MindMeister updates: map out your ideas even faster

Mark Jack
Mark Jack MeisterLobster, EN Business Posts: 9 Beginner

Hi everyone! Mark here, from the MindMeister team 👋

We’ve recently made several updates to MindMeister, designed to help you go from idea to map faster.

What's changed:

  • Access topic options instantly by clicking on any topic
  • Add a new “floating topic” in one click from the right-hand toolbar
  • Create tasks from ideas via a new option on the topic toolbar
  • The search bar has moved to the top-left
  • Presentation view and export options have moved to the top-right

We’ve also worked on several smaller updates to create a smoother experience for both new users and more experienced mappers. 

Our goal here is to help you spark ideas, organize them fast, and collaborate more effectively with your team. 

Try the updated map editor, and comment below to share your feedback with us!

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Comments

  • Rafael Martínez Campoblanco
    Rafael Martínez Campoblanco EN Business Posts: 12 Active Contributor

    Excelente! gracias por compartir.

  • Tatsuhito Koya
    Tatsuhito Koya EN Pro Posts: 21 Active Contributor
    edited September 30

    Is there a way to disable the floating toolbar temporarily? I don't want it to be shown when I'm presenting.

  • Arturo Ayala
    Arturo Ayala EN Basic Posts: 7 Beginner
    edited September 30

    Hi. Regarding this issue, I sent a ticket 20 days ago and so far I have not received a response. After 15 days they wrote to me saying, if I still needed a response, they have been very busy... I replied that obviously, but I have not heard anything again.

    It is about the presentation mode (in the old version and in this one too). The zoom increases too much and cannot be controlled. It goes up to 1,700 and more. I do not see a way to adapt it to what I want.

    I even sent them this video, as an example: https://monosnap.com/file/K2OKv7vjszlwg6p11PvEqySRqh5w19

    PS: I have been with you for many years and the support responses are always more than 15 days, counting with luck.

    Thank you for your response.

  • One Awakening
    One Awakening EN Basic Posts: 5 Beginner

    Did the shortcuts change by any chance? I'm encountering some that no longer work. Alt + Shift + N is not bringing up the notes anymore and Cntr + Z doesn't always undo on Windows.

    I have to agree with the other poster that now clicking on notes doesn't allow to edit or copy them which is a significant reduction of functionality that was right there at your fingertips before.

    Otherwise, I like the new toolbar, the UI is nice and lightweight!

  • Matthew White
    Matthew White EN Basic Posts: 1 Beginner

    Your shortcuts have got glitches.

    In my instance when I type "f" … NOT ctl f… just "f" my mouse jumps to the search bar and this is very frustrating. As I'm halfway through a sentence typing and the word has "f" in the spelling ill look up and find I have been typing in the search bar.

    Please sort this ASAP.

  • Karl Ortenburg
    Karl Ortenburg DE Basic Posts: 6 Beginner

    Have you deleted the option to link to YouTube videos, so they can be played within the mindmap? Please re-introduce this feature.

  • Mark Jack
    Mark Jack MeisterLobster, EN Business Posts: 9 Beginner

    Hey there! Yes, you can either click anywhere in the map to hide the floating toolbar, or you can use Presentation mode. We're also planning to remove the floating toolbar when Focus mode is enabled 🎯

  • Mark Jack
    Mark Jack MeisterLobster, EN Business Posts: 9 Beginner

    Thanks for the feedback on the ability to copy text in notes and on resizing the notes window. We're aware that this is an isssue, and will continue to iterate on these changes in response to feedback from folks like you.

  • Mark Jack
    Mark Jack MeisterLobster, EN Business Posts: 9 Beginner

    Hey Theo! Thanks so much for this feedback 🙏 As you note, we've removed the ability to alter the layout of sub-topics, as we often received feedback that this created challenges when editing maps. But we're continuing to look into this, to explore which mixed layouts to support (e.g. org chart + list, as in the screenshot you shared). Thanks for your continued support as we investigate this further.

  • Mark Jack
    Mark Jack MeisterLobster, EN Business Posts: 9 Beginner

    Thanks for sharing this. The Alt + Shift + N behavior appears to be a bug — the team is looking into this. And we'll also investigate the CTRL + Z behavior as we're not currently able to to replicate this ourselves.

  • Mark Jack
    Mark Jack MeisterLobster, EN Business Posts: 9 Beginner

    Great feedback - thanks 🙏 The MindMeister engineers are aware of this bug and will look to resolve it asap.

