functional gaps and deliver highly-requested features from the old editor that our users miss. We’re now about to see the first results of this effort: Within a couple of weeks, the team will release a first iteration of presentation mode in the new editor, with customizable themes coming after.

I’ll also add that the creation of this community is another effort aimed at doing better. Our goal is to close the communication gap between Meister and our users, and ensure that future product development is in line with users’ needs and expectations. I definitely understand the frustration at not being able to roll back, @christophploedt  - I’ll do my best to advocate on your behalf to our team.

I hope this gives a bit of context to our roadmap for the new editor - Thanks again for the discussion, I look forward to sharing presentation mode with you all in a couple of weeks!

Best,

Andrew

damians

I fully appreciate the need for refactoring code, and the new editor does look beautiful.

As I say, my caution is around the idea that MM might prioritise simplicity over functionality. If the intention is still to get to feature parity - including timelines, clear iconography and tasks, etc, then fantastic!

As long as the ethos and belief is still there for these productivity features of the tool, then great!

Emily

Really really looking forward to presentation mode. Since it's the end of November, I was wondering whether we could get a more specific idea of how soon presentation mode will be released? Is it looking like the start of Dec or second half of the month? Super excited!

Dan Locke

This feature is well overdue. The presenter mode was one of the main reasons I subscribed. And now it's gone and I am not seeing updates from mindmeister management since last being informed that the feature would be available again in December of '22. This page, which comes up on page 1 of a google search for "Mindmeister presentations" should be revised or taken down: https://www.mindmeister.com/presentations.

I have found another mind mapping tool called Mindomo. I found that it imports mindmeister mindmaps and it's easy to create the presenter mode there. I am just getting started, but it appears to work just like the mindmeister presenter mode used to work.

Mindomo does not appear to have an app that is similar to Meistertask, but what you can do is use mindmeister for all that it does and it's coordination with MeisterTask, and if you need to do a presentation, you can export to Mindomo for that.

Once Mindmeister gets presentation mode going again, could there be some sort of credit given to subscribers to make up for the much-diminished service they have had over the last few months?

yayacong

I apologize if this is the wrong way to ask. When is this feature going to be available? Huge miss on the product roll out:-(. Any update on this please

Brett Jarman

Plus one for this request. Though I don't use Mindmeister a lot, the main reason I use it is for presentation mode. I almost cancelled my subscription a couple of weeks ago but talked myself out of it because, for me, Presentation mode was worth the price on its own.

fabriciovallim

https://community.meister.co/discussion/38/feature-request-presentations-in-the-new-editor

I expect to see the solution happen within the next quarter, as already mentioned by @Andrew Lapidus in August 2022.

To arrive on March 31, there are only 75 days left.

Kevin Bird

Am I the only one who dislikes the new editor? The beauty of the old one was that it was fast and simple.

With the new one, there are several more button or mouse click to get to a simple icon, the ones previously used are either missing or buried under hundreds of others. Hovering over comments or notes no longer displays the contents. It seems like the clean fuctionality has been lost in the pursuit for innefficient "feature richness" and having attempted to use for a few weeks, I think I have now given up.

The inability to revert a mistakenly "upgraded" map has rendered existing maps unuseable for me. Sadly, I will have to look elsewhere.

S Levine

As a happy user of Mindmeister presentations, I also approve. Agree with prior comments re the prior editor, including font and other graphic options. Some of the new are good, but some useful quality was left behind.

Kevin Bird

Happily, I have found the means to open my old maps using "open map in legacy editor" which makes Mindmeister useable for my personal needs. I imagine this will not last forever, but for now I am happy to resubscribe.

The risks we take using cloud based services is clear. If the proprietors decide to change, you are forced to relearn of find an alternative. I much prefer local downloaded software on the basis that if it isn't broken, don't fix it. Adding unwanted features often causes frustration for the user. Microsoft are the leaders in that particular field.

I am happy for the timebeing.

rodrigues_henrique

I'm really upset that the new version doesn't have it. I made a presentation with the last version, and I would really like to do it again, but without this option it will be very difficult for the time and content that I have to present.

Shad

https://community.meister.co/discussion/38/feature-request-presentations-in-the-new-editor

The presentation feature is the entire reason why my company chose this product over others and as soon as we purchased it, the update came through and removed the feature. We look forward to its return so we can once again use the feature we purchased the software for. Thank you.

Dan Locke

It's VERY disheartening that mindmeister is ignoring this thread.

Christoph Ploedt

Yes, I agreee with @Dan Locke, @Shad and all you other guys. It is more than disappointing what is happening and not happening in terms of this topic but even more disappointing MeisterLabs just stopped any communication on this.

I am starting to guess they are in really bad trouble and maneuver their products and company into out. I really hope they come back. But time is running out.