Getting to grips with MindGenius 6

Transcription

1 Getting to grips with MindGenius 6 A mind mapping tool MindMapping is a recognised tool for getting ideas, thoughts and plans into structured reports, essays etc. Using visual tools to assist in the process, MindGenius will allow you to convert your mind maps into Word documents and PowerPoint presentations. This document is for version 6 of the software which is the version available on all University of Brighton s Windows computers. Under the terms of our Mind Genius licence, all staff and students can also use Mind Genius on their home computers for free. MindGenius is a useful tool for people with dyslexia, as well as anyone who wants a visual tool for processing ideas and planning. Last updated 11 th September 2017 This document and other Information Services training documents are held online on our website:

2 University of Brighton Information Services Contents Workshop requirements... 4 System and software Mind Genius Internet access and a web browser Microsoft Office... 4 What is MindMapping?... 5 The 8 Steps to successful Mind Mapping... 6 The Screen Layout... 8 Create a New Map... 9 Creating a New Mind Map... 9 Saving a Mind Map... 9 Saving a Mind Map to SharePoint (Staff only)...10 Editing a MindGenius file from SharePoint (Staff only)...10 Editing and Adding Branches...11 Moving branches of a map...12 Deleting branches of a map...13 Styles... Error! Bookmark not defined. Templates Creating a Template Using a template for a new map:...15 Editing Branch Properties Saving branch formatting as a style...16 Adding a boundary...17 Adding Pictures...18 Using the Map Explorer...19 Collapsing and expanding sub-branches...20 Map Layouts...20 Adding Notes...21 Adding hyperlinks to websites...22 Attaching documents...23 Page 2 Last Update 14 th July 2015

3 Creating Branch Relationships Numbering branches Categorising the information Adding the Categories Renaming or creating your own categories To rename a category: To create a new category: Creating Filters using your Categories Creating a Category Map Exporting to Word Exporting to PowerPoint Using PowerPoint templates with MindGenius: Managing Tasks and Projects More information Mind Mapping Further Reading: More Mind Genius... 34

4 University of Brighton Information Services Workshop requirements No files are required for this workshop System and software Mind Genius 6 This document uses MindGenius v6. MindGenius is not available for Apple Mac Within the university: All Windows computers in student pool rooms and teaching rooms have MindGenius 6 installed. Any new university Windows computers have MindGenius 6 installed. Most staff Windows computers have MindGenius installed, but some may have an older version as the upgrade to MindGenius 6 was not pushed out to computers automatically. If you don t have MindGenius installed on your computer, or you find you have an old version, all staff can request free installation of this on their university Windows computer by contacting the Service Desk on Home installation: All staff and students can also install Mind Genius 6 on their home windows computers for free. For more information: visit and click on the Software link in the left-hand menu click on the Discounted software for staff or Discounted software for students link on the page Mind Genius on ios devices The Mind Genius app is available for free from the App Store. Whilst the functionality of the app is minimal, you can use the app to create the structure of a mind map, which you can then to yourself to work on further using the desktop app Internet access and a web browser This is required for adding links to the internet to your mind map Microsoft Office This is required for the export to PowerPoint and Word. 4 Last Update 11 September 2017

5 Getting to grips with MindGenius 6 What is MindMapping? Mind mapping (or concept mapping) involves writing down a central idea and thinking up new and related ideas which radiate out from the centre. By focussing on key ideas written down in your own words, and then looking for branches out and connections between the ideas, you are mapping knowledge in a manner which will help you understand and remember new information. September

6 University of Brighton Information Services The 8 Steps to successful Mind Mapping 6 Last Update 11 September 2017

7 Getting to grips with MindGenius 6 Mind Maps can be applied to most of life's situations providing clarity of thought and purpose in whatever needs tackled. Why Computer-aided mapping? Both maps above are based on text on the website September

