Indexing Freemind documents for Windows Search: just add extension as free text

There are a lot of software domains that disappoint me. It's a 'get off my lawn' kind of thing. Enormous excitement about cosmetic changes to iOS 7, but nobody cares about applications for knowledge visualization. Sob.

Sure, there are some good apps for OS X [1] (though even they lack innovation [2]), but my work day is spent in the software desert of Windows 7, a forgotten platform served only by minor vendors slowly degrading once half-decent products.

On the Windows 'mind mapping' front MindManager is expensive, increasingly slow and burdened by feature cruft, and locks data up in a proprietary format. I liked XMIND for a while, but then a software update slowed it to a crawl. It also seems to have been abandoned.

So, lately, I've turned to FreeMind. Not because it's open source and free, not because there's ongoing development, and definitely not because it's a Java app or "cross-platform". I've turned to Freemind because, despite being homely [3], slow to launch, and having an eclectic UI, it has users, performs quickly when it's running, and, above all, it has the closest thing to a standard file format in the industry. A file format that's plaintext.

More and more, I love plain text.

I think I can live with FreeMind -- but only if I can retrieve documents using Windows Search. I live and die by free text search. I took a look at the FreeMind IFilter ($20) for Windows Search, but I was unimpressed with the klunky install and configuration requirements. It had a bad smell.

Fortunately, there's a simple workaround. FreeMind .mm files are plain text (did I mention I love that?). All I had to do was tell Windows Search to index .mm files as free text:

That worked.

• Mac Mind mapping software: Inspiration, OmniOutliner and MindNode 7/2011
• XMind: Impressions and comments on the mind mapping market 11/2012
• XMind: Software made in China for OS X and Windows 11/2010
• Mac Mind mapping software: Inspiration, OmniOutliner and MindNode 6/2011. I used Inspiration in the late 90s, early 00s. I'd use it now but the file lock is too strong.
• Mindjet (MindManager): operational problems -> maybe improving 7/2007
• ConceptDraw can import MindManager files 8/2007. More recently I tested it, but it didn't add anything new or interesting.
• GrandView and idea management software - Fallows and more 1/2010. Most MindMapping software is an outliner with a spatial layout.
• Tinderbox, Simplenote, MindNode and data freedom 10/2011

[1] I'd love to see OMNI Group enter this market, possibly building on OmniOutliner. I use MindNode on OS X.
[2] Rereading my 10/2011 idea for implementing a graph app atop simplenote nodes I'm sad nobody has done this. If I lose my job maybe I will.
[3] Worse than homely, FreeMind currently has a major usability problem. There's nothing in the UI to tell you that a node has collapsed children. It's quite weird.

Tinderbox, Simplenote, MindNode and data freedom

I really think Tinderbox ($250!) should have said something about this earlier ...

Tinderbox: The Tool For Notes

.... Tinderbox shares notes with with Simplenote for Web and iPhone access...

The big (Big) problem with apps like Tinderbox, Evernote, or MindManager and its kin is data freedom. Specifically, the absence of data freedom. There's no standard for the representation of attributes and relationships in a nodes and arcs graph app -- it's a fundamental knowledge representation problem [1][2]. Years of rich data get flushed away when an app dies.

When, not if. All software dies. Ask Lotus Agenda users. Or the users of, and this is far from a complete list, Ecco Professional, InfoCentral, PackRat, Sidekick, Arrange (Common Knowledge - MacOS), InfoDepot, In Control, Cross-Ties, Palm Notes, Commence, Ascend, Arcadia (OS/2!), GrandView and MORE, Inspiration, Outlook Notes, and so many, many, many more.

Assyrian clay tablets from the library of Ashurbanipal have endured for thousands of years, my GrandView notes didn't do so well.

Data can outlive software -- but only if it's portable. Not forever of course, but maybe until the end of civilization [3]. JPEG images are in the running, video not so much. UTF-8 text files are serious contenders.

The SimpleNote ecosystem is based on UTF-8 text and RTF files with optional markdown formatting. That's why I like it - the core data store can endure. It's accessible from iOS device, OS X, XP, W7, Dropbox [4] web -- everywhere.

