Use the Map Templates Organizer

You must have the View - Developer Ribbon Tab option enabled to use this feature.

A Map Template is, basically, a map that contains some pre-defined content. Map templates can give you a jump-start on creating frequently-used maps and can provide consistency in content and structure.

MindManager comes with a set of Map Templates to help you create maps quickly. One special template, called New Blank Map, is used by default each time you create a new, blank map, or you can choose to begin a map with another template. See Create a new map for more information on creating a map from a template.

A subset of templates appears in the New Map dialog. To see the entire collection of templates, you use the Template Organizer.

What do you want to do?

• Use the Organizer
• Modify an existing Map Template
• Create a new Map Template from scratch
• Add a Map Template to the Organizer from a file (*.mmat)

Use the Organizer

You can view and manage your entire collection of Map Templates in the Template Organizer:

• On the Developer tab, in the Templates group, click Map Templates.    

Collections and folders

The template list shows all the available collections and the templates they contain. To further organize your templates, you may create folders within the collections, and move templates between the folders.

To create a new folder:

1. On the Template Organizer Map Templates tab, click the collection where you want to add the folder.

2. Under Folder commands click New.

3. Enter the name for the new folder.

4. Under Folder commands, the Delete and Rename commands in this group apply to entire folders. If you delete a folder, all the templates it contains will also be deleted.

To reorganize templates:

• Move templates by dragging to a new folder or collection.

• To modify, duplicate, delete or rename a template, click its name and then use the commands under Template commands.

• The Template command Delete removes the template from the Organizer and deletes it from disk.

Modify an existing template from the Organizer

1. On the Developer tab, in the Templates group, click Map Templates to open the Template Organizer.

2. On the Template Organizer Map Templates tab, click the template you want to modify. (The default template used for new maps is called New Blank Map.)

3. If you want to modify a copy of the template and keep the original, under Template Commands, click Duplicate to create a copy, then select the copy you just created.

3. Click Modify.

4. Make changes to the Map Template as desired, using the normal map editing commands.

5. Map Templates also contain their own style information. When you use a Map Template as the basis for a new map, the style of the new map comes from the template. You can modify these style settings just as you would for any map.

6. To change the template's description, click the File tab, click Info, and then click Properties. On the Summary tab, enter a description in the Comments field.

7. To save the modified template, on the Quick Access Toolbar, click Save

   • Press CTRL+S.

8. See  Create and modify Map Templates for how to modify a Map Template that does not appear in the Organizer.

Mindjet Catalyst - Map Templates stored in workspaces can be edited in the same manner as other workspace files.

Create and save a new Map Template in the Organizer

• First, create a map with the content you want to include in the template.

• To include a description in the template, click the File tab, click Info, and then click Properties. On the Summary tab, and enter a description in the Comments field.

Save the template in the organizer

You can save a new template so that it automatically appears in the Organizer using commands there:

1. On the Developer tab, in the Templates group, click Map Templates.

2. On the Organizer's Map Templates tab click Add New Map Template, and then click From Current Map.

3. The template is automatically saved using the current map name. If you want to change this, under Template Commands click Rename and enter a new name.

4. To save a template in a different location, use the File tab's Save &Send, Change File Type command. If you use the Organizer to save the template it is automatically saved in the default template location and is also available again from the Organizer. Using the File tab commands lets you save the template file in a different location, but it does not add the template to the Organizer.

Add a Map Template to the Organizer from a file (*.mmat)

You can add a template to the organizer from a template file (*.mmat). This may be a file that you have received from a colleague, or a standard template that's been designed for use on all corporate maps, or just for a particular project. Adding it to the organizer makes it easier to locate and use.

Mindjet Catalyst - To add a template to the Organizer from a workspace you must first Save a copy of the template locally.

1. On the Developer tab, in the Templates group, click Map Templates.

2. In the list of templates, click the folder where you want to add the new template.

3. Click Add New Map Template, and then click From Existing Template. Navigate to the template file in the dialog box, and then click Open.

4. Once the template is added to the list, you can rename it by clicking Rename under Template Commands.

5. You can use the Template Organizer to further manage your templates by grouping them into collections.

See also:

Create a new map

Create and modify Map Templates