X-Macros™ - quick and simple tools for MindManager maps
MindManager® maps can be turned into dynamic and powerful information handling tools with specialised extensions that work with your information. It’s not difficult for developers to create these tools – but that’s only half the story. They also have to create an installer package, the user has to install it, new commands get added to MindManager® (which already has plenty of them) and the user has to learn how to use them. All of this can sometimes overshadow the original time-saving idea.
X-Macros™ are a new way to add special features to MindManager®, by putting them in the maps where they are needed – not in the menus, where they can be harder to find and might not be needed most of the time. No installation, no changes to your system and nothing to configure – you just open a map and click on a special topic.
Try it now
If you are using MindManager® Pro 7 or 8 on Windows, and have Microsoft® .Net installed (which most Windows computers do), then you can try an X-Macro™ now without installing anything.
Download and extract this map (Task-finder), and click the Attachment icon on the “Task Finder” topic. It will search your map for incomplete tasks and make a list of them, with a hyperlink to the task topic. You can copy the Task Finder topic into any other map where it will be useful, and you immediately have a quick and convenient way to create a mini dashboard of open actions in the map.
It’s that easy – nothing to install and nothing to set up, and your MindManager® configuration and menus are not changed in any way.
It would be just as easy to find hyperlinks or attachments in your map with an X-Macro™ - no more hunting around for that link that you are sure is in there somewhere!
Tools and solutions for your users
X-Macros™ can be effective for creating custom tools and solutions where a fully-featured “productised” Add-in for MindManager® would be too expensive to consider and would take too long to develop.
If you have a technique that you use in MindManager® to help with a particular process, an X-Macro™ could bring it alive with a special interactive topic that lives in the map. You just copy it into the maps where it is needed, and send it to your users in maps. For example:
- Processing of special data
- An interactive wizard to collect information and store it in a certain way
- A transformation or rearrangement that helps you analyse information in the map
- Analysis and summary of selected information in the map
- A special import or export
X-Macros™ are low cost and quick to develop. If you have always had an idea for that special MindManager® function that would differentiate your consulting or business processes, contact us today and we’ll be glad to give you a quote.
X-Macros™ for developers
If you are interested in creating your own X-Macros™, download the X-Macros™ Lab map to find out more and to get a 21-day trial of the X-Macros™ Editor. This allows you to create X-Macros™ using MindManager’s built-in macro language.
An license for the X-Macros™ Editor can be purchased on line. You do not need any other development tools or installer packaging tools – you can distribute X-Macros™ by simply distributing MindManager maps.
X-Macros™ are always free for the end-user to use, and the Runtime attachment can be distributed to your users free of charge.