8 University of Brighton Information Services The Screen Layout Before we begin to work with MindGenius it is important to understand the screen layout. 1. File tab 2. Ribbon 3. Map Explorer 7. Navigation Pane 4. Notes editor 6. Map editor 5. Task pane 1 The File tab is where you will find the key functions such as save and print. 2 The ribbon appears at the top of the screen. The icons on the ribbon allow quick access to functions in MindGenius. Icons are grouped together on tabs. 3 The Map Explorer appears at the left hand side of the Map Editor and is used to navigate large Maps. The Map Explorer immediately allows you to focus in on an area of the Map 4 The Notes Editor is displayed below the Map Explorer. It is a text editor allowing you to add related notes to any selected branch Note: You can change the location of the Notes editor by clicking on the button on the Task Pane. This will move the Notes Editor to the bottom of the screen (as found in PowerPoint). 5 Below the notes editor is the task pane. This is a series of buttons that give you easy access some features of MindGenius such as Word Cloud and Picture Gallery. Clicking on an icon in the Task Pane loads the function into the window above. 6 The Map Editor takes up the largest part of the screen and is where maps are created and edited 7 The Navigation Pane appears at the right hand side of the Map Editor and comprises a template gallery with many pre-defined templates to get you started, as well as resources to help you use Mind Genius. 8 Last Update 11 September 2017

9 Getting to grips with MindGenius 6 Create a New Map So let s get mapping! Creating a New Mind Map Open MindGenius from the desktop. Click on the File tab and click to select New from the menu or click on New Blank Map in the Navigation Pane. In the dialogue box type the text for the root branch of your map and click OK. The Root Branch is the first branch in a map; it describes what the map is about. Exercise A Create a new mind map 1 Create a new map with the title Mind Map Uses. Saving a Mind Map Click on the File tab and click to select Save from the menu. Specify a location to save the map. Staff can save to MyFiles or MyDepartment so that the map can be worked on from home or shared with colleagues. Students working on university computers should save the map to a memory stick. Specify a name for the map and Click on Save. Exercise B Save your map 1 For this exercise, save your map to your desktop. September

10 University of Brighton Information Services Saving a Mind Map to SharePoint (Staff only) If you have mapped the SharePoint document library to one of your computer s drives, you can save your MindGenius file to that document library using the steps above in 5.2. It is best then to open the MindGenius file by opening that drive in Windows Explorer. If you have not mapped the Sharepoint document library to one of your computer s drives you will need to: Save the MindGenius file to your computer (eg your desktop) Navigate to the SharePoint document library using a web browser. Click on Upload to upload the file from your computer to the SharePoint document library. See section 5.4 below for instructions on how to open a MindGenius file from SharePoint (as it s not as easy as you would think). Editing a MindGenius file from SharePoint (Staff only) MindGenius is not fully compatible with SharePoint. One issue is that if you are accessing a SharePoint document library using a web browser (as opposed to a mapped drive) you will be able to edit the MindGenius file but will not be able to save it back to SharePoint. To avoid this, you should follow the steps below when opening MindGenius files in SharePoint: In a web browser, navigate to the SharePoint document library where the MindGenius file is stored Click on the Library tab (note that this is only available if you are on the document library s page, it will not be visible if the document library is being viewed as a web part on a page) Click on the Open with Explorer icon. The document library will open in Windows Explorer. Double click on the MindGenius file. You can then edit the file. Clicking on File >> Save will save the updated file back to SharePoint. 10 Last Update 11 September 2017

11 Getting to grips with MindGenius 6 Editing and Adding Branches Double-click on a branch to edit the text. To add a new branch: o o o click once on the parent branch type the text for the new branch press the Enter key on your keyboard. To add another new branch at the same level: o o type the text for the new branch press the Enter key on your keyboard. Exercise C Editing and adding branches to your map Let s practice that. We ll edit a branch or two to start off with. 1 Single click on the branch Mind Map Uses and then type Planning and then press the Enter key on your keyboard. The new branch has been added to the parent branch Mind Map Uses 2 Use these techniques to build the map as shown below: September

12 University of Brighton Information Services Tips: When sub branches are added to a branch the icon collapse and expand sub-branches in larger maps. appears so that you can The branch is collapsed. This is a useful tool for students using a mind map for revision as it allows them to hide the sub-branches for a certain topic and test how much they can recall. If your map is too big to read on the screen, try zooming out using the Zoom tool on the toolbar at the bottom right of the screen. Moving branches of a map Now that the map is beginning to take shape we need to know how to manipulate it. To move a branch, drag and drop with your mouse. The arrows on the screen will indicate which parent branch you are moving to: These move a branch to become a sub-branch of the branch the pointer is over, i.e.in the example on the right it would become a sub-branch of Pitfalls of a Team. The arrow direction changes depending on the position of the branch. In this case the branch will be inserted at the same level as of the branch the pointer is over but above it. In this case the branch will be inserted at the same level as same level as of the branch the pointer is over but below it. The no-entry sign is displayed dropping the branch will have no effect and no move will take place. Exercise D Moving Branches Let s practice. 1 Drag the Note Taking Branch over the Memory Recall branch and drop it when the drop arrow points to the right. 2 Now try putting it back. 12 Last Update 11 September 2017

