Work with databases

MindManager lets you create connections to databases so you can include their data in MindManager maps, for both viewing and editing. Using databases with MindManager involves three steps:

Step 1: Set up a connection to a database.

You can connect to the following database types:

• Microsoft Access

• Microsoft Excel

• Microsoft SQL server

• MySQL server

• Comma separated Values (a folder of CSV files in which every file is treated as a table)

You can save the connection information in a special file so you can connect to the data source from a different computer. This computer must still have access to the database through a network, or, if the database is a local file, you must copy the database to the second computer.

Step 2 (optional): configure the database connection

Using a special connection configuration map, you can specify visible data, which data is used for topic text, and relationships between different tables.

Step 3: run a query and add the results to the map

To add information to your map, you run a query on the database to find matching data. Using the Databases task pane, you specify the database, and which table to search, and whether to filter the results. The results appear in the pane, and you can add the results to the map (either all results or only selected results).

In your map, the results appear as a special database topic. The query results are dynamic; you can refresh the database topic to see the latest information available in the database.