This video shows you how easy it is to transfer MindMaps back and forth between NovaMind and iThoughts. The demonstration is done using NovaMind for Mac, but works equally well with NovaMind for Windows.

For further information about iThoughts, and to get your copy of NovaMind or iThoughs, please visit http://www.novamind.com/ithoughts

I believe that NovaMind in its new Version 5 is will now be ranked in the top tier of software programs in the mind mapping genre .. and it may be heading for the Number 1 position.

The MindWare blog is a highly respected source, and has been blogging about software for Self-Improvement, Personal Development and Success since 2004.

Bruce is mentions in particluar, the layout engine: “NovaMind’s map layout engine has been completely rewritten in version 5 to maintain a compact map layout. [The program is] … quite efficient, maintaining a clean map layout while preventing topic overlaps and eliminating much wasted space. If one topic threatens to intrude on another, the first topic moves out of the way just enough to accommodate it…Most mind mapping programs limit where you can place topics. Some enable you to drag and drop them within certain prescribed limits, while others are more rigid and don’t enable you to move topics around the workspace at all. In contrast, you can move topics wherever you want in NovaMind 5, and the program will honor where you place them.”

To ready the entire article and other posts, head on over to the Mindware blog

Bonn, Brisbane, Phoenix – September 16, 2009 – A powerful new combination of project planning software packages, enabling business managers to develop comprehensive project plans in even faster and more effective ways, was announced today by Wodey Informationssysteme and NovaMind Software. ProjectLINKER for NovaMind 5, developed by Wodey Informationssysteme, Bonn, Germany, and NovaMind Software, Australia, elegantly couples the latest business mapping software, “NovaMind 5”, with the latest “Microsoft Office Project”, letting enterprise teams plan, map, track and clearly understand their activities as never before.

For more information and screenshots of the new plugin in action, please visit http://www.novamind.com/projectlinker

Through ProjectLINKER for NovaMind 5, project plans and data are bi-directionally synchronized between NovaMind and Microsoft Office Project as well as Microsoft Project Server. This allows organizations to gain unprecedented visibility into their resources, as all projects, complex and small, can be tracked in Microsoft Office Project Server. The solution now makes it faster and easier to report project status in a visual intuitive format to executives and client stakeholders. Without further training, business managers will have access to resource availability during the initial planning phases resulting better business decisions, more accurate plans and more realistic expectations.

ProjectLINKER for NovaMind 5 offers business leaders clarity and transparency in their project portfolios. Additionally, teams can record project history, status, and multi-project overviews – all with graphical indicators to enhance visual reporting. The use of ProjectLINKER for NovaMind 5 for project planning can accelerate the deployment of Microsoft Project Server 2007. Due to its powerful, yet easy planning capabilities, even the smallest projects can be planned and tracked in Microsoft Office Project Server.

ProjectLINKER for NovaMind 5 will be presented for the first time in the Microsoft Office Project Conference, September 14 – 17 2009 in Phoenix, AZ. Wodey Informationssysteme will demonstrate the tool during the conference and will have a booth in the exhibition hall as well. Also, both companies, Wodey Informationssysteme and NovaMind will announce their partnership on the Project Conference. In Germany, the product will be presented on the Microsoft exhibition stand on the “discuss & discover” – platform from October 20 – 22, 2009 in Munich, as Wodey Informationssysteme is going to be one of the 20 Microsoft partners in Germany.

The German and English product versions of ProjectLINKER for NovaMind will be available soon. Please keep yourself updated through http://www.novamind.com/projectlinker

About Wodey Informationssysteme

Wodey Informationssysteme is being valued as a leading specialist in the field of enterprise-wide implementation of visual and holistic project management programmes. The service portfolio ranges from a first analysis, over the to-be-concept and a pilot model to the realisation of the project. After the implementation process customer-specific requests will be fulfilled and all parties involved will be trained according to their different roles and responsibilities. Wodey Informationssysteme offers training and coaching programmes as well as support for professional project management.

The company is a Microsoft Premier Project Partner, and has a lot of experience with Mind Mapping, having previously developed a version of ProjectLinker for Mind Manager, but have now stopped developing for Mind Manager, in favor of working with NovaMind. Reiner Wodey, Managing Director, holds a membership at the Microsoft Partner Advisory Council in Redmond, USA. Wodey Informationssysteme is headquartered in Bonn, Germany and is being represented in 13 additional countries. For more information, visit www.wodey.de

About NovaMind

NovaMind is used by businesses, in education, and for personal effectiveness, for tasks such as note taking, managing to-do lists, brainstorming, research, problem solving, decision making, presentation preparation and delivery, project planning, knowledge management, writing, and many other uses. NovaMind has been the top Mind Mapping program available on Mac computers for the last 7 years, and has been available for Windows for over 3 years. It is rapidly gaining recognition for its many unique and innovative features and ease of use. NovaMind 5 is set to take Mind Mapping beyond where any Mind Mapping software has been before, making Mind Mapping even more powerful, intuitive and fun.