13 Getting to grips with MindGenius 6 Deleting branches of a map To delete a branch, click to select the branch and then press the Delete key on the keyboard. A pop-up window will appear asking you to confirm the deletion. Click on Yes. Exercise E Deleting branches 1 Delete the Making Pretty Pictures branch from your map. September

14 University of Brighton Information Services Editing the appearance of all branches of the same level What if MindGenius default colours and shapes used in a map are not working for you? Simple: you update the styles used in the map. Unless you specify otherwise, a new map is based on MindGenius default template. From this template the map inherits styles. The styles determine how the map looks. That is to say, how each branch at each level of the map is displayed in terms of fonts, branch shapes, connectors, etc. The styles of a map can be edited at any time. Exercise F Editing the map style Editing a style saves you time as if you update the formatting for a certain branch level, the changes will automatically apply to all branches of the same level. Click on the Format tab. Click on the Edit Map Style icon to open the Format Styles window. On the Style Formatting tab choose the branch level to update. Format the branch as required using the icons on the tabs. Click on OK. This will apply the changes to the map. If the changes are not applied to the map, check that the Style Assignment tab has the correct assignments. Let s change the look of the Core and the Level 1 Branches: 1 On the Format tab, click on the Edit Map Style icon, then click on the Style Formatting tab 2 Select Core from the list of levels on the left (this will allow us to change the root level of the map) 3 Click on the Branch Shape Tab and choose Ellipse from the Shape Style List, note the sample changing 4 Try changing the font colour for Level 1 to red. Then change the branch fill to be yellow. Click OK when you have finished. You can see that editing the style effects as many levels that you have chosen to alter, at the same time. This can be a good way of quickly applying an appropriate look to a completed map. We can now use this new style to create a new template. 14 Last Update 11 September 2017

15 Getting to grips with MindGenius 6 Templates So now you know how to alter the style of a map. What if you have created your own style and want to use it every time you start a new map? What if you find yourself creating many similar maps? In this case you need to create a template. A template can contain more than simply an embedded style; it can also contain content Creating a Template To create a template: Update your styles as above. If you want the template to open as a new empty map, without any predefined content, delete all of the branches from the map too before you save it as a template. Click on the File tab and choose Save As. Click on the drop down in the Save as type box and choose MindGenius Template. In the Save in box, choose a file location (staff can use MyFiles or use the default file location, students should save to their M drive or USB stick). Specify a name for your template in the File Name box. For this example, name the template mind mapping Click on Save Using a template for a new map: Click on File tab, hover over New with your mouse and click select From Other Template. A new map appears. The Navigation Pane on the right shows all the available templates, including those provided by MindGenius including dissertation, essay and presentation planning. Scroll down and click on My Templates. Navigate to find where you saved your template. Select the template you need and click Open. 1 For this exercise, choose the mind_mapping template that we have just created. The map opens, prompting you to re-name the root branch you can alter the name core level. After clicking OK, note that this new map looks identical to the one you opened earlier but it is a different map. It is based on the template you created. Using this procedure you can create templates for commonly used types of maps. Remember there already is a set of templates included with MindGenius. September

