Mind map maker online: build a map from the keyboard

An online tool for making mind maps (concept maps, idea maps): branches arrange themselves, Tab adds a branch, Enter adds the next point. The same document lives beside the map as text, and a finished map can be sent as a link, printed, or opened in XMind and FreeMind.

How to build a map

1
Start at the center

Click the center and type the title — it names the map and the file too. Tab adds the first branch.

2
Build by keyboard, or by text

Tab for a child, Enter for a sibling. Or paste a list you already have into the text half and the map assembles itself.

3
Take the result

A link for a colleague, PNG or SVG for a deck, PDF for paper, OPML or Markdown for another program.

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Map ideas as fast as you think them, and take the result anywhere

Points: 0 Levels: 0
Tab branch Enter next point F2 rename Space collapse Alt+↑↓ order Alt+←→ level Ctrl+F find
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Features

Keyboard instead of dragging
Tab for a branch, Enter for the next point, arrows to move, Alt with arrows to reorder and re-file. The map grows at the speed of a list, because the arranging is done for you.
The map and the text are one document
The same map sits beside the canvas as an indented list: paste notes and a map appears; edit the map and the text follows. Tasks, links, icons and notes survive both directions.
A link instead of an account
The whole map is packed into the page address: whoever you send it to opens it and edits their own copy, signing up for nothing. Nobody holds a password to your map, because there is nowhere for it to be held.
Opens in other software
Export OPML for XMind, Freeplane, Mindomo and any outliner; .mm for FreeMind; Markdown back into notes; CSV into a spreadsheet. Your work is not locked into our format.
Three layouts and links across branches
The classic two-sided map, a tree to the right, or a top-down chart — one switch. A dashed arrow joins points in different branches for the times the subject is not really a tree.
Printing decides about legibility itself
The PDF is vector: text stays text and stays sharp. If fitting the map on one sheet would make type smaller than 7pt, it is tiled across sheets with an 8 mm overlap and labels.

What you can do

  • Build a mind map from the keyboard, with no dragging
  • Turn notes, a list or Markdown headings into a map
  • Re-file a branch under another point by drag or Alt+arrows
  • Tick points off and add a note, a link and an icon
  • Send the map as a link that contains the map itself
  • Download PNG, SVG, PDF, Markdown, OPML, FreeMind, CSV or JSON
  • Present the map branch by branch, full screen

Why the layout is automatic and dragging is structural only

Arranging by hand feels like freedom and eats exactly the time the map was drawn to save: past a dozen branches you stop thinking and start moving rectangles. Here positions come from a contour-packing algorithm — every subtree reports how far it reaches up and down at each depth, and the next branch is pushed just far enough to clear it. No two nodes overlap, and no branch can be moved any closer. What the mouse moves is meaning, not coordinates: a point can be dropped under a different parent or between two siblings, and that is the one part of the arrangement an algorithm has no right to decide for you.

Questions people actually ask

Can I open the map in XMind or FreeMind?

Yes. Export OPML — read by XMind, Mindomo, MindNode and outliners such as Dynalist — or .mm, the FreeMind and Freeplane format. Structure, notes, links and done marks travel with it. It works the other way too: drop an .opml, .mm, .md or our .json straight onto the canvas.

How many maps can I keep, and where do they live?

As many as you like: the list sits under the map name at the top left, and the maps themselves are kept in this browser on this device and open again next time. To move work to another computer, export JSON or send yourself the link.

What exactly is in the link I share?

The Link button packs the whole map into the page address and copies it. The recipient needs no account: they open the link and get the map, notes and cross-links included. A very large map does not fit in an address — the tool says so and offers JSON instead.

If I edit the text on the right, does the map change?

Yes, and the other way round. It is one document in two views. Indentation, dashes, numbering and Markdown headings become levels, "- [ ]" becomes a task, "[label](url)" becomes a link, and a line starting with ">" becomes a note on the point above it.

Why can I not place points with the mouse, yet I can drag a branch?

Coordinates carry no meaning here — the layout computes them, and any new branch would break a hand-made arrangement. But which point a branch hangs from, and the order of siblings, is meaning: drop a point on another to make it a child, or near its top or bottom edge to sit beside it.

The map does not fit one sheet — what happens when I print?

The tool works out what type size fitting would produce. Below 7pt it tiles the map across several sheets with an 8 mm overlap and "Sheet 2×1" labels so they can be joined. You can also choose the mode by hand.

What happens to collapsed branches in a file?

In PNG, SVG and PDF they stay collapsed but carry a mark saying how many points are hidden — a printout should not lose work silently. Markdown, OPML, .mm and JSON always contain the whole map.

What does the AI button do, and why is it in Premium?

It suggests branches: a map for a topic you name, or a continuation of the selected branch that takes what is already written into account. The suggestion arrives as an ordinary list and is edited and undone like any other text. Each request goes to our server, to a language model, which is why it belongs to Premium; everything else in the tool runs in your browser and is not limited.

💡 Want us to improve this tool just for you?

We can! Just send us a quick message with your idea. If you'd like to discuss it in detail, leave your email and we'll get back to you. You can stay anonymous.

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