Help | oropendola

Getting Started (tap on the cross next to a topic to reveal more information)
1. Create a new map
  1. Tap the + icon on the (left hand end of the) toolbar
  2. Enter a name for the new map
  3. Tap Save and the new map will be created and opened
2. Create a new topic
  1. Double tap the canvas and a new topic will be created at that point or....
  2. Tap one of the topic creation buttons on the right of the toolbar - corresponding to...
    1. Add new CHILD
    2. Add new SIBLING
    3. Add new CALLOUT
      1. This is a callout
    4. Insert RELATIONSHIP
    5. Inspector
      1. Used to set colour and shape etc.
3. Edit an existing topic
  1. Double tap the topic and the keyboard will be displayed
4. Change the text size
  1. Drag the pointy finger horizontally to change the topic width and vertically to change the topic size
  2. The width and font size will be displayed as numerical values next to the topic during resize
  3. Tap on the finger to reset the font size and width to the default
5. Delete a topic
  1. Tap the selected topic and the cut/copy/paste/delete menu will be displayed
  2. Tap on the Delete option
  3. If the topic has children then there will be an option to delete topic or delete branch.
    1. Delete topic will delete just that topic and reattach the children to the parent of the deleted topic.
6. Change the shape/colour/icon
  1. Select the topic by tapping it once
  2. Tap the i button on the right hand side of the toolbar to show the Inspector
  3. Set the various attributes as required
7. Add a note
  1. Select the topic by tapping it once
  2. Pull down the tab just below the title on the toolbar to open the note view window - tap on it to edit.
    1. The + and - symbols can be used to adjust the font size of the note
  3. Just flick the tab upwards to close.
8. Insert an image
  1. Open the Inspector
  2. Select the Images tab
  3. Select Images from the lower toolbar of the Inspector window (adjacent to the Icons button)
  4. Choose one of the 'stock images' or select the bookmarks button on the lower toolbar to select a photo from the album
    1. To copy an image FROM a topic (eg extract from an imported map) select + from the lower toolbar
  5. Once inserted, drag the pointy finger to resize the topic/image
9. Re-centre the map (it's disappeared off the screen)
  1. Tap on the map title in the toolbar to re-centre on the currently selected topic.
  2. Double tap the map title in the toolbar to re-center on the root topic.
10. Import/export maps
  1. 4 basic methods
    1. Cloud (box.net/ Dropbox/ MobileMe/ WebDAV)
      1. Import
      2. Tap on the Send toolbar button
      3. Select "Copy From <service>"
      4. If first time in then select "Sign In To" and enter credentials.
      5. Browse the cloud store folders for the map to download
      6. Once selected, the map will be downloaded and opened.
      7. Once downloaded, iThoughts will remember when and where the file was downloaded from so that it can be re-synchronised later
      8. Export
      9. Tap on the Send toolbar button
      10. Select "Send To <service>"
      11. If first time in then select "Sign In To" and enter credentials.
      12. Select the format to save the map in
      13. If a format is not in the list of options it must first be enabled in Export Options
      14. Browse the cloud storage to an appropriate folder then select 'Use This Folder'
      15. The map will be exported in the required format and then uploaded to the chosen folder
      16. Once uploaded, iThoughts will remember when and where the file was saved so that it can be re-synchronised later
    2. Browser
      1. Import
      2. Ensure that desktop and iPad are connected to the same WiFi network.
      3. Tap on the Send toolbar button
      4. Select 'WiFi Transfer' from the Send menu
      5. Enter the URL displayed into the desktop browser (remembering the five 4s after the colon.)
      6. The browser will display a list of maps available for download in the various desktop formats.
      7. Click on the browse button and browse to the map to import then click 'Upload Here' against the appropriate folder.
      8. Export
    3. Email
      1. Import
      2. Tap on a supported attachment in the Mail app. It will offer to open the map in iThoughtsHD
      3. Export
      4. Open the map
      5. Tap on the Send toolbar button
      6. Ensure that the required format(s) are enabled (in Export Options)
      7. Tap on the Send Email option
    4. iTunes
      1. Import
      2. Connect your iPad to iTunes
      3. Drag a map from your desktop onto the iThoughtsHD App 'Documents' section in iTunes.
      4. This will copy the map into a special 'holding area' on your iPad
      5. Tap on the Send toolbar button
      6. Select 'Copy From iTunes'
      7. Select the map to import (i.e. The map you just dragged onto iTunes)
      8. Once selected, the map will be imported and opened.
      9. Once imported, iThoughts will remember the fact that the file came from iTunes and the format so that it can be re-synchronised later
      10. Export
      11. Tap on the Send toolbar button
      12. Select 'Send to iTunes'
      13. Select the format to save the map in
      14. If a format is not in the list of options it must first be enabled in Export Options
      15. The map will be exported in the required format and then saved into the iTunes 'holding area'
      16. Connect your iPad to iTunes
      17. Drag the map from the iThoughtsHD App 'Documents' section in iTunes to your desktop.
      18. Once saved to iTunes, iThoughts will remember the fact so that it can be re-synchronised later
11. Undo
  1. To undo the previous operation tap on the toolbar button named undo
  2. To redo an operation (after having undone it) press and hold the Undo toolbar button then select Redo.
12. Link from one map to another
  1. Open the link tab in the Inspector
  2. Browse to the map to link to and its path will be added to the link field (it's case sensitive)
  3. To follow the link PRESS on the topic with the link
    1. A PRESS is longer than a tap but shorter than a long press...!?
      1. For example, PRESS this topic to jump to the What's New map
  4. After jumping to a link, press the back button to return to the original map (the map picker toolbar button will change to a back button automatically)
    1. To open a map when the toolbar is showing the back button press and hold the back button.
Futures?
