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Boost your brain with Freeplane

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Stable version: 1.1.x
Development version: 1.2.x
Freeplane for Windows Mobile

Freeplane is free under the GNU General Public License (GPL) version 2 or later.
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What is Freeplane?

Freeplane is free and open source software to support thinking and sharing information and getting things done at work, in school and at home. The core of the software consists of functions for mind mapping, also called concept mapping or information mapping, and tools for using mapped information. Freeplane supports much more than classic mind mapping.

Application areas

The above download button loads Freeplane version 1.1.3. The following text also describes features which apply to development version Freeplane 1.2.x only. For the more limited feautures of Freeplane 1.1.3, see Support, FAQ, the differences with Freeplane 1.2.x and consult the Documentation in the Help menu of Freeplane 1.1.3. To load the development version 1.2.x go to the preview area.

The kind of tasks supported by Freeplane are summarized in the map on the right. Click on the hyperlink below the image to navigate the map. Read the node called Caption to learn how to navigate the map and unhide hidden information.

Freeplane functions

Freeplane functions

In the center of the map application areas you see an elliptical form which contains the central topic (root node) of the map. Extending from it are branches with subtopics (child nodes). At the border you see free topics which are independent of the root-tree. All topics can be formatted or styled and can contain text, hyperlinks, pictures and more; and can be connected with labelled lines or arrows. Also a topic (node) can represent hidden information which shows when the user wants it or can be automatically executed (formula). Or content can be password protected or connected to a particular time or filter. The picture of the mind map on the right shows the main functions of Freeplane.

Why Freeplane?

Why Freeplane

Freeplane aims for maximum ease and speed of use. Occupying the middle ground between an editor and a diagramming tool, Freeplane allows the user to add content as quickly and naturally as they would in a text editor, yet producing structured content that can be manipulated as easily as a diagram. The workflow is unimpeded by the need to think about and manually place each piece of information; the user can intuitively input content as paragraphs and headings, and easily reorganise at a later stage. Freeplane maps can be easily integrated with Internet pages as in this wiki. And Freeplane is integrated with the Docear academic literature suite. Check the Freeplane ratings page. Finally, Freeplane offers potential programmers a versatile scripting language. Programmers may easily develop powerful extensions and students are stimulated to learn programming in a natural and stimulating environment. Freeplane also has a powerful mechanism to install packages of scripts and other preferences.

Platforms and installation

Freeplane is written in Java which is platform independent. As a result Freeplane can be run on any operating system on which a current versions of Java is installed. It also runs from USB. The installation of Java for Windows is automatic if you use the download procedure above. This wiki contains special pages decribing the installation for Macintosh, Ubuntu, Linux, Portable Freeplane and Freeplane for Windows Mobile. Freeplane supports an increasingly number of languages such as Croatian, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Russian, Spanish, Swedish. Each language potentially has a specific page at the Mind map gallery. The English spell checker is installed by default. Consult the documentation to install the spell checker for other languages.

Documentation

Quick reference

Freeplane has an extensive user documentation. Part of this documentation is provided with the program, in menu Help. Another part is contained in the Freeplane wiki. And finally there is much information in three forums of the Freeplane community, see below.

The versatility of Freeplane is demonstrated by the fact that the principal tutorial itself is a mind map, see the map on the right. In addition the wiki page Tutorial Freeplane contains many examples of use cases. The advanced user is helped with detailed Documentation and specific wiki pages dedicated to e.g. Scripting, Formulas and Add-ons. The mind map galleries provide a place for sharing mind maps in several languages.

Community and developments

Freeplane has its origin in problems with the popular open source mind mapping program Freemind. The Freemind software has been refactored to make it more modular and easy to contribute by new developers, and to increase the release cycle. Freeplane has been given its own logo. New developments are communicated as preview information. There are three forums. The first two are devided in developers and a users part:

• Main open forum
• Old open forum
• Place to ask for features and reporting bugs

Freeplane is a non-commercial project. It has an active community helping each other to get the most out of the program and developing Freeplane further. Join the Freeplane team as a developer, designer, screencast producer, text writer, translator, or forum moderator, see the Freeplane vision.

This wiki

Index wiki

Many pages on this wiki are tagged ath the end of the page with Categories. You can click on the Category at the end of the page to display an index of all pages of the same Category. The main categories are summarized here.

You are invited to use this wiki to share information and tips about Freeplane and its features. You can create new pages and edit all existing pages including this one after you register and log in.

NOTE: because of spammer attacks, editing of this wiki is now only allowed for registered wiki editors. If you want to become a wiki editor, write to the Freeplane team.

You can subscribe to atom feed to be informed about all changes in this wiki. Using this web service you can get daily e-mail notifications whenever the content changes. The same service can also be used for notifications about any changes to the project pages on SourceForge.

Thanks

Freeplane team uses:

• YourKit Java Profiler developed and donated by YourKit, for analysis of memory consumption and performance issues
• Code analyser stan4j, developed and donated by Odysseus Software GmbH