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MindManager Gets It Done Even If It Could Use A Few Tweaks
July 07, 2023

MindManager Gets It Done Even If It Could Use A Few Tweaks

Anonymous | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with MindManager

I usually use MindManager for brainstorming and organizing. I primarily use either the Free Form template or the Radial Map template. I have on multiple occasions used the final draft of my maps in presentations.
  • Creating wonderful hierarchies moving from topic to subtopic to more detailed subtopics
  • When using radial maps, it does a good job of distributing the topics around the main topic
  • A more intuitive way to modify/create themes and templates...and then make the new theme the default.
  • Add Main Topics to Free Form. Also, allow Topics and Subtopics to go in any direction.
  • Allow manual positioning of topics/subtopics. For example, I may want a topic to branch off a main topic straight up. I may want the next topic to the upper right. Right now--concept maps aside (which don't do sub and sub subtopics)--I can't really do this.
  • I'd also like more control over the paths connectors take to get to their topics and subtopics.
  • Saved time. I have no hard numbers.
  • Brainstorming
  • Education & Training
  • Knowledge Management
  • Problem Solving
  • Project Planning
1 to 10
I have mind-mapped for years. I won't give any examples except to say I apply it to any project or idea that I need to break down into smaller pieces so that I can visually organize those pieces, see their relationships, and either present the map directly to a client or use myself for the creation of content, whether for myself or a client. I know this is meant as a business product, but I use it even more often for personal projects.
There are others I tried but I can't remember the names of them. There are things that I think are done better by Coggle and Scapple. Even some things I think MindManager did back in the MindJet days. Freedom to place topics/main topics wherever you want is super, super nice, as well as choosing in which direction, up, down, left, right, or otherwise, you can have subtopics head off to. For Coggle, their default theme is just a lot nicer. But, ultimately, MindManager has a lot of functionality those don't have built-in. For example, Scapple is both too simple and too complicated at the same time. The amount of reading required to do anything halfway interesting with such a basic tool is ridiculous and its inability to really illustrate hierarchies of ideas and do so with a compelling format is just too limiting.

Do you think MindManager delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with MindManager's feature set?

Yes

Did MindManager live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of MindManager go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy MindManager again?

Yes

For me, it's pretty well-suited to what I need it to do. I come up with a broad main topic and then break it down into finer and finer detail using the topics and subtopics. I sometimes need to mess with the theme or template in order to make it obvious when a subtopic should be considered a topic all on its own. I often use Radial Maps because they allow me to use an extra level of topics (the main topic) and put it in the middle of all the other topics. I would prefer to use Free From if it included a Main Topic level and the ability to branch main topics off in any direction. Also, for Free Form, let us choose which direction subtopics go from the topics (left or right or under or over).