Can I convert a Mind Map topic into a project and add its child-topics as tasks?

Dave Todaro · September 2022

Hi, I'm new to MeisterLabs and I'm evaluating the suite as a possible project mgmt replacement tool for my company. I thought I had read a few days ago in a support article, that I could create a new MeisterTask project from any item in a MindMeister mind map. But I've searched for this capability, and I'm beginning to think I'm wrong. I know I can create Tasks in an existing project from the mindmap, but can I actually create a project that would be named for the mindmap node I've selected, and then populate the project with all of that node's children as tasks?

Admin BSF.company · September 2022

Hi @dtodaro1, the option to create a new project is there; however, I believe what you couldn't find (neither could I) was the option to automatically populate the project with node's children as tasks.

I just searched the MindMeister documentation, but couldn't find mention to a feature like that. Now I'm intrigued and willing to know if that is possible as well.

According to my experience, what you could do after clicking the option to create a new task shown in the picture above is the following:

Create new projects and sections inside MeisterTask's user interface
Go back to MindMeister
Manually add each node to the recently created project

I'm sure any of the @MeisterLobsters will jump in soon with a confirmation. Meanwhile, I invite you to read these news on the integration of MindMeister and MeisterTask recently published by @Andrew Lapidus

Best regards.

Andrés D'Andrea

Dave Todaro · September 2022

Gracias Andre. I still can't see how to open the menu you show in your screen cap that has the option to create the new project from the selected task. How did you navigate there? Thanks in advance!

Admin BSF.company · September 2022

Sure, you have to open the floating menu by right clicking any topic or clicking the elipsis button of the topic (little circle with 3 dots in the upper right corner of any topic). Then:

1. Click the Actions button (the one with 4 circles in the left side)

2. Click the Tasks button (the one with the checkmark resembling the MeisterTask logo)

3. Click the option to create a new project in the bottom of the floating menu, like shown in my picture above.

That will take you to MeisterTask, where you'll be able to create the new project and arrange its sections and settings to receive new tasks from MindMeister.

Let me know if you have any question @dtodaro1.

Best regards.

Andrés D'Andrea

Andrew Lapidus · September 2022

Hi @dtodaro1 , and welcome to the Meister Community! And thanks as always @Andres D'Andrea for sharing your expertise!

One thing that occurred to me is that you might not be able to see the "create a new project" link because your mind map is already "linked" to an existing project (if for example you've already created a task in a project in this mind map), so the map editor is anticipating you'll want to create a task in a given project. To fix this, you can click the project name to access a new menu where you can choose a different project or create a new one:

This will create a new project for your new task. There is currently no way to automatically populate the project with all of a node's children turned into tasks - but I absolutely LOVE the idea. Personally, I often move brainstorms into a project using the "create a task" keyboard shortcut: OPTION + SHIFT + T.

If you use this shortcut, MindMeister will automatically assume you're creating a task in the last project/section you used, so you can immediately press ENTER to create the task and move to the next task. This way, I can quickly convert many nodes into a single project, as in this GIF:

I'm just using OPTION + SHIFT + T and ENTER to quickly send tasks to my personal project's "Next Actions" column.

Even tho this works pretty fast, I do get that this might get a bit tedious for large amounts of tasks, or if you want to add more data to each task (i.e. assignee, due date, etc.)! I think your idea of automatically adding child-nodes to a project would be a great request for the MindMeister Feature Board!

Personally, I'd really like to see a "bulk" tag creator (i.e. select 20 nodes and turn them all into tasks immediately). Hope that helps!

-Andrew

Dave Todaro · October 2022

Thanks to both of you, Andrew and Andres. I have experimented with this and I have it down pat.

One challenge to my idea of automatically taking the child nodes and turning them into project tasks when you create a project from MindMeister - what Kanban board columns should they go into? I think the MVP for this feature could be to just dump them all into the same column. Then the next iteration might be a workflow that lets the user populate the tasks into one of the default columns MeisterTask provides when a new project is created. And then as the next enhancement, to provide really great value, I'm envisioning a workflow that allows the user to create custom columns they can choose to populate the tasks into. I'll put all of this into the Feature Board page and we'll see what happens.

Andrew Lapidus · October 2022

Totally, agree @dtodaro1 - I also imagine the MVP as bulk conversion of a mind map branch into tasks - with more customizable iterations added later!

Can I convert a Mind Map topic into a project and add its child-topics as tasks?

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