Mind Node 6

Posted by Amontillado
Apr 24, 2019 at 11:41 AM

Mind Node 6, out today, adds a focus mode. It’s not what precisely what I was expecting, but I like it.

Command-Shift-F enters focus mode. That grays out the parents and grandparents, and dims the rest of the map to the point of near invisibility. If you click on a gray or near-invisible node, it becomes (or remains) gray along with all of its descendants. You can navigate anywhere you want, and refocus anywhere on the fly.

A second use of command-shift-F is context sensitive. It’s not counter-intuitive, but it doesn’t just toggle focus. If I described it, it would sound nightmarish. After ten seconds of experimentation it will make perfect sense. I would have done it differently, but I have to admit Mind Node’s way is probably more predictive of what I want. For instance, if I’m on a member of the focus, command-shift-F cancels the focus. If I’m on a grayed node, it jumps back to the node at the root of the current focus.

If I want to refocus on a grayed node, there is a little pop-out button, appearing automatically, to do that. If I want to refocus on a descendant of the current focus, I can do that with a right click. It all works, so I have no complaints.

For multi-thousand document databases, I still prefer Devonthink over The Brain. For mapping out some initial notes for a story idea or something very contained, Mind Node is a very handy tool.

Mind Node is also handy in conjunction with a traditional outliner. I sometimes export a Mind Node map to OPML and transfer over to OmniOutliner.