Struggling to see the big picture in your task list? Flow's Mindmap feature gives you a powerful visual way to organize and restructure your tasks. ## What is a Mindmap? A mindmap is a visual tool that organizes information in a tree-like structure, radiating from a central idea. For your tasks, this means: - Seeing areas, projects, and tasks all at once - Moving tasks between projects with simple drag-and-drop - Creating new tasks in context - Getting a bird's-eye view of your workload ## Why Use Mindmaps for Task Management? Mindmaps offer unique benefits that complement Flow's list-based task management: 1. **Visual Organization**: See relationships between tasks and how they fit into your overall workload 2. **Intuitive Restructuring**: Drag and drop to move tasks between projects or change dependencies 3. **Creativity Boost**: The spatial layout can trigger new ideas and connections 4. **Quick Reorganization**: Easily restructure large numbers of tasks all at once 5. **Project Planning**: Build out project structures and task hierarchies before committing to details ## How to Use Flow's Mindmap Feature ### Exporting Your Tasks to a Mindmap 1. Go to your [Tasks page](https://my.maketimeflow.com/tasks) 2. Look for "As Mindmap" in the sidebar and click "Export" 3. Click "Download Tasks as Mindmap" to save your tasks as a `.mm` file ### Editing Your Mindmap To edit your mindmap, you'll need [Freemind](https://freemind.sourceforge.io/) or [Freeplane](https://www.freeplane.org/) - both are free, open-source mindmap editors. Freeplane is more modern and offers more features: 1. [Download Freeplane](https://sourceforge.net/projects/freeplane/files/latest/download) or [Freemind](https://sourceforge.net/projects/freemind/files/latest/download) and install it 2. Open the `.mm` file you exported from Flow 3. Reorganize your tasks: - **Move tasks**: Drag and drop nodes to reposition - **Create tasks**: Right-click and select "New Child Node" or press Insert - **Edit task names**: Double-click on any node - **Show/hide branches**: Click on the small circles at nodes to expand/collapse - **Respect the structure**: - Areas start with `# ` (like `# Work`) - Projects start with `## ` (like `## Website Redesign`) - Tasks have task details directly in their text (like `[/] Fix homepage @today 30m priority:high`) ### Importing Your Updated Mindmap 1. Save your changes in Freemind or Freeplane 2. Go to Flow's [Tasks page](https://my.maketimeflow.com/tasks) and click "Import" in the As Mindmap section 3. Click "Choose File" and select your edited `.mm` file 4. Click "Update Tasks" to apply your changes > **Important**: When you update tasks using a mindmap, any tasks that are not present in the mindmap will be marked as deleted in Flow. Make sure your mindmap includes all tasks you want to keep. ## Quick Tips for Effective Task Mindmapping - **Understand the Hierarchy**: - First level (below root): Areas - text begins with `# ` (like `# Work`, `# Personal`, `# Health`) - Second level: Projects - text begins with `## ` (like `## Website Redesign`, `## Home Renovation`) - Third+ level: Tasks and their dependencies - regular text without any prefix - **Preserve Structure**: Keep this hierarchy intact for successful re-importing - **Nest Related Tasks**: Create parent-child relationships for dependent tasks - **Move in Bulk**: Select multiple nodes to move related tasks together - **Rename Freely**: Double-click to edit any node text - **Focus on Organization**: Mindmaps excel at visualizing and reorganizing task relationships ## [Export Your Tasks as a Mindmap Now](https://my.maketimeflow.com/tasks_as_mindmaps_exporter/new) Ready to see your tasks from a new perspective? Click the link above to download your current tasks as a mindmap and get started! --- **Need Help?** If you have any questions about using mindmaps with Flow, contact us at [email protected]