16 University of Brighton Information Services Editing Branch Properties It is best to format branch appearance by updating the styles as shown in the previous exercise as this will apply your changes to all branches of the same level in one hit, thus saving you time. However, sometimes you may want to make one branch stand out from the others for emphasis. You can do this by editing its properties. Exercise G Editing the appearance of one branch This exercise takes you through just some of the things you can do to format a branch s appearance: 1 Click once on the branch you want to edit to select it. For this exercise, click once on the Planning branch. 2 Click on the Format tab on the ribbon at the top of the screen and use the icons to format the branch. 3 For example, use the Solid Fill option to change the colour of the Branch to Light Green. 4 For more formatting options, click on the icon in the Branch group on the Format tab (under the Connector Style icon) to open the Branch Appearance dialogue box. 5 For example, click on the Branch Shape tab to edit the style of your selected branch including the Shape Style, Line type/colour and Fill Colour. 6 Click on the Font tab to edit the appearance of the text within the branch. 7 Click OK to finish editing the branch. Try editing Font Colour and Font Size and the Shape Style, Fill Colour and Line Style of the Thinking branch on your map Saving branch formatting as a style If you format a branch and would like to quickly apply that formatting to other branches: Click on the Save as style button, type a name for this branch style and click OK. To apply the style to a selected branch: Click on the branch to select it. Click on the icon in the Branch group on the Format tab to open the Branch Appearance dialogue box. Choose your style from the list in the Existing Style box and click OK. 16 Last Update 11 September 2017

17 Getting to grips with MindGenius 6 Adding a boundary You can add a boundary to an area of the map for extra emphasis and to group areas together. Click once to select the highest branch of the area want to add the boundary to. On the Format tab, within the Boundary group, use the Style and Fill options to apply a boundary to the selected branch and all of its sub-branches. Exercise H Add a boundary 1 Add a boundary to the planning node of your map. That section of your map may now look something like this: September

18 University of Brighton Information Services Adding Pictures It is believed that the memory's storing and recalling powers can be enhanced through the use of pictures for emphasis and association. In other words adding associated pictures to a branch may help you remember the information held in that branch. So let s add some pictures! Click once on the branch that you want to add the picture to. On the Insert tab click on the Pictures icon. Locate the picture file on your computer, click once to select it and then click Open. To change the size of the picture, click on node containing the picture and then use the and icons within the Pictures group on the Insert tab. To change the position of the picture within a node, use the Position icon within the Pictures group on on the Insert tab. To delete an image from a node, click on the node, on the Insert tab click on the icon within the Pictures group on on the Insert tab. Exercise I Add a picture from file 1 Add a picture to the Note Taking branch. Look in the My Pictures folder or library on your computer and choose a picture file to add. Your map may now look something like this: 18 Last Update 11 September 2017

19 Getting to grips with MindGenius 6 Using the Map Explorer A complicated topic can seem overwhelming. Focusing on one area at a time helps you to concentrate better and retain information. You can use the Map Explorer on the left of the screen to display only that topic in the Map Editor window. Click on a topic in the Map Explorer to select it. The Map Editor will display only that topic and the sub-branches associated with that topic. Click on the top level in the Map Explorer to show the entire map again. Exercise J Focusing on a particular area using the Map Explorer Let s have a go: 1 In the Map Explorer, click on the to expand the branch list. 2 In the Map Explorer, click once on the text Memory Recall to select that branch. The map displayed in the Map Editor will shrink to only show the Memory Recall branch and its children. 3 In the Map Explorer, click once on the text Mind Map Uses. The entire map will be displayed in the Map Editor. September

20 University of Brighton Information Services Collapsing and expanding sub-branches You can also collapse the map to only display selected levels. This is a useful technique when revising a topic or if you do not want to display the lower-level detail of the map. To do this: Click anywhere on the blank background of the map to ensure that no branches are selected. On the Home tab click on the Display Levels icon Click to select the level you want to display The map will only display only the selected level. denotes that a branch has children. Click on the symbols in the map to expand branches and show detail. Tip: Once expanded, holding down the SHIFT key and then pressing the right or left arrows on the keyboard will collapse the children of a selected branch To display all levels again, click on the Display Levels icon on the Home tab Click to select All from the list. Map Layouts The standard settings in MindGenius will default to create a mind map that has an Output tree layout, i.e. the root at the left and the branches to the right, as we have seen. Sometimes, depending on the use of the map or your personal preferences, this may not be the best layout. To change the layout of your map: On the Home tab, click on the Map Layouts icon. Select a layout from the gallery of layouts. For more layouts (including a change in the default order of the position of branches, click to select More Layouts and click on Map Diagram. Exercise K Changing the map layout 1 Have a go at changing the layout of your map to see which layout you prefer. 20 Last Update 11 September 2017