Still, notes alone, even with tagging and search, are not enough. I want a way to layer arcs upon the text nodes.

I could almost do it using MindNode Pro. I could attach SimpleNote notes to MindNode nodes and keep both MindNode file and SimpleNote files on Dropbox. Problem is, it's awkward to attach and create files to MN nodes. The icons are too large and the node doesn't inherit the file name -- and I need a keyboard shortcut to create an external text file on demand.

Doesn't that text icon seem a bit big to you? It can be resized, but it always defaults to enormous.

I haven't given up hope that Markus Muller will accept my suggestions, but I'm reluctantly leaving MindNode Pro on the shelf while I watch where he goes with it.

Tinderbox though -- if it could actually use SimpleNote ... and if it could become Dropbox compatible ... and if I'm careful about how I manage and distribute Tinderbox specific metadata ... That's interesting. It's a heck of a lot of money though, and I fear using its full power would put me into deep data lock.

See also:

• ATPM 10.10 - ATPO: Deep Tinderbox: 2004 view -- but gives a good sense of how it works

Update: MaysonicWrites points us to Dave Winer's World Outline project, I think as an example of a liberated data solution to managing some kinds of information.

- fn -

[1] Consider HL7 RIM 3 and the challenges of CDA/SNOMED model integration. Ok, so nobody knows what I mean by that. Trust me, it's relevant.
[2] Ok. There is a standard. It's called the hyperlink and HTML. This post is long enough, but I'm tempted to look for late 1990s book on hypertext I have somewhere, and to summon a BYTE article on a hypertext version of Gopher from the 1990s. I suppose software archeology is a hobby now. I am disappointed that we don't have wiki-like personal information tool that uses HTML/RTF/text and hyperlink as the information store, WordPress API as an authoring option, and the ability to migrate the repository from local drive to cloud.
[3] Outrageous you say! What could last that long? Well, yes.
[4] I'm a late adopter, but increasingly a fan.

Mac Mind mapping software: Inspiration, OmniOutliner and MindNode

I've used several mind mapping tools over the past few years, including, most recently, MindManager for Windows. I like the tools well enough, but it's a niche market. The leading vendors like Mindjet and NovaMind typically charge $250-$400 for their products; that feels a bit much when Aperture sells for $80 on the Mac App store.

All of the commercial products use proprietary, closed data formats -- so there's a severe data lock problem with this domain. It's tough to switch vendors. Some, like NovaMind, have quite good import/export features -- but that doesn't change the fundamental data lock issue. Many of the products, including some respected freeware apps, are Java based. That's a big negative for a Mac user.

Which is why it's nice to see that Inspiration is back. It was never actually gone -- but they stopped marketing it for adult and business use (schools only). Visiting their web site today they seem to be taking another stab at a broader market. Inspiration isn't nearly as pretty as MindManager, and it doesn't have MM/Windows deep Office integration, but it's much less expensive. I'd give it a try (it used to import MORE 3.1 documents btw!), but the trial software registration form is ridiculous. I'll wait until they get a clue on that front.

Inspiration is nice, but what I really want is for the OmniGroup to deliver a mindmapping solution. They could extend OmniOutliner, OminGraffle, OmniFocus or do a new app -- but my preference would be to extend OmniOutliner. They'd do a beautiful job, and perhaps they'd consider opening up the file format.

Update: The ever reliable "Martin" mentions MindNode in a comment. I loved this part of their web site description:

No file format lock-in. MindNode and MindNode Pro support a variety of file formats. You can import and export FreeMind and OPML files (a file format used by many outlining applications) or export the mind map as PNG image, TIFF image, PDF, RTF or HTML document.

MindNodePro is sold on the App Store for $20 and by direct download. MindNode is quite limited by free. There's an iOS version that currently has its own file format, but the developer promises it will migrate to the MindNode format.

MindNode is a small OS X and iOS developer product ...

... MindNode and MindNode Pro are applications designed and developed by Markus Müller. Based in Vienna, Austria, Markus is an independent software developer whose focus lies on designing intuitive and useful software for the Mac and iPhone platform...

This on is my todo (Toodledo/Todo.app) list to try.

