As you may have read in our last blog post, the team at MindManager is thrilled about the launch of MindManager 2019 for Windows. And from some of the feedback you’ve given us, it sounds like our customers are happy too. Thank you to everyone who has provided feedback or tried the new version of MindManager!
To keep the conversation about MindManager 2019 going, I sat down with our VP of Product, Michael Deutch, to get his thoughts on some of the most notable new benefits for this product. Here’s what we had to say!
What’s so exciting about this launch?
Michael: MindManager keeps evolving and getting better at what it does — helping individuals and teams see the big picture, brainstorm and innovate to solve problems, develop winning strategies and plan out the projects to turn their visions into reality.
With the launch of MindManager 2019, we’ve taken another big step in what we offer our customers. This launch really moves the dial on how MindManager can be used to see your world from different perspectives, generate new insights, and improve productivity within an organization.
The MindManager team has been hard at work, and is excited to unveil some of the new features in MindManager 2019, including:
- New tools to create new types of diagrams using background Objects and Smart Shapes.
- New ways to view and categorize information within your diagrams using the improved schedule view and the new tag and icon views. These are powerful new tools to gain new insights and perspective.
- Powerful tools to make your diagrams easier to read and understand including new templates, new themes, completely redesigned icons, new shapes & Smart Shapes, new custom topics, new fonts, an easier-to-use theme designer, a more powerful format painter and the ability to make your topics the same width to improve readability.
- And finally, our new (patent pending) SmartRules™ capability that can automate workflows within your diagrams as well as provide more enhanced conditional formatting. The rules library can also add your rules to each new map automatically, reducing your work, automating your flows and driving consistency across your diagrams.
And if that’s not enough get you amped up, check out or new video that showcases some of these exciting new features.
What else can MindManager users expect from this new release?
Michael: In addition to a ton of new features, the team has also been hard at work fixing bugs and continues to pay attention to many little details that we call ‘quality of life’ improvements. These are aimed at simplifying your workflow, reducing clicks to accomplish goals, and other usability improvements. Our goal is to help our users have the best experience. We’re building MindManager to support your work, not get in the way!
What are some of the most exciting new features?
Michael : I love our new SmartRules feature and I’m looking forward to hearing feedback on what users love about it and how they’d like to see it evolve over time. I share more about SmartRules in the next question.
For me, one of the simplest features we’ve added is also one of my favorites. I typically start my diagrams with a right-facing map. In earlier versions, I had to click new, go to the design ribbon, select the central topic and then change the layout. It’s a cumbersome series of steps to accomplish before adding a single topic. Or, I could click into the file menu, change my context, find the right facing map, double click it to launch the new map. Again, cumbersome. We’ve added a feature that allows you to set any template as your default new map. Simply right click the thumbnail of any template and select the option to ‘change default template’. Then whenever you hit ‘new’, your template is used to create the new diagram of your liking!
How will this release change how users work with MindManager?
Michael: The new SmartRules will be a game changer for many of our users. We’ve added some powerful triggers like ‘belongs to branch’ which allows you to format items within a branch or add data to those items. For example, you can now easily create a ‘task list’ branch by adding a rule that all new topics on the branch receive the 0 progress marker assigned to it automatically. It won’t matter if you drag a topic to the branch or add a new one. This saves time on every single task you create! Or, you can create a Kanban map by assigning and advancing progress automatically as you drag topics from one branch to the next. We’ve added a similar capability to trigger when a topic is within a shape or a portion of a Smart Shape.
I’m very excited to hear how users adopt this innovation to automate workflows within their diagrams.
How can customers get their hands on MindManager 2019?
Michael: You can start a free, 30-day trial of MindManager 2019 or purchase an upgrade of your current version in our e-store, from your MindManager account manager or a preferred seller.
Happy mapping!