21 Adding Notes Getting to grips with MindGenius 6 When creating a mind map, the text on your branches should be short and sweet: ideally only one or two key words. When planning, especially for essays, theses and assignments, you may want to capture additional text related to specific branches for your topic. These may include: References for key passages in a book or journal that you want to reference in relation to the topic Paragraphs of text that you may want to include in a larger document Notes help you elaborate when presenting a topic You can add this information to individual branches of your MindGenius map using the Notes Editor When exporting to Word, notes will appear as Normal text. When exporting to PowerPoint, notes will appear as speaker notes. Click to select the branch you want to add notes to. In the Task Pane, click on the icon to display the Notes Editor. Above the notes pane, click on the icon to dock the notes panes below the map and to make more formatting options become available. Click inside the Notes Editor and type your notes Click anywhere on the map. An icon will appear on that branch to indicate that there are notes associated with the branch. To view the notes you will need to click on the branch. Tip: You can copy and paste text into the Notes Editor documents using CTRL+C and CTRL+V as normal. You can also format the notes using the toolbar above the Notes Editor. Exercise L Add notes to your map 1 For this exercise add the following notes to the Lesson Plan sub-branch. Think about the different learning styles when planning a lesson: Visual Kinaesthetic Auditory September

22 University of Brighton Information Services Adding hyperlinks to websites When planning, especially for essays, theses and assignments, you may want to capture additional information related to specific branches for your topic. For example, you may want keep track of any websites you have used when researching a topic. Hyperlinks can be added to a branch and will appear as clickable links when hovering over a relevant branch. Click on the sub-branch that you want to add a link to. On the Insert tab click on the on the Hyperlink icon. In the dialogue box that opens up type the details of the website and then click on OK. You will see an or icon has appeared on the relevant branch, (the icon will depend on what your default internet browser is). If you add more than one website address the icon will change to some paperclips. Hover over this icon with your mouse to display the web sites you ve just added. To visit one of the sites simply click on the title. Exercise M Add hyperlinks to your map 1 Add the following websites to the Presentations branch on your map: Business Balls University of Brighton Remember that it is faster to copy and paste web addresses rather than type them manually. 22 Last Update 11 September 2017

23 Attaching documents Getting to grips with MindGenius 6 Sometimes you have other documents that are relevant to your topic. For instance, you may have written up some lecture notes and stored them elsewhere on your computer. You can attach files to branches of your map. Clicking on the attachment will open the file. Note to staff and researchers: If the file you want to attach is stored on SharePoint, copy the URL of the SharePoint file and use the Adding Hyperlinks technique above to add the URL to your map as a hyperlink instead of an attachment. To add an attachment: Click on the sub-branch that you want to add a link to. On the Insert tab, click on the Attachment icon. In the Add Attachments dialogue box, type the description of the file in the Description box. Click on the Browse icon. Locate the document file on your computer and double-click to select it Click OK. An icon will appear on your selected branch to indicate that an attachment has been added. For instance, if you add a Word document, you will see the logo. If you add multiple attachments to one branch, the icon will change to be some paperclips. Exercise N Add a link to a document to your mind map. 1 Try adding a word document to the Meeting Minutes.doc as a file attachment to the Essays branch. If you can t find any files on the computer you are using, open a new word document, save it to your desktop with a memorable file name and then try adding it as an attachment to your map. September

24 University of Brighton Information Services Creating Branch Relationships In some cases branches of a map may be related to each other but this relationship cannot be directly shown because they are located in two different places on the map. If it is important to highlight this relationship in the map then Mental Connections can be used. To add a mental connection: On the Insert tab, click to select the Mental Connection icon The cursor will change to Point at the first branch in the connection and hold your left mouse button down. Without releasing your mouse, drag and drop the cursor to the second branch in the connection. Type a label for the connection in the pop-up box and click on OK. The connection will appear in the map. To change its position, click once on the Mental Connection s label and then drag and drop the label to the required place on the map. Exercise O Creating a mental connection Let s try it: 1 Insert a mental connection between the Meetings and Note Taking branches of your map. Call it Support Staff. 2 Drag and drop the connection s label so that it is clearly visible. Your map should now look something like this: 24 Last Update 11 September 2017