  • theo west
    theo west EN Basic Posts: 28 Active Contributor
    edited October 1

    Thank you for your willingness to reconsider. That feature is instrumental to my workflow and countless mindmaps. I'm hopeful for a positive outcome.

    I understand the decision, but I believe that experienced MindMeister users who have become accustomed to this workflow appreciate the extra flexibility and options it provided. Perhaps consider keeping it as an advanced feature or preference setting for those who prefer this approach, while streamlining the experience for newcomers?

    Warm regards

  • Mark Jack
    Mark Jack MeisterLobster, EN Business Posts: 9 Beginner

    Hey Karl! You should be able to select the topic and then paste in the link (CMD + V on Mac, CTRL + V on Windows). Thanks!

  • Michael Welter
    Michael Welter DE Pro Posts: 4 Beginner

    Totally agree with you, I really hope the feature comes back, in the current state it is almost impossible to create complex structures for websites.

  • Tatsuhito Koya
    Tatsuhito Koya EN Pro Posts: 21 Active Contributor

    Yes, it can be hidden by clicking elsewhere. The problem is that I need to click topics when I present. I want to be able to turn on and off when I want. The toolbar is very intrusive and overlaps with other topics sometimes. I don't use the presentation mode because I don't find it particularly useful to me. If you can assign Ctrl+. (control+period) to turn it on/off may be helpful since I use this shortcut before I start to present.

    I also noticed that Ctrl+F (Find Topic) doesn't work anymore. I need this shortcut.

  • Karl Ortenburg
    Karl Ortenburg DE Basic Posts: 6 Beginner

    Hey Mark, I can paste the link somewhere but I cannot display or play the video within mindmeister anymore. So I won't know anymore whether a node contains a video or not unless I click on the link symbol. Before the update, I saw which node had a video attached to it. I wouldn't need to play the video within mindmeister but it would be much better to at least see that there actually is a video.

  • Cornelia Patscheider
    Cornelia Patscheider Admin, Moderator, MeisterLobster, EN Business Posts: 1,050 Community Admin

    Hi @Karl Ortenburg ,

    I think I might be able to help and show you how you can display the video within a mind map. To do so:

    1. Copy the URL of the YouTube video.
    2. Open the mind map
    3. Select a topic
    4. Paste the URL with your keyboard shortcut

    Please see the gif below:



    I hope this helps. If this does not work I would recommend contacting Meister's Support Team and explain the issue in detail.

    When you contact support, it'd be great to include as much information as possible:

    • include which account and mind maps are affected
    • Please enable access to your account. You can find a guide how to do this here: How to- Enable Access
    • Please send a screenshot or video with the developer console open. To open the developer console in Google Chrome, open the Chrome Menu in the upper-right-hand corner of the browser window and select More Tools > Developer Tools. You can also use Option + ⌘ + J (on macOS), or Shift + CTRL + J (on Windows/Linux).

  • Dil Dissanayake
    Dil Dissanayake EN Basic Posts: 2 Beginner
    edited October 2

    Hi Mark,

    I too have been with you guys for quite sometime and not too impressed with the latest updates. Don't get me wrong, I love MindMesiter and it is a critical tool I use not only in my work life but my day-to-day personal endeavours as well.

    Judging by the comments on this thread, it seems that I am not alone. Whilst we will push forwward, get accustomed and move on, user adoption might be problematic for you guys at this point. Best to prioratize the most frequent issues in your sprint cycle(s) and address those accordingly.

    Some observations from my end;