Update 6/4/11: There's a free trial version of MindNode Pro - limited to 20 nodes. That's what I'm experimenting with. It's simple, but elegant. If you drag and drop a file to MindNode it creates a resizable icon shortcut (default size is too big). I like how it works. If you want to create documents, you create then externally and relate them using MindNode. For example, I could related a set of SimpleNote text notes. The documentation is unclear, but i can confirm node names are indexed by Spotlight.

See also:

• Mind map - Wikipedia
• List of concept mapping and mind mapping software - Wikipedia
• Gordon's Notes: XMind: Software made in China for OS X and Windows
• Which is the best mindmapping software? - WikIT
• Inspiration (store)
• ThinkBuzan - Official Mind Mapping software by Tony Buzan
• FreeMind - Wikipedia and Alternatives to FreeMind
• Freeplane - Wikipedia
• MindNode
• MindManager - Wikipedia: the prettiest product - corporate favorite strong Outlook/Office integration on Windows
• Simplemind (iOS, OS X, sold via App Store)

MindManager: nasty bug with task roll-up

Mindjet’s MindManager is an exotic organizational/planning mind map app for XP and, to some extent, for OS X. Definitely for corporate use -- it’s expensive, proprietary file format, completely data locked (no data freedom here!) but very pretty.

Pretty matters in the corporate world.

I use it a lot, and today I ran into a nasty bug. I assigned a set of items task/hour info, then used the “roll up” feature to summarize them at a root concept.

The rollup displayed days instead of hours. That’s ok, but MM rounded up the task hours on every item to days – and the act is not reversible.

I lost all my item-specific task data.

I don’t think this always happens – it’s too obvious a bug. I do have a very large and complex map.

Still – be warned. If you’ve found this post because you ran into the bug please leave a comment. If I get a few I’ll rouse myself to file a bug report with MM (though I’m not sure they take bug reports).

Parallels to VMware - my experience

As part of my move from 10.4.11 to 10.5.3 I switched from Parallels (Windows 2000 VM running Office 2003 and MindManager to VMWare Fusion (updated 5/30 for 10.5.3). Here's how it went.

1. Uninstall Parallels prior to the OS update. Don't delete the VM files (Win2K.pvs and W2k.hdd on my disk).
2. Update OS.
3. Download latest version of VMWare Fusion (not the beta though). You need to be a registered user to do this.
4. Install VMWare Fusion.
   
5. Download beta version of VMware Importer tool and install (requires Fusion be installed).
6. Find the Parallels files - Win2K.pvs and W2k.hdd. Drop the PVS file on the importer. The importer then converts the 3.1 GB Parallels file to a 3.4 GB (10% larger) single file stored in a Virtual Machine folder in current_user/Documents. (After I'd finished the entire install, however, the VM file was 4.4 GB, a 33% increase.)
   
7. I double clicked on Win2K (my VM name) and Windows 2000 SP4 launched. Fusion shows an inline reminder to install the VM tools, but after a LONG startup and restart (for Win2K this is a new machine) Fusion installed them automatically. I saw a Windows dialog requesting help with an unrecognized device -- ignore those and let the Fusion tools install and Win2K restart.
8. Shutdown Win2K after this initial install (good practice after initial config), in future just suspend it.
   

After the conversion and setup Win2K SP4 goes from shutdown to running in 30 seconds on my MacBook. Much faster than XP, much less Vista! Of course one would usually suspend the OS when done, not do a shutdown.

Mindjet MindManager: If it could only do acyclic graphs

Mindjet MindManager is "mind mapping software". It lets users create an outline (hierarchy) that can render as a two-dimensional layout of boxes connected by lines.

MindManager's strengths are its Microsoft Office  integration, its marketing, its attractive output and its corporate orientation. It comes in XP/Vista and OS X versions, the latter is a true OS X app but lacks some functionality. I've written about MindManager before; functionally it's similar to the much older Inspiration but it's a lot prettier.

Pretty counts.

MindManager has one glaring defect -- from a geek point of view. It can only do trees - strict hierarchies. No networks, no matrices, no directed acyclic graphs. No inheritance.

So a box (node) can't belong to to two or more branches (arcs).

