2D Options

Sometimes you just need to start with what most people use, just to get a good baseline for comparison. As I started to explore my options, I realized that there were a lot of online sites that might help me get from paper piles to finished content.

I explored a lot of apps, including Miro, MURAL, Bubbles.us, Coggle, GitMind and endless other apps that beckoned for my attention. I used the same, simple mind-map across all apps.

Here are the top three that grabbed my interest:

One site easily came to the top of my list is MindMup. I liked its simple and easy-to-use interface. I really didn’t need to work through the tutorials before getting started.

It gives users with free accounts the ability to create public maps up to 100 KB and save them for up to six months. You don’t need to set up an account or register. You can easily convert your mindmaps to PDF or PowerPoint and let you save documents to Google Drive or publish/share maps online.

The paid version, MindMup Gold, provides unlimited capacity and removes user account size restrictions.

Next on the list is MindMeister, an old standby for pre-VR me. It has a number of templates to use and maps that the community has made publicly available so that you can jump right in. Of course, I’ve relied on this off and on for a few years, so I might be just a bit biased.

The free version is pretty easy to use, and they have a bot that can walk you through what mind mapping is and answer easy questions. The Pro version allows unlimited mapping, lets you attach files and images and export to PDF for sharing.

The newest app on my list is Scapple. The app bills itself as a program that allows writers to freeform your brainstorming and move notes around the screen easily. The difference between Scrapple and other mindmapping apps is that you can drag directly into Scrivener, which is extremely useful for writers.

You must download the program as there is no cloud-based option. The Mac version requires macOS 10.11+. Windows requires Windows 8+. The app is available for purchase, but you can try it for 30 days to determine if it’s the right choice for you.

The problem is that these apps lock you into using a keyboard. I found it difficult to brainstorm just staring at a screen, so I landed up trying to talk it out, pacing and circling back to my desk over and over and over again.

It felt sooo 20th century! Time to get my VR headset on, find my controllers and get some work done!

3D Mind-Mapping Tools