25 Numbering branches Getting to grips with MindGenius 6 To add a numbering scheme to the map branches: Click on the Format tab and click on Numbering. Categorising the information MindGenius lets you categorise branches of the map into logical groups. You can then filter the map on these categories. You can also create a Category Map that will change the layout of your map, grouping all branches of the same category together. To some extent this is already done by branch level and position in the map; however, further categorisation may be required useful in certain situations. Let s say, for example, you use MindGenius to organize and prepare for a presentation within a group. Some of that information may need your input, some the other members of the group. By creating categories for each member of the group, and applying them to different branches of the map, you could easily filter to see who is working on what for the presentation. Adding the Categories MindGenius comes with a variety of pre-set categories ready for you to use, as well as allowing you to create your own categories. First we will use the ones already available. Select the branches that you want to apply a category to. o o To select an entire branch and its children, click and drag with your mouse to draw a box around the branches that you want to select. To select multiple branches or areas of the map, hold down the CTRL button on your keyboard whilst you use your mouse to make your selection. Click on the Analyze tab and click on the the categories gallery. to display Click on a category to select it, or to display all of the available categories, click on More Categories. September

26 University of Brighton Information Services Renaming or creating your own categories To create your own categories or rename existing categories: Click on the Analyze tab and click the categories gallery to display the Click on Create/Rename Categories To rename a category: Click on the category and click on Rename Type the new name and press ENTER. To create your own category group: Click on Create a new category group link at the top of the window Type the name of the new category group (e.g. days of the week) and press ENTER To create a new category: Click on the category group to which you want to add the new category Click on Create a new category Type the name of the new category and press ENTER. Click on OK when you have finished and assign the categories to the map as before. Exercise P Categorise your map Let s practice that. 1 Rename Category 1 to be Student and Category 2 to be Staff. 2 Hold down your CTRL button and click to select the Dissertations, Meetings and Exam Revision branches. 3 Assign the Student category to those branches. 4 Assign the Staff Category to the Meetings and Presentations branches in the map. 26 Last Update 11 September 2017

27 Creating Filters using your Categories Getting to grips with MindGenius 6 Now we can filter the map based on your categories. This will mean that you can emphasise the information for the category you have filtered. Click on the Analyze tab and click on the drop down under the Quick Filter icon. Click to select the category you want to filter by. The colours on the map will change. All branches will be grey except those assigned to the category you have selected. To only display the branches matching the filter, click on Analyze tab on the To remove the filter, click on the Analyze tab and click on Exercise Q Filter your map by category Let s try that with our map. 1 Click on the Analyze tab and click on the drop down under the Quick Filter icon and click to select or the Student category. 2 Click to select 3 Your map will look something like this: 4 Clear the filter. September

28 University of Brighton Information Services Creating a Category Map Another alternative to using the filter is to create a Category Map. This generates a new map in a second window. Assigned categories become parents with qualifying branches as children, as shown in the example below: To create a category map: On the Analyze tab, click on the Category Map icon Click OK in the pop-up window. 28 Last Update 11 September 2017

29 Exporting to Word Getting to grips with MindGenius 6 Mind Maps can be exported to MS Word. Your map forms the structure of the document. This is especially useful for people with dyslexia or dyspraxia, who may struggle with planning documents. You can plan the structure of a report or essay in Mind Genius and then flesh it out in Word. The MindGenius branch levels will be converted into different heading levels in Word, thus providing a skeleton for your report or essay. Rather than being faced with a blank page and trying to write 2000 words, the task is broken down into manageable chunks The export works as follows: Higher level branches are exported as Heading styles* Notes, links, pictures and lower level branches are exported as Normal style text* * Don t know what Word Heading styles or templates are? For more information about using Word more efficiently see our documentation about working with long documents on our website: Note: To avoid errors, close the MS Word application before trying to export from MindGenius to MS Word. Save your map. Click on the Export tab on the ribbon and click on the Word icon. In the Save As dialogue box that appears, choose the location to save your file to, e.g.: o o staff can save to MyFiles, students using university computers should save to your One Drive (O:) or a USB stick Give the file a name and click on Save. If you want to use your own Word template*, click on the : icon and browse to find the template you want to use. Branches will be converted to Heading styles in Word. Use the Branches below level drop down to indicate which branch levels in your map are converted to Heading styles and which are converted to Normal text. If you do not want to include an image of the map in your Word document, click to deselect Insert an Image. September

