Topic Notes

Map topics are most readable when they are kept short. For topics that need more detail, you can add topic Notes to include larger amounts of information as formatted text and graphics. You can enter the text or copy it from another document. This additional documentation is especially useful for maps that you will export to a Word document or to Web pages.

The Notes icon appears automatically on a topic when a note is attached - next to the topic in Map View and in the Notes column in Outline View. You can choose to show or hide these icons in Map View by using the Show / Hide command. To hide them in Outline View, right-click on the column header and clear the Notes option.

See Print for more information on printing the Notes.

• You can use the Power Select and Power Filter commands to select and filter topics that have notes attached.
  
  If you want to add complex documents to your map, you can create a hyperlink to the document from the topic, or you can include the document in the map file by using an attachment.

What do you want to do?

• Enter notes text
• Add images to notes
• Add hyperlinks in notes
• Add tables to notes
• Move, remove,  or copy notes

Enter notes text

You can enter notes by simply typing them in, or you can paste them from another note or document. You can select an automatic font for the all the notes on your map by modifying the Map Style before you begin.

1. Select the topic.

2. Do one of the following:

• On the Insert tab, in the Topic Elements group, click Notes.

• Right-click the topic and click Add Notes.

• In Outline View, click in the Notes column.

• • Press CTRL+T or F11.

3. The Topic Notes window opens. (You can control its size and orientation ▼).
   Note that it has its own toolbar.

   Choose to display this window vertically or horizontally by default using one of the following methods:

   • Right-click on the window then click Window Placement.

   • On the Home tab in the Topics Elements group, click the Notes arrow and select the orientation.

   • Set the Notes window placement in the MindManager Notes options.

   To expand the vertical window, click the bigger button on the top toolbar. You can also drag the left-hand or top border to see more of the note and less of the map.

4. Enter your text. Text will automatically be formatted using the default font ▼.

   To control the default font that is used for notes on this map:

   1. • On the Home tab, click Map Style, then click Notes Format.

   This setting is saved as part of the map style.

5. If you are exporting your map to Web pages and want to insert line breaks in your text, press SHIFT+ENTER where you want the line break.
   
   A quick way to add notes is to paste them from another application: Copy the text, place your cursor inside the Notes window, and then use the Paste command, or press CTRL+V.

5. Use the commands in the Topic Notes toolbar to format the text. Notes can also contain tables, hyperlinks and images.

6. You must use this toolbar to format the notes text. The Font options on the Ribbon are for formatting the map text only.

6. When you are finished entering the note you can:

• Close the Topic Notes window by clicking x Close on the Topic Notes Toolbar.

• Click on the map to leave the Topic Notes window open. It will show the notes content for each topic you select.

• Click Next topic (or press SHIFT+PG DN) or Previous topic (or press SHIFT+PG UP) on the Topic Notes toolbar to move through the map.

A Notes icon will appear on the topic to show that it contains a note. You can show or hide these icons using the Show / Hide command.

Add images to notes

You can add pictures to your text notes from the MindManager image Library or from a file. Images from files can be embedded and saved with the map document or referenced via a link to keep the map file small. Initially, the image is added at its original size but you can re-size it and edit it as needed. Images added to a note can be saved on disk.

Add an image from the Library to the note

1. Click inside the topic note at the location for the image.

2. On the Status Bar, click the Task Panes button , then click Library.

3. At the bottom of the Library task pane, click Images , then locate the image you want to add.

4. Drag the image into the note. (Caution If you just click the image it will be added to the current topic, not to the note.)

Add an image from a file to the note

1. Click inside the topic note at the location for the image.

2. Click Image on the Topic Notes toolbar.

3. Locate the image you want to add.

4. Do one of the following:

• To embed the image in the map (include the image in the map file) click Insert.

• To link to the image (include only a reference to the image file in the map file), click the arrow next to Insert and click Insert and Link.

Not sure which to do? See Linking vs embedding images ▼.

See Images for more information on the types of images you can import.

• You can add a hyperlink to an image, for example, a button image that you can click on to jump to a web page or to begin an email.
  
  You can paste an image that you've cut or copied from another application into a note. Click inside the note where you want to place the image and press CTRL+V or, on the Home tab, in the Clipboard group, click Paste.

