--- title: "Mind Mapping With XMind" id: "1200" type: "post" slug: "mind-mapping-with-xmind" published_at: "2010-06-10T21:59:51+00:00" modified_at: "2014-04-12T20:30:59+00:00" url: "https://johnpoelstra.com/mind-mapping-with-xmind/" markdown_url: "https://johnpoelstra.com/mind-mapping-with-xmind.md" excerpt: "I’ve been dabbling in mind mapping programs again. In the past year several new mind mapping tools have appeared. XMind recently caught my fancy. XMind is eclipse based and is more polished and professional looking compared to Freemind. I’ve been......" taxonomy_category: - "Productivity" - "Software & Technology" taxonomy_post_tag: - "cathy" - "config" - "eclipse" - "error message" - "Fedora" - "freemind" - "how to" - "install" - "mind map" - "mindmapping" - "pdf" - "snippet" - "xmind" --- [Skip to the content](#site-content) [John Poelstra](https://johnpoelstra.com) ### Bringing order to chaos and clarity to confusion - [One Conversation](https://johnpoelstra.com/) - [Podcast](https://johnpoelstra.com/category/podcast/) - [Coaching for Directors](https://johnpoelstra.com/coach/) - [About](https://johnpoelstra.com/about/) Toggle search field - [One Conversation](https://johnpoelstra.com/) - [Podcast](https://johnpoelstra.com/category/podcast/) - [Coaching for Directors](https://johnpoelstra.com/coach/) - [About](https://johnpoelstra.com/about/) # [Mind Mapping With XMind](https://johnpoelstra.com/mind-mapping-with-xmind/) [http://www.xmind.net](http://www.xmind.net) I’ve been [dabbling in mind mapping programs](https://johnpoelstra.com/2009/09/16/mind-mapping-with-freemind/) again. In the past year several new mind mapping tools have appeared. [XMind](http://www.xmind.net/) recently caught my fancy. XMind is [eclipse](http://www.eclipse.org/home/categories/index.php?category=frameworks) based and is more polished and professional looking compared to [Freemind](http://freemind.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Main_Page) . I’ve been using it for a few projects to see how well I like it. Overall I’m really happy with it. It allows embedding pictures and comes with lots of different shapes, colors, connectors, and markers. I have not purchased the pro version and there is very little chance that I will. At $49 a year it is not very much, yet something bothers me about having to make an annual payment for the software I’m using. I would rather pay one price that grants an indefinite license or pay for updates, but not the core program. I respect XMind’s attempt at a software subscription model to monetize their product, but it isn’t for me. XMind does make it clear that if you do subscribe to the pro version you must manually re-purchase it each year. In other words, they will not auto-renew (automatically charge your credit card) for the next year the way some software vendors do. In Fedora, an easy way around the “export to PDF” limitation of the regular (free) version is to select “print to file” and select PDF as the output format. XMind is not currently packaged for Fedora, but it is easy to install and run: 1. Download the “Portable – ZIP * (Windows + Mac + Linux)” version. 2. Open a terminal window and cd to the directory you saved the file to. 3. Unzip the file to a directory. ``` $ unzip -d ~/xmind xmind-portable-3.1.1.200912022330.zip ``` 4. I like to create a symlink in `/usr/local/bin/xmind` so it is easy to run using ALT + F2. As root: ``` # ln -s ~/xmind/XMind_Linux/xmind /usr/local/bin/xmind ``` If there a better, safer, more preferred way to do step #4, someone let me know. I suppose you could also modify the PATH variable. **Updated November 19, 2010**: I just installed Xmind on a new machine and had problems getting it to run. I may have done this before, but I can’t remember. I got this cryptic error message: ``` An error has occurred. See the log file /home/jp/.eclipse/org.xmind.cathy.product_3.1.1_2107080149/ configuration/1295755604686.log ``` I have no idea who Cathy is, but on a whim I installed Eclipse and that solved the problem. Also make sure you have the latest version of Xmind. On another machine the log appeared to show that it was a permissions problem. ``` $ su -c "yum groupinstall Fedora\ Eclipse" ``` #### John Poelstra John Poelstra coaches directors in finance and software. Trained through the Co-Active Training Institute, he has coached for more than 10 years, with over 520 clients and 3,150 sessions, including people at well-known Fortune 100 companies. In over 30 years of professional experience, he spent 25 in technology and finance: software testing, project management and team leadership at Red Hat and Dell/EMC, and finance as a bank auditor at Wells Fargo and a CPA at Grant Thornton. He hosts The John Poelstra Show podcast and is based in Portland, Oregon. [Author archive](https://johnpoelstra.com/author/john-poelstra/) [Author website](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-john-poelstra-show/id1130635146) June 10, 2010 [Productivity](https://johnpoelstra.com/category/productivity/) , [Software & Technology](https://johnpoelstra.com/category/software/) [cathy](https://johnpoelstra.com/tag/cathy/) , [config](https://johnpoelstra.com/tag/config/) , [eclipse](https://johnpoelstra.com/tag/eclipse/) , [error message](https://johnpoelstra.com/tag/error-message/) , [Fedora](https://johnpoelstra.com/tag/fedora/) , [freemind](https://johnpoelstra.com/tag/freemind/) , [how to](https://johnpoelstra.com/tag/how-to/) , [install](https://johnpoelstra.com/tag/install/) , [mind map](https://johnpoelstra.com/tag/mind-map/) , [mindmapping](https://johnpoelstra.com/tag/mindmapping/) , [pdf](https://johnpoelstra.com/tag/pdf/) , [snippet](https://johnpoelstra.com/tag/snippet/) , [xmind](https://johnpoelstra.com/tag/xmind/) [Previous post](https://johnpoelstra.com/baby-goats/) [Next post](https://johnpoelstra.com/mind-mapping-with-vue/) ## 4 Comments ## [Add yours](#respond) 1. [W.H. Kalpa Pathum](http://kalpapathum.blogspot.com) [June 10, 2010 at 7:47 pm](https://johnpoelstra.com/mind-mapping-with-xmind/#comment-274) [Reply](#comment-274) I’ve been using VUE for a while and it seems ok. It’s java based and you may have probably already given it a try. Just thought to mention it as it seems to be a good product and it’s free. [Reply](#comment-274) - [poelcat](http://johnpoelstra.com/) [June 12, 2010 at 5:46 am](https://johnpoelstra.com/mind-mapping-with-xmind/#comment-276) [Reply](#comment-276) Thanks for mentioning VUE. I found it while trying to figure out XMind. I have a post drafted on VUE and hope to post it eventually. [Reply](#comment-276) 2. [Roy Grubb](http://www.informationtamers.com/WikIT/) [June 10, 2010 at 6:57 pm](https://johnpoelstra.com/mind-mapping-with-xmind/#comment-273) [Reply](#comment-273) I think it’s fair to point out that Xmind’s subscription model covers access to a server for map sharing and allows you to make maps private for collaboration with selected associates. You can use the server with the free version, but maps remain accessible to anyone, so collaboration on business planning is not really advisable. Having said that, I don’t like paying annually for software either. Roy [Reply](#comment-273) 3. Leif[June 10, 2010 at 6:10 pm](https://johnpoelstra.com/mind-mapping-with-xmind/#comment-272) [Reply](#comment-272) Since xmind is within your home dir I prefer putting the symlink into ~/bin/ which is already on your path. [Reply](#comment-272) ### 2 Pingbacks 1. [Mind Mapping With VUE « John Poelstra](http://johnpoelstra.com/2010/06/16/mind-mapping-with-vue/) 2. 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