For more information about NovaMind, please visit www.novamind.com or e-mail Gideon King at Gideon/at/novamind.com.

• Text
• Notes
• Hyperlinks
• Topic position
• Color
• Shape
• Percentage complete
• Priority
• Collapsed status

This integration further extends the reach of NovaMind, meaning that we have integration between NovaMind and both the top Mind Mapping applications on the iPhone: iBlueSky and iThoughts.

We have heard from our customers that many of them have one or both of these applications, and find them very useful for Mind Mapping on the go. NovaMind’s founder, Gideon King said “we believe this shows the power of partnerships, where we are now able to bring our customers easy access to the two best Mind Mapping applications on iPhone and iPod Touch, allowing people the choice of software to use on their iPhone, secure in the knowledge that it will work with NovaMind.”

The first public release of the new version of iThoughts including NovaMind support is expected in a few weeks, and will be available as a free update for existing iThoughts customers. It will work with the current version of NovaMind.

In his article, Chuck says that NovaMind “have always been innovators in this software genre, but they’ve outdone themselves this time, incorporating many new features and enhancements that are like nothing you’ve ever seen in mind mapping software before”.

When commenting about the new mind map layout engine in NovaMind 5, he said that it was efficient, maintaining a clean map layout while preventing topic overlaps and eliminating much wasted space. He also contrasted the freedom you have to place topics where you want them, with the rigidity of other Mind Mapping applications which have little or no control over topic placement.

He mentions some of the many new features in NovaMind 5 like multiple topic images on a single topic, and the more powerful shapes, which “enable you to add some unique visual enhancements to your maps”.

He talks about the new powerful plugin architecture of NovaMind 5, and the comments from developers working with the plugins, about how easy it is to interface with NovaMind.

To close the article, he comments “I appreciate the innovation and passion that Gideon and his team have poured into NovaMind during the last few years. The results are quite impressive, and continue to push the envelope as far as what’s possible with mind mapping software!”

To read the full article, please go to http://mindmappingsoftwareblog.com/exclusive-preview-of-novamind-5.

To find out more about the features of NovaMind 5, and watch videos about the new version, please visit http://www.novamind.com/features/nm5.php

Gideon King, founder of NovaMind, says “I have tested just about every piece of Mind Mapping software out there to see if anyone had a good layout system to avoid the space explosion problem…NONE of them have a decent layout system. I’m sure that if you’ve used any of the Mind Mapping software currently out there, you have suffered from this [space explosion] problem.”

He goes on to suggest that the layout of the Mind Map should really be the fundamental building block of any Mind Mapping application.

In the video, he demonstrates the magnitude of the issues in other Mind Mapping applications, and then shows how NovaMind 5 has been designed to keep the Mind Maps compact at all times. This is true even when editing topics in such a way as they bump into other topics. The other topics are only moved by the minimum amount required to ensure that the topics don’t collide.

He then goes on to demonstrate several other features of NovaMind 5 that are not available in any other Mind Mapping application, like the ability to alter the angle at which the topics are stacked, both for the Mind Map title, and at any level of the Mind Map, and the ability to move topics to wherever the user desires. This is coupled with a system that honors the position that other topics are in, except where they overlap, and even then, only moves them by the minimum amount necessary to avoid collision, and honors as far as possible, the relative positions of the topics.

Mr King says “These layout capabilities are just one part of NovaMind 5, which is already generating a huge amount of interest in the market. The layout system is one of the core foundations of the product, and is clearly superior to anything else available. It lets you get on with your brainstorming and task management, secure in the knowledge that NovaMind is keeping your topics in the best possible position for your needs. It’s the perfect combination of power, flexibility, and ease of use.”

The video, and more information about NovaMind 5 is available at http://www.novamind.com/features/nm5.php

About Mind Mapping

Mind Maps are diagrams that work the way people think — they organize the information in the same way our brains organize information. They make it easy to understand, remember, and communicate complex information.

Our brains like thinking in pictures. The smooth curves and colorful pictures used in Mind Mapping create powerful images for your brain to remember.

Mind Maps cater to both logical left brain thinking and pictorial right brain thinking at the same time, which makes them a very good way of storing and recalling information, presenting things to other people, and brainstorming new ideas.