Edit an image in a topic note

Resize an image

1. Click the image in the note.

2. Drag the handles to change the image size.

3. Hold CTRL while you drag the corner handles to maintain the image's aspect ratio.
   
   If you know that you want the image to be a specific size (in pixels), right-click the image, then click Format Image and specify the dimensions.

3. You can return the image to its original size - right click, and then click Reset Image Size.

Edit linked images in place

You can edit linked images in place. Images you dragged to the note from the Library inserted from files cannot be edited in place: Instead you must edit the Library image or edit the original file externally and then re-add the modified image.

1. Right-click the image, and then click Open Source.

2. The image is opened in its associated application so you can edit it.

3. The associated application must be capable of editing in order for you to change the image.

3. After editing, save the modified image in the editing application.

4. In MindManager, right-click the image, and then click Refresh Image to see the updated picture. The image is also re-read (and updated) automatically each time the topic is selected.

Save an image from a topic note

You can save any image included in a note, regardless of its origin, to a file.

1. Right-click the image.

2. Click Save image, and enter the file's location and name. You will have a choice of several formats in the Save as type list that depend on the image's original format.

3. Click Save.

Add hyperlinks in notes

Adding a hyperlink in a note is similar to adding a hyperlink to a map topic.

1. In the Topic Notes window, click where you want to add the hyperlink (if you select some text or an image, the selected objects will be "hot" and will open the link when clicked.)

2. Do one of the following:

• On the Topic Notes Toolbar, click Hyperlink.

• Right-click inside the topic note, and then click Add Hyperlink.

• Press CTRL+K.

3. Define the link. See Hyperlinks for additional information on the various types of links you can add.

4. If you intend to export your map to Web pages you can choose how hyperlinks in notes and their target files are handled: On the Home tab, in the Style group, click Map Style, click Notes Format, then click Hyperlink Options. The setting you choose applies to the current map.

Add tables to notes

1. In the Topic Notes window, click the location for the table.

2. Click Insert Table on the Topic Notes Toolbar.

3. Click Insert, then click Table.

4. Enter the number of rows and columns to use. Click Remember dimensions for new tables to set the default size for the next table you add.

5. Click OK.

6. An empty table appears in the note. Enter the contents of the table cell by cell.

Edit a table

Show the Table toolbar

The table toolbar contains special commands for configuring and formatting the table.

• On the Topic Notes Toolbar, click the Table arrow , and then click Show Table Toolbar.

Select table cells

Use these commands to select table elements for editing or formatting. You must click inside the table to make these commands available.

Insert, delete, or merge table elements

Table formatting and layout

You can edit and format the text within a table in the same way as ordinary notes text. There are additional ways to select different table areas. Options for table formatting and layout are available in the Table menu and by using the Table Toolbar.

Format table text

1. Select the area that you want to format - a cell, row, column or the whole table.

2. Click a formatting command on the Topic Notes toolbar.

Format table borders and shading; table and column widths

You can format the borders and shading for the whole table or for individual cells. You can also set the table and column widths for Web export.

1. Click inside the table.

2. Do one of the following:

• On the Notes Toolbar click the Insert Table arrow, and then click Format Table.

• Right-click on the table, and then click Format Table .

• Click Table Properties on the Topic Notes window Table toolbar.

3. Use the Borders and Shading tab options to change the table's appearance. Use the Table and Column Width tab options to set properties for exported tables.

Move, remove, or copy notes

You can copy topic notes between topics that already have notes.

Move or copy the entire note

1. Click a topic's notes icon to open the Topic Notes window.

2. Right-click the source topic's notes icon.

3. Click Cut Notes (to move) or Copy Notes (to copy).

4. Right-click the destination topic.

5. Point to Paste, then click Paste Notes. If the topic already has a note, the pasted note will be appended at the bottom of the existing note.

Remove a single note

• Right-click on the topic's notes icon, and then click Remove Notes.

Remove the notes from several topics

Select the topics, and then do one of the following:

• Right-click the notes icon on one of them, then click Remove Notes.

• On the Home tab, in the Editing group, click the Clear arrow, and then click Notes.

• You can temporarily hide the notes icons in Map View using the Show / Hide command.

Other options

Open the Notes window, then use the Cut, Copy, and Paste commands on the Home tab, in the Clipboard group to:

• Move or copy all or part of a topic note

• Paste text from other applications into the note.

• Paste text from notes into topics. See Edit topic text and Create topics by pasting text for details.

See also:

Export maps

Print

Hyperlinks

Attachments