Visio Mind Map Template Download

[Celedonio Miranda]

FromBrainstorming Shapes, drag the Main Topic shape onto the drawing page. The main topic is the central theme of the diagram. With the shape selected, type the text you want the main idea to represent.

With a Visio Plan 1 or Visio Plan 2 license, you can create mind maps in Visio for the web. This article describes how to create a mind map in Visio for the web by using either a pre-designed template or samples. You can then edit the mind map by using your mouse or keyboard shortcuts.

If you have Visio in Microsoft 365, you will need to upgrade to either Visio Plan 1 or Visio Plan 2 to create mind maps in Visio for the web. Start your 30-day free trial today to enjoy additional features and diagram types available in Visio for the web. To see a list of features available with your Visio Plan 1 or Visio Plan 2 subscription, visit the "Subscription plans" tab on the Visio comparison page.

If you select and drag a node to hover over an existing node on the canvas, you will see a highlight around the node on the canvas. When you release the selected node, the two nodes become connected to each other. The snapped node becomes a child node of the existing node and is connected to it by a connector. You can snap the node to any existing node on the canvas by aligning them over each other.

If you snap a node to another, all the child nodes of the selected node will also be re-parented to the underlying node, to the last level. The connection between the selected node and its child nodes will not be affected.

The whole sub-tree, a selected node and its child nodes, is affected by cut, copy, and paste actions on the root node of a sub-tree. When you cut or copy the root node of a sub-tree and paste it on canvas, the whole sub-tree appears on the canvas as a separate mind map.

To change the order in which the sibling nodes appear, drag a sibling node with your mouse and drop it in a different position. The nodes automatically adjust to maintain the overall layout of the mind map. You can also reorder nodes by using the Alt+Arrow keys keyboard shortcut. For a full list of shortcuts, see the following section, "Keyboard shortcuts."

We have enabled creating and editing mind maps quickly in Visio for the web with the use of keyboard shortcuts. Keyboard shortcuts are combinations of keys that you can press to perform certain actions without using the mouse. Keyboard shortcuts can help you save time and get work done efficiently.

Following are the keyboard shortcuts that you can use while creating and editing a mind map. (A full list of Visio keyboard shortcuts is available anytime by selecting the Help tab in Visio and search for keyboard shortcuts.)

When you create a brainstorming (or mind map) diagram in Visio, you create a visual archive of your ideas like the drawing below. The diagram can help you quickly recognize and order themes and hierarchies, making it a snap to pull a plan of action out of a chaotic idea-generating session.

There are two primary ways to use a brainstorming diagram. The first is to begin with a main idea and then generate related topics and subtopics hierarchically to arrive at a large number of different possible approaches.

The second is to capture all ideas as they are expressed and later to organize them in a hierarchical diagram. You then revise, refine, and share the results among the members of the group. This method is most useful during a brainstorming meeting where people are contributing ideas in rapid succession. In this setting, hierarchies aren't always apparent and you need to capture ideas quickly.

If your brainstorming diagram extends beyond the borders of the drawing page, you can easily expand the page without moving your topics to a different page. There are two ways to resize the page: by manually dragging the borders of the page or by using the Page Setup dialog box.

You can easily access these tools without dragging the pointer off the drawing page. For example, if you are using a Tablet PC, you just tap once on the Brainstorming ribbon to place topics on the drawing page.

The Brainstorming ribbon gives you access to all the tools designed specifically for the Brainstorming template. In addition to adding or arranging topics, you can use commands on this ribbon to perform such actions as changing the type of an existing topic or moving a topic to a new page.

In any Microsoft Office application, the shortcut (or "right-click") menu is a handy tool to use when you want to quickly perform an action without moving the cursor off the page. The shortcut menu also includes standard Visio drawing page commands for tasks such as copying and pasting shapes.

The Outline Window displays a tree structure of your brainstorming diagram, which captures the hierarchical relationships of the topics and condenses all the information that is spread over multiple shapes and pages into one central location. Use the feature when you want to organize your ideas in a linear view without affecting the appearance of your diagram and without having to navigate back and forth between shapes and pages.

To add more topics in the Outline Window, right-click the topic that you want to add more topics to, and then click Add Multiple Subtopics. In the Add Multiple Subtopics dialog box, type the names of the topics, and then click OK.

Because the Outline Window displays topics in a linear view, you can use it to control the hierarchical structure of your topics. In the Outline Window, you can make a topic into another subtopic by dragging the name of the topic to a different level.

If you want to move a subtopic to a higher level (or lower level) within the hierarchy, drag the name of the subtopic on top of the higher-level topic (or lower level topic). If the subtopic you moved has corresponding subtopics, they also move with it and the changes are reflected in your diagram.

Visio includes two methods for connecting topics in your diagram: shape-to-shape and point-to-point. Each method is designed for specific situations and the method you should use depends on how fixed you want the actual point of connections to be.

When you move shapes that are connected shape-to-shape, the connectors reposition themselves to keep the connection as direct as possible. If you want a shape-to-shape connection, drag the ends of the connector line to the center of the shape until a red box surrounds the topic shape.

When a connection is point-to-point, the ends of the connector are glued to specific points on each shape. If you want a point-to-point connection, drag the ends of the connector line to a point on the shape until a red X appears. If you move the shapes, the connector remains attached at those original points.

To change a shape-to-shape connection to point-to-point, drag a connector endpoint away from the shape, and then drag it back to the connection point, marked with a blue x, where you want it to connect to the shape.

You can show a special relationship between two topics in your brainstorming diagram using an Association line, which appears as a dashed line between associated topics. Unlike the Dynamic connector, which defines the main structure of your diagram, the Association line connects topics on different branches at the same (hierarchical) level.

You can connect topics using an Association line shape the same way you use the Dynamic connector. When you connect topics using the Association line, it reroutes with the topics when you move them.

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