About NovaMind

NovaMind is used by businesses, in education, and for personal effectiveness, for tasks such as note taking, managing to-do lists, brainstorming, research, problem solving, decision making, presentation preparation and delivery, project planning, knowledge management, writing, and many other uses. NovaMind has been the top Mind Mapping program available on Mac computers for the last 7 years, and has been available for Windows for over 3 years. It is rapidly gaining recognition for its many unique and innovative features and ease of use. NovaMind makes Mind Mapping intuitive and fun.

For more information about NovaMind, please visit www.novamind.com or e-mail Gideon King at gideon(at)novamind.com.

More information about NovaMind 5 is available at http://www.novamind.com/features/nm5.php

Enjoy!

These apply to NovaMind 4 only (NovaMind 5 has a significantly improved user interface).

Here are your 6 bonus NovaMind Mind Mapping tips:

1. Sidebar Customization in Windows: Show the sidebar with the image library, adornments, notes etc by clicking on the relevant icon at the bottom right of the window. Resize the width to your preference. Hide it away by clicking the X in the top right corner of the panel.
2. Palette Options on Mac: Drag the palettes to reorder them, minimize them using the “-” button, flip them using the arrow icon at the top right of the palette to see the advanced options. In the Pro and Platinum editions, drag them off to become floating windows, stack them to connect them as a single floating window, click the “x” button to close the floating palette and return it to the palette panel. Hide the palette panel completely by using the minimize triangle at the top of the palettes panel.
3. Mac Toolbar: Hide the toolbar by clicking the lozenge shaped button at the top right of the window. Click it again to show the toolbar.
4. Template Chooser: If you don’t want to see the template chooser when starting NovaMind, you can turn it off in the Preferences. You can still create a Mind Map from a template by using the “File / New From Template” option.
5. More Images: If you have not downloaded the image libraries, go to the supporting files page for Windows or Mac and download and install them. The image libraries will give you a huge selection of images (1,400 for Express and Pro, and 2,300 for Platinum) that you can just drag on to your Mind Map.
6. Create your own Templates: (Pro and Platinum) Save your Mind Maps as Templates so you can easily reuse them – they will then show up in the template chooser when you create a new Mind Map from a template.

I hope this helps you get more out of NovaMind. Happy Mind Mapping!

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The book is aimed at anyone who owns, runs, or works in any business. It provides practical tips and examples that can be applied in any business to cut costs and open up new business opportunities. Existing products and services can be improved, processes streamlined, and new product lines and services added as a result of the brainstorming processes taught in this book.

Processes are taught in the book to super-charge the innovation of the company and instill a culture of effective brainstorming throughout the company.

In the current business environment it is critical to differentiate a company to stay ahead of the competition. The techniques taught in this book are specifically designed to provide the tools necessary to achieve and maintain that differentiation.

Illustrations are provided throughout the book to show how to implement the concepts, including a number of NovaMind mind maps. There are two parallel tracks in the book: Track 1 is filled with instructions and methods to make brainstorming sessions productive and fun, and gives so many choices that your brainstorming efforts will never get boring. Track 2 tells the story of a group of employees that begin brainstorming with a young novice facilitator. This team’s efforts start to catch the attention of the firm’s executives who want to learn how and why the methods have been so effective.

This combination of presentations makes for a book that is both thorough in its coverage of the topic and easy to implement in a practical way in the workplace.

The book is available as an eBook from http://www.novamind.com/mind-mapping-books/power-brainstorming.php

Gideon King, founder of NovaMind said “I was privileged to be involved in the development of the book, and am impressed with the thoroughness of the book and the practical advice that is provided. This is the kind of book that could be picked up by anyone and used to learn all you need to know about brainstorming quickly and effectively. The NovaMind Mind Maps included in the book are a great example of the power of Mind Mapping when used in conjunction with brainstorming.”

About Mind Mapping

Mind Maps are diagrams that work the way people think — they organize the information in the same way our brains organize information. They make it easy to understand, remember, and communicate complex information.

Our brains like thinking in pictures. The smooth curves and colorful pictures used in Mind Mapping create powerful images for your brain to remember.

Mind Maps cater to both logical left brain thinking and pictorial right brain thinking at the same time, which makes them a very good way of storing and recalling information, presenting things to other people, and brainstorming new ideas.

About NovaMind

NovaMind is used by businesses, in education, and for personal effectiveness, for tasks such as note taking, managing to-do lists, brainstorming, research, problem solving, decision making, presentation preparation and delivery, project planning, knowledge management, writing, and many other uses. NovaMind has been the top Mind Mapping program available on Mac computers for the last 7 years, and has been available for Windows for over 3 years. It is rapidly gaining recognition for its many unique and innovative features and ease of use. NovaMind makes Mind Mapping intuitive and fun.

For more information about NovaMind, please visit www.novamind.com or e-mail Gideon King at gideon(at)novamind.com.