30 University of Brighton Information Services Click on the Include Options tab for more options. If you have used the map explorer to focus on a specific area of your map (see Using the Map Explorer), only the branches displayed in the map editor will be exported. If you want to export the entire map, click to select Entire Map. Use the checkboxes to specify which elements of your map you want to export. Click OK. Word should now open with your new document, ready for you to expand upon your initial preparation and research. If you get an error message saying that the call was rejected by the rejectee, it may be that you have Word open in another window. Close Word and try to export your map again. Each branch of your map will be assigned a heading style according to its level. Using styles in Word will save you a lot of time when working with long documents, such as essays, theses and reports, as they allow you to: Save time formatting long documents Produce professional-looking documents Create tables of contents easily To learn more about styles, see our documentation about working with long documents on our website: 30 Last Update 11 September 2017

31 Exporting to PowerPoint Getting to grips with MindGenius 6 Mind Maps can be exported to MS PowerPoint. Your map forms the structure of the presentation. This is especially useful for people with dyslexia or dyspraxia, who may struggle with planning. You can plan the structure of the presentation in Mind Genius. The export works as follows: The Core node will export as the title slide of the presentation. An introduction slide is created with the Core as the title and all Level 1 nodes shown as bullet points. One slide per Level 1 node is created, with sub-branches appearing as bulleted text. Notes are exported as speaker notes. Note:. To avoid errors, close the MS PowerPoint application before trying to export from MindGenius to MS PowerPoint. Save your map and then Click on the Export tab on the ribbon and click on the PowerPoint icon. In the Save As dialogue box, choose the location to save your file to, e.g.: o o staff can save to MyFiles, students using university computers should save to your One Drive (O:) or a USB stick See next section for more information about using PowerPoint templates Give the file a name and click on Save. If you want to use a different PowerPoint template, click on the icon to select it. Use the drop down to specify the maximum number of bullet points per slide. Specify which levels in your map will be converted to the titles of slides in your presentation. With the default setting of Level 1 and Page Break: o The Core node will export as the title slide of the presentation. o An introduction slide is created with the Core as the title and all Level 1 nodes shown as bullet points. o One slide per Level 1 node is created, with sub-branches appearing as bulleted text. For larger maps, you may want to change this. September

32 University of Brighton Information Services Click on the Include Options tab for more options. If you have used the map explorer to focus on a specific area of your map (see Using the Map Explorer), only the branches displayed in the map editor will be exported. If you want to export the entire map, click to select Entire Map. Use the checkboxes to specify which elements of your map you want to export. Click OK. With the default settings: the root branch has become the title of the slideshow each level 1 branch has become a slide header sub-branches have become bulleted points on the slide notes have become the speaker notes of each slide. your slideshow is practically ready! Using other PowerPoint templates with MindGenius: Your template should be saved with a.pot extension ( file type). Currently templates with the 2007/2010.potx extension cannot be selected. The University of Brighton template can be downloaded from but you must then save this in the older format before using it with MindGenius. If exporting using the University of Brighton template, after export, the slides will look like the template has not been applied. You will first need to: o o o Click on a slide or slides in the slide sorter (use CTRL + click to select multiple slides at once). On the Home tab, click on the Slide Layout icon. Click to choose the template slide layout/style you want to apply. 32 Last Update 11 September 2017

33 Managing Tasks and Projects Getting to grips with MindGenius 6 Mind maps are useful tools for planning projects, revision or tasks and Mind Genius has tools to help you: Gantt chart view Tools to assign people, due dates, statuses and priorities to branches, turning them into tasks Links to Microsoft Outlook tasks Export to MS Project For more information about using Mind Genius for project planning, see the Project Planning section of our MindGenius page on our website: September

34 University of Brighton Information Services More information Mind Mapping Having explored the functionality of MindGenius the software you may want to delve deeper into the world of MindMapping. The internet provides a whole host of information and you may want to visit the following websites to find out more: Further Reading: Buzan, Tony. Use Your Head. Rico, Gabriele Lusser. Writing the Natural Way. More Mind Genius The following documents, aimed at students, show specific applications for Mind Genuis: Essay and Assignment Preparation using MindGenius MindGenius A Revision Tool To download these documents, visit our website and click on the Mind Mapping link. In addition to these, the help section of Mindgenius is very good. To access this: Open MindGenius from the desktop. Click on the Tools tab. Click to select Help & Resources. 34 Last Update 11 September 2017