1. More desktop formats
2. Attachments
3. Calendar and ToDo sync
4. Search/Filter
5. Outline View
6. More online collaboration
Quick Tips
1. Keyboard shortcuts?
  1. Hit SPACE 3x to create a new child
    1. Must be quick - 3 in under a second
  2. Hit RETURN 3x to create a new sibling
  3. Hit SPACE/RETURN 3x in the middle of a topic to split it.
  4. Hit BACKSPACE 3x in an empty topic to delete it
2. Single tap the canvas to cancel (or complete) what you are doing.
3. Double tap the canvas to create a new topic
  1. The first time it will create a child, subsequent times it will create a sibling
4. Press and hold one of the topic create toolbar buttons for more otions - for example to create a parent or sibling above the selected topic
5. Press and hold a topic to copy, move, merge or float it
  1. The link to the parent will disappear after a second or so
  2. Drag the topic over another topic and let go for more options
  3. Drop it on a blank area of the canvas to delete or float
6. Merge 2 topics by dragging one on top of the other
7. Deleting a map
  1. Bring up the map list
  2. Tap Edit
  3. Tap on the No Entry symbol next to the target map
  4. Tap on Delete
    1. This cannot be undone
8. Relationships (links between topics)
  1. To create...
    1. Tap the first topic
    2. Tap the 'chain link' icon on the toolbar
    3. Tap the second topic (and a relationship will be created)
    4. To cancel the operation tap anywhere on the canvas
  2. To edit/remove
    1. Tap one of the linked topics
    2. Tap the 'chain link' icon on the canvas
9. Double tap the expand/collapse icon next to a topic to show 1,2 or all sub topics (good for slowly revealing information)
10. To override the back button (after following a link) press and hold it - this will display the map list.
11. Extract images from imported maps for later use
  1. To copy an image FROM a topic, select + from the lower toolbar when viewing the image library
12. Paste Tricks
  1. Paste Style
    1. Copy a topic which has attributes that you'd like to propagate
    2. Select another topic then 'Paste Style'
    3. Choose the individual styles to paste
    4. Choose which topics to apply the style to (select, children, siblings etc.)
    5. ...enables 'template topics'
    6. Great way to assign resources and other task info to a group of topics
  2. Copy text from another app and...
    1. Paste directly into a topic text
    2. Paste onto a topic itself - resulting in child topics being created to contain the information
      1. New child topic for each newline
  3. Paste a branch and then...
    1. Tap the pasted topic and select 'Delete' and then 'Delete Topic'
    2. ...provides a way to move a bunch of sibling topics
  4. Copy images from the web
    1. Press and hold the image in Safari
    2. Open up iThoughts then tap on a topic and choose paste.
13. Take a look in the iThoughts section of the Settings App (there are lots of config options to tweak!)
  1. Set word/sentence capitalisation options
  2. Turn on/off various ui elements such as tapered links.
  3. Configure WebDAV settings
  4. Email outline options
  5. etc.etc.etc
FAQ
1. The crosshair - why?
2. Importing/Exporting
  1. Methods
    1. ITunes Sharing
    2. Email
    3. WiFi/browser
    4. Cloud
      1. WedDAV
      2. MobileMe/iDisk
      3. Dropbox
      4. Box.net
    5. Save Image to Camera Roll
  2. Formats
    1. Freemind 0.8.x / 0.9.x
    2. Mindmanager 6 / 7 / 8 / 9
    3. Novamind 4 / 5
    4. XMind
    5. Mindview 3 / 4 (Windows ONLY)
    6. iMindmap4
    7. ConceptDraw MINDMAP 6 / 7
    8. OPML
      1. Omni Outliner
      2. Scrivener
    9. PDF (export only)
      1. PDF exports are not available over wifi/browser transfer (only email or cloud upload)
      2. When emailing a large PDF (by area) the mail composition screen may not display the PDF (displaying a white question mark in a blue rectangle instead.) This is down to a restriction within the mail app - the PDF attachment will still be sent.
    10. PNG (export only)
  3. Caveats?
    1. Not all attributes are supported in all formats.
    2. Unsupported/recognized attributes and data will be discarded.
3. Old versions
  1. Maps are auto-saved and periodically snapshot'd - previous snapshots can be recovered.
4. Backup
  1. Select 'Email Archive' to email yourself a zip'd up copy of all your maps
  2. Do NOT rely on iTunes backups - they are overwritten each time - please take the time to email yourself a backup regularly.
5. Synchronisation
  1. Synchronised maps will have an icon representing their status (to the left of the disclosure button on the right)
    1. In-sync
    2. Local copy modified
    3. Cloud copy modified
    4. Both modified (i.e. conflict)
    5. Unknown
      1. Network connectivity problem?
      2. Remote file deleted/renamed/moved?
  2. Tap the 'Sync' icon in the bottom right of the map picker popup window.
    1. Select 'Check For Updates'
      1. This will check to see if a newer version of the map exists in the cloud.
    2. Select 'Synchronise'
      1. This will check for updates and then update the local or cloud copy as necessary.
      2. If both copies have been modified independently (i.e. there is a conflict) then no action is taken.
  3. To resolve a conflict (i.e. local and cloud copy have changed)
    1. Tap the icon (with a yellow triangle)
    2. Choose whether to upload the local copy or download the cloud copy.
If you find iThoughts useful then please do leave a review on the AppStore...any issues, queries or suggestions just email me (I can't respond to AppStore reviews - Apple doesn't tell me your email address!) Press this topic to leave a review on the AppStore
1. Press this topic to email support