This is a pain. Any reasonably complex domain representation needs a node to have multiple memberships.

I think the UI for this is not too hard. This is basically what a "Favorite" does in XP, or a "shortcut" does in OS X. The file lives in a single place in the file system hierarchy, but a reference can appear in another place.

Symantec More 3.1 did something similar with its outlines. You could have a branch appear in more than one place. Multiple inheritance in other words. [1]

MindManager could allow users to click on a box (node) and create a "favorite" that could be dragged and dropped anywhere. They don't even need to implement full references, it would be ok if clicking on a 'favorite' merely took one to the "true" object. (Symantec MORE 3.1 did the full include model.)

If some wants to displace MindManager from my desktop, all they need to do is allow me to model an acyclic graph, or even network. Trees are very 19th century.

Ok, so they have to be pretty as well.

[1] So it's not patentable guys. It's been done.

ConceptDraw can import MindManager files

The ConceptDraw MINDMAP application for OS X and Windows ($200) claims to be able to import MindJet MindManager files:

ConceptDraw MINDMAP: mindmapping and brainstorming tool overview

.. MindManager Import You can seamlessly open files created by MindManager users on both Windows and Mac OS...

MindManager is definitely the market leader (alas, Inspiration, you peaked too early -- though I do hope you hang in there) in this segment. It's a fairly expensive product however, and it's very much a "lock-in" play. You put your data in MindManager, you'll never get it out again.

Until now. MINDMAP looks like it's aiming for the MindManager market, and it supports OPML export. They need to drop the price though if they want to get serious -- MindManager 7 for Mac is $130! There's no way MINDMAP can charge $70 more than MindManager and be a serious alternative.

I suggest they think about charging $130 for a dual platform license -- for the same price as MM get the right to use both the Windows and OS X versions on all machines one uses.

Mindjet (MindManager): operational problems -> maybe improving

[see update for how this turned out, below]

I wonder if this company outsourced all of its sales operations. I'm used to incompetent support, but it's rare to get incompetent sales!

Mindjet sells MindManager, an expensive "mind mapping" product that, alas, is a bit of a standard where I work. It has the unique advantage of very attractive and corporate-compatible graphics and it's reliable, so it's worth my employer's money.

Except, they won't take it! Here's the sequence:

1. July 3rd: Try to place order by web site. Web site is crashing, probably due to a problem with a partial update to their pricing.
2. Phone in to see what happened to my order. They quote me a price that's increased by 50%, turns out the price on the website was a "special" (though it's not labeled that way). I send them a pre-crash screenshot and they promise to call back once the advertised price is updated.
3. They don't call back.
4. About a week later I call again. The person can't locate my order. I suspect person #1 simply tossed it in the garbage rather than try to figure out their internal problems. Rep #2 promises to email and call back. Neither happens.
5. July 13th: Now onto 11 days, I call again. Get voice mail, they are on pacific time for their sales.

It's not my money, so I'll probably enter another order on the web site for whatever price they want and if I get two copies I'll deal with it then.

I won't, however, buy the copy I was planning to get for my personal use...

Update 7/24/07: I received a phone call from a MindJet sales executive and they've posted in comments that they're working on their operational problems. I wonder if the pricing problem I ran into is due to an odd $70 or so "support package" -- perhaps their sales organization was over-incented to up-sell that package and "forgot" that it's optional. In any case they are working on the problem, so I hope things will improve. I've edited the above to reflect my current thoughts.

Not incidentally, I now have more experience with the update and it's a very nice improvement on the prior version -- but they still share the same file format. The OS X version, which I've yet to purchase, lacks some of the Pro features but has some special OS X features -- like AppleScript support. In other words, it's a genuine OS X application, not a partial port. They've implemented bi-drectional synchronization between the XP version and Outlook, though they need to do something about the default display of task attributes.

Mind Mapping software

I use Mindjet MindManager for mind mapping at work, and I've used Inspiration in the past. MindManager is quite expensive, the version I use (5) has terrible printing options (can't print the notes easily) and it doesn't have OPML output; but it looks 'professional' (corporate). Inspiration suffers in comparison by looking like an educational market product (which it is).

