How to Create a Basic Mind Map in Freemind

Mind Maps are my own secret weapon for designing all my products, strategizing, getting a handle on what's going on in my business, and for all sorts of “thought”-based activities.

A lot of my marketer friends swear by them too.

That's why I created my white label training program on Mastering Mind Maps for Business!

To give you a taste, I'm posting one of the tutorial videos I added to the program, which you can share with your customers and clients. There's a whole series in the course, but that's only one tiny part.

In this video, I walk you through getting started with Freemind, the most popular free mind mapping software. You'll learn how to create a basic mind map.

Here are the steps outlined in good old “text” format, excerpted from the written guide that we also include as an “extra” in the course:

Create a New Mind Map

1. Open the Freemind program. Go to ‘File’ and select ‘New’.

2. You will see a blank mind map with the center node already in place.

3. Click on the center node and change the text simply by typing in what you would like it to read.

Add a New Node

4. Using the menu at the top of the screen, click on the light bulb or ‘New Child Node’ button to add a node to your map. Child nodes are nodes that branch off of another node.

5. Click on the child node to add a title. It will automatically add a branch to the center node.

6. Click ‘Enter’ to finish inputting text and then see your first node.

7. You can also add a Child node to the center (root node) or any other node by right clicking on it and selecting ‘New Child Node’ from the pop-up menu.

8. Once again, click and input your title into the node.

Add a New Branch onto a Child Node

9. To add a branch onto one of your child nodes, simply select it and again click the ‘New Child Node’ button on the menu bar or pop up menu.

10. You can add various nodes by simply clicking the ‘Add Child Node’ button more than once, or by clicking ‘Enter’ twice after writing your text.

Nodes like this that are all on the same level are called ‘sibling’ nodes.

In the example above, all the nodes on Point 2 are considered a ‘branch’.

Remove a Node

11. To remove a node, select it and either right click and select ‘Remove Node’ from the pop-up menu, or go to Edit > Remove node.

Alternatively, just click ‘Delete’ on your keyboard.

Edit a Node

12. To edit a node, simply right click on the node you wish to alter and select ‘Edit Node’. You can then alter just the text. Click ‘Enter’ to save the changes you’ve made.

13. To change the font style, etc, right click and select ‘Edit Long Node…’ in the pop up menu to bring up the text edit box.

14. You can then select the text and change the font style using the drop down menu. You can also copy, paste, underline, bold and perform other alterations to the text here. Click ‘Ok’ to save the changes you’ve made.