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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.
Test Freeplane and give your opinion.

The above download button loads Freeplane version 1.1.3. To load the development version 1.2.x go to the preview area. The following text also describes features which apply to 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.

What is Freeplane?

Application areas

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 information mapping, also called mind mapping or concept mapping, and tools for using mapped information. Freeplane supports much more than classic mind mapping. 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.

Note In the center 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.

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 allows for granular presentation at any level of detail, as each piece of information is a unit in a hierarchy, any level of which can be displayed or hidden with a single click. Thus Freeplane allows a synoptic overview of any project as well as the ability to focus in on the small details. In addition it is possible to place information independently of this hierachy or click it in at a later time.

• Advanced information management features such as metadata tags and filtering options allow for alternative views of a project. Strong import and export options and an open file-format means your work is never locked into the application. And data protection, spread sheet and agenda functions make it a flexible tool for getting things done at home, in school and professional environments.

• Freeplane is integrated with the Docear academic literature suite.

• 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.

• Freeplane maps can be easily integrated with Internet pages as in this wiki.

• Freeplane has an active community helping each other and developping Freeplane rapidly, see the Freeplane vision. Check the Freeplane ratings page.

Contributions and developments

Freeplane is a non-commercial project which survives and is made possible due to the participation of many people around the world. Join us as a developer, designer, screencast producer, text writer, translator, or forum moderator.

The origin of the name and icons of Freeplane are described here. Freeplane has its origin in Freemind. The initial software has been refatored to make it more modular and easy to contribute by new developers, and to increase the release cycle. Read more... New developments are communicated at this page.

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
• Freeplane for Windows Mobile

Freeplane is available in several different languages. The currently available translations are: Croatian, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Russian, Spanish, Swedish and some other languages. 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 and forums

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.

Quick reference

• For the beginning user there is the Quick reference in the Freeplane Help under Getting started. And there is the wiki page Tutorial Freeplane with the basic principles of mind mapping and didactic examples. More examples can be found at the wiki Mind map galleries; they exist for different languages.

• For the advanced user there is the documentation contained in menu Help under Documentation. This document contains a detailed description of all functions, limitations and examples.

• For the professional user the wiki contains pages dedicated to Scripting, Formulas and Add-ons. The page on scripting contains useful scripts which you can use right away, without knowledge of the scripting language. Besides the page gives an introduction how to make your own scrips. Also the mind map galleries may provide ideas for mind maps.

• For developers the wiki contains many pages, see join the team, Team Freeplane and Categories.

There are three forums being used by the Freeplane community. The first two are devided in a developers and a users part:

• Primary (new) open forum
• Secundary (old) open forum
• Place to ask for features and reporting bugs

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

This 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.