    • Its apparent that when you and the team do updates, there are quite a few snags (gaps in the current QA process?). Perhaps you should send an email to all customers first informing them prior to the change. When you guys were re-designing this new UI (from the old one, especially on the mobile) it took a month of sundays to get some of the previous functionality ported to the new version. I had to use the 'legacy' editor because whilst the new one was eye candy, the old one was more practical, more important functional. When I got into work this morning and started reviewing a mindmap, i saw all these changes and was quite stunned. Moreso that I have an important presentation in the evening and whilst the mindmap is done, i have to quickly get accustomed to the new changes without prior warning.
    • While the UI 'looks nice' we have lost its functionality. We are creatures of habit and whilst we all continually advance in technology, there should be certain things that should be left as-is. MindMeister has to grow (including us users) but it shouldnt be this dramatic / traumatic and its quite visible that there are severe gaps in the QA process which needs to be addressed in your second major iterative update of recent past.
    • One big functionality is the ability to use mutiple layouts on a single mindmap. Yes, you are correct and as Cornelia mentioned in this thread (which directed me here), there could be overlaps but its upto the user to manage it. if they dont want overlaps, they can go with the default / another layout. Removing the functionality 'for the greater good' is not correct here, as we should have the option to do so (and manage overlaps should we need) rather than taking out the functionality altogether, so thats not good and also severely impacts me (and I can see countless others as well). Mixed layout are important to some of us.
    • Some shortcuts dont behave as intended (i think this was mentioned before so wont do another writeup on it)
    • Because of this floating toolbar, i find it difficult to make child points at times by pressing "tab", as it seems to cycle through the menu items on teh floating toolbar instead of creating the child. I could use "insert" on my keyboard but muscle memory keeps going to the "tab". I wander if anyone else has this problem because it has happened a few times now.
      • On that note, you should provide us an option in the settings / preferences for us to proceed with floating toolbars or just the previous method we were using prior to the change. As the previous user mentioned, the floating toolbar is quite intrusive.
    • I used to right click the "background" and create floating objects, that functionality is also lost. I have to veer to the right now and forced to use the new option which also overlaps with existing topics (depending on where you are in the mindmap and if the branch of expanded or collapsed)
    • If i paste a YouTube video link, it just displays the link whereas previously it provided a thumbnail of the video where i can play the video directly on the canvass itself without needing to navigate out. I know you mentioned above that we should jsut paste the link but that doesnt work. Capturing notes or mindmapping when a youtube video is playing is a little more challenging now. As a workaround, I have to use multiple monitors for this / add more monitors to my setup.
    • You also need to re-update your documentation, which should not be more than 1 - 2 days after the update (preferably at the same time though). Why? Because, in my instance for example, I redirect users to some of your pages so they can read up on it themselves without getting a KT from me. One such example is the mixed layout I spoke of above which can be found here or below screenshot

    There might be other aspects as well, but wanted to put these across for now as its what I have experienced (and seems like many others too). Pls discuss these common issues in your next scrum with the team, as they have a grave impact to us.

  • theo west
    theo west EN Basic Posts: 28 Active Contributor

    Mark, this is a really well-written post. You've clearly laid out the issues with the recent MindMeister updates and how they're impacting your workflow. I especially appreciate you pointing out the need for gradual changes and more user input in the development process.

    It makes perfect sense that those of us who use the software day in and day out should have a say in how it evolves. And I like your suggestion that MindMeister should embrace the individuality of its users, rather than trying to impose a "one-size-fits-all" approach.

    Hopefully, the MindMeister team takes your feedback to heart and starts involving experienced users like yourself in their design process. It would be a win-win for everyone.

    Thanks for voicing these concerns and advocating for a better user experience!

    Warm regards

  • Ben Liebich
    Ben Liebich EN Basic Posts: 1 Beginner

    Agreed, its more than likely a deal breaker and will be moving to another platform.

  • Vitor Afonso Pinto
    Vitor Afonso Pinto EN Basic Posts: 2 Beginner

    Hi @Mark Jack, I have been working with MindMeister since 2020. Now that the feature to combine multiple layouts has been removed, I have a big problem to build my mindmaps. Additionally, there are some templates that will no longer work. E.g: Monthly blog schedule - how would you add a 5th week? Social media content plan - how would you add another social media there? Hopefully this feature will be back. But, I kindly ask you to confirm whether you are considering to bring this feature back. Otherwise, I will sadly have to migrate to another platform.

  • theo west
    theo west EN Basic Posts: 28 Active Contributor

    AFAIK the only way I've been able to continue using multiple layouts within a mindmap has been to DUPLICATE existing mindmaps and editing them, and then copying any nodes with the layout you want, etc.

    Tedious but it works for now..

    Warm regards

  • Shah Moeen ud Din
    Shah Moeen ud Din EN Basic Posts: 1 Beginner

    I appreciate the latest update, but I wanted to share some feedback. Before this update, Focus Mode was distraction-free and very helpful. Now, it shows various menu bars in Focus Mode, which disrupts the clean environment.

    Could you please reconsider this change and bring back the truly distraction-free Focus Mode?

  • Mark Mosher
    Mark Mosher EN Pro Posts: 13 Active Contributor

    Also, I don't even see a way to add a hyperlink to a node in new update. Am I missing something?

    Mark Mosher
    Boulder, CO, USA
    - Sr. Manager Global IT : Web Technologies & Citizen Dev Power User Guidance at Arrow Electronics
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