MindManager Setup Tips

Listed below are some MindManager Setup/Startup Tips to best utilize MindManager with ResultsManager, MindReader, and other tools on the site. To comment on this page, see its associated blog entry on activityowner.com.

=Make sure you are aware of current issues with MindManager 9 and task dates= Make sure you visit the MindManager 9 Issues Page to understand issues in early releases of MindManager 9. You may want to stay with MindManager 8.2.

=Ensure you have the latest versions of MindManager and add-ins installed= MindManager 9 introduced some changes in how task dates are handled that require that you update to the latest version of add-ins that attempt to address these issues. Here are the various download sites:


 * MindManager: http://www.mindjet.com/support/product-resources/channel-download-library
 * ResultsManager and GyroQ: http://gyronix.com/fulldownloads.php
 * MindReader et al.: http://wiki.activityowner.com/index.php?title=Setup

=Turn off AutoRecovery and get in habit of manually saving= If you use MindManager with macro-based programs like ResultsManager, GyroQ, Outlinker, or MindReader, MindManager will tend to crash randomly. This appears to be due to some type of conflict with maps being saved by both methods.

I recommend turning of the auto-recovery and learning to manually save compulsively. MindReader saves the maps its interacts with automatically to reduce risk of lost work.

Obviously you need to proceed with caution in either case.



=Ensure Calendar settings are correct= Click on File, Options, Task Info, and make sure all calendar days are checked off. If you don't do this, you won't be able to set due dates on weekends and some add-ins will get confused.

http://wiki.activityowner.com/images/b/b4/Mm9calendarfix.png

=Uninstall Previous version of MindManager?= MindManager typically allows the previous version to co-exist. This provides some degree of safety when you upgrade and can allow a 2nd set interface for editing a 2nd map (on say a 2 screen monitor). Add-ins will typically work with the latest version you have installed or what they were installed to work with, but things can get confused quickly.

=Don't create a new document at startup or use default document= In generally you will probably find it annoying to always have a blank map created every time you open the program. A few years ago Gyronix had found this creates subsequent instability (may not be true today). You probably don't want to have the default "help" map each time either. To disable these options, click the File > Options > General.

http://wiki.activityowner.com/images/d/df/Mm9docstartup.png

=MindManager Button = "File" Menu (v7,v8)= In MindManager 7/8, the "File" menu was replaced with a MindManager button. In MindManager 9, the "File" menu has returned.

=Reactivate Side-bar Tabs (v7)= In MindManager 7, the most impactful change you could make to reduce your learning curve is to reactivate the sidebar tabs. You do this by clicking on the mindmanager icon in top left corner (or hit alt-f), choose "MindManager options" at the bottom, then click "view", and check off the task bar box. Having this familiar set of tabs will save you time as you learn the new interface. This is reactivated by default in later versions.

http://www.activityowner.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/05/mindreader_setup_sidebar1.png

http://www.activityowner.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/05/mindmanager_task_pane_tab_option.png

You can also find the same option by clicking on the Task Panes button in the status bar, at the bottom right of the MindManager window.

=Tell MindManager not to fix hyper-links= If you at some point get prompted by MindManager that "Map location has changed, update hyperlinks", say no (and no for good). In my experience this "cure" is almost always worst than the disease and you end up with broken links. This isn't a setting you can set proactively, you need to wait to be prompted.

If you actually do move an important map and loose relative links, a search/replace on the hyperlinks can often fix it.

=Tell the system who you are= If you are a ResultsManager user, you have to set your identity in two places. First for MindManager under "Tools", "Options", "User Information" and then for ResultsManager under "Tools", "ResultsManager Options", "Dashboard Options", "me". Setting your name in MindManager is important in a multi-user environment as this will tell users who to call when they try to open a document left open on your desktop. It also sets the name that shows up in the footer of a printed map. Setting your name in ResultsManager tells the system who you are and what tasks/projects you own.

For large multi-user installations, Gyronix recommends using first and last name, but first name is fine for home use and last name (with first initial when needed) works fine in a corporate environment. Using full names still leaves nickname variability to deal with.

=Add frequently used commands to the quick access tool bar= Click right on the ribbon and choose "customize quick access toolbar". Check the boxes for the frequently used "Fit Map" and "Balance Map". Click on "More Commands" and browse for the items you use frequently. This will allow you to work quickly until you get comfortable finding these commands in their new homes.

http://wiki.activityowner.com/images/6/6e/Add-quick-access-buttons.png

=Reclaim screen space by minimizing the ribbon= Click right on the ribbon and choose "Minimize the ribbon" as shown below. Alternatively you can do this by hitting Control F1See video.

http://wiki.activityowner.com/images/3/3a/Minimize-ribbon.png

You can quickly toggle the ribbon display by double-clicking on any menu/tab (e.g. View) on the ribbon. You can open a ribbon menu/tab by holding down the Alt key and pressing the letter that pops up over that tab. These work the same as the Alt key accelerators from the classic interface.

=Reclaim more screen space by using a macro to toggle in and out of full screen mode= You can toggle in and out of "full screen" mode with a short macro

Sub Main fullscreen=not(fullscreen) End Sub

that can also be implemented as a GyroQ tag (code,packed text)

=Stumped as to where a command is? Don't forget the "Home" tab= A lot of frequently used features live on the "home" tab. Don't forget to look there for things like Map and topic Markers, Task Info, and other topic elements. This really isn't a setup tip, but will help you with the learning curve.

=Spend time going through each part of the ribbon menu= Pretend you are learning a new program for the first time.

=Avoid high CPU load= From GridMarker on the the MindJet forum: The idle CPU load is:
 * proportional to the size of the map
 * much worse with the "topic notes" pane open
 * related to the reminder/alerts service. Even with the service disabled, MM does idle processing which continuously walks the map, gathering reminder data.

Possible fixes: disable this idle update when the alert service is disabled, and reduce frequency to (say) once per minute when it is. The severe slowdown associated with bitmaps in topic notes:
 * Appears related to serializing the bitmaps to XML during normal operations (move node, copy, paste, etc).
 * Bitmap data is appended to a buffer, which is repeatedly reallocated to make room.

Possible fixes: prime output buffer to prevent the reallocations, or just cache the XML for bitmaps, since they almost never change.

=Avoid using the internal browser= If you use a non-Internet Explorer browser as your default, your settings, cookies, passwords, etc will not be used by MindManager in the Built-in Browser which uses IEs settings etc. Often it is preferable to have web pages open up separately rather than within MindManager. To avoid this you can Disable browser add-in by unchecking it under "File, Options, Add-ins".

A user also recommended: Main Menu > Insert > Hyperlink > Use Built-in Browser for Hyperlinks

=Use filenames as your map tabs= If you often have several maps open at once, you can keep your workbooks tabs manageable by keeping your filenames short and using filenames as your tab labels instead of central topic text (Tools, Options, View, Workbook Tabs).

=Show the Macro button (v9)= In MindManager 9, the macro button does not show up on the ribbon by default. If you are on this site, you probably will have some occasion to need to access it. Use File/Options/View/show developer to register the tab in ribbon.

=Configure ResultsManager/GyroQ Specific Settings= Visit the ResultsManager and GyroQ Setup Tips to make additional configuration adjustements.