So I'm shopping a bit for something that has the best features of Inspiration and MindManager with OPML import/export, great PDF output, OS X and XP versions, and reasonable cost.

I'll update this post with my research. At the moment it looks like I should examine NovaMind and OmniGraffle and reconsider Inspiration. I may stay with MindManager -- it does run well under Parallels so I don't have to buy the OS X version.

Some good references so far:

• Open Thread: Mac Mind Mapping, and how you use it | 43 Folders
• MindMapping Weblog: I've added this to my bloglines list.
• google hits on all four: NovaMind, MindManager, OmniGraffle and Inspiration
• ATPM: ConceptDraw (2006)
  
• ATPM: Mindmapping Outliners (2004)
• Neuberg (Tidbits) on Novamind (2006-04-17)
  

NovaMind stands out. It has free downloads for Mac and Windows and does OPML well. The standard editing is $100 (cheap), and the web page seems to suggest that one license might work for Mac and Windows versions, but I can't tell from the page if that's legal use. NovaMind also integrates with the OS X Merlin project management package.

I'm going to try it!

Update 12/5/06: ConceptDraw too! I never expected so many options.

Update 12/5/06b: NovaMind through an uncaught exception in XP within 5 minutes of downloading while I played with a sample file. Scratch that one.

Mindjet MindManager goes to the Mac

MindManager a mind mapping tool that's pretty dominant on Windows, now has a Mac version. It's expensive: $230 bucks.

At that price point there are likely better Mac options for most people, but the strength of MM on Windows means it might make sense for some Mac users.

Inspiration on the Palm

I earlier noted that the almost forgotten application, Inspiration, has a version for Palm, PocketPC, Mac Classic, OS X, and Windows. I think that's some kind of record.

I tried the $30 Inspiration/Palm version (free 1 month trial -- pretty good!), and I synchronized it with the desktop on Windows. The synchronization is a bit awkward, but not too bad. There's a menu item in Inspiration that lets you open the PalmOS Data file (.ihf). Then you save it to your desktop data folder (.isf). If you'd like you can export it back to the Palm (save as .isf). I had to read the manual to figure out how to get started; it's not very intuitive but really the PalmOS doesn't make this easy [1].

On Windows the PalmOS data files are saved in a rather unusual spot. Depending on how you browse to it you see two different paths, so I assume it's some virtual directory:

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents\Inspiration Handhelds\jfaughnan
or
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Shared Documents\Inspiration Handhelds\jfaughnan

I'd never messed with this "shared documents" folder before, but it's evidently there for a reason.

So making the sync work takes some discipline. It's not like 'Desktop To Go' that theoretically keeps the desktop Word document and the Palm document automatically synchronized. I'd prefer something that didn't require thought, but given the limitations of Windows this is probably as good as one can do. (I didn't try this on my Mac because I still sync my CLIE to the PC - my wife tend to hog the Mac.)

Inspiration/Palm works surprisingly well on the CLIE's relatively high res screen. The images are crisp and I can get quite a bit on there. The Outliner is very simple to use. I like the graphical view better than I'd expected.

Inspiration doesn't have the glitzy output of MindManager (though I'm not sure MM does much more than Inspiration), and it's not nearly as powerful an Outliner as OmniOutliner, but this mega-cross-platform stuff is pretty interesting. I hope they are able to make the jump to Intel, but frankly the app is very speedy and would probably run ok with Rosetta. I'm going to be using it for a while and I expect I'll buy the Palm version.

[1] The Palm software was built for Windows 95, it was never redone to adjust to NT/2K/XP's multi-user model. This causes no end of problems, including making this sort of thing hard to do.

Yahoo! Desktop (X1) is the new champion

Yahoo! Desktop Search Beta [updated 1/18/05]

Until recently AOL/Copernic was my choice on the XP platform for file search (not Outlook, for that I use Lookout). Copernic isn't ideal however.

Now X1 freebie, better known as Yahoo Desktop Search (YDS) has taken over. Roughly following the same format as my previous Copernic review, here are my comments. Bottom line: it smokes everything else.

Some key features with some caveats :

1. You can configure location of the indices. I store them in a folder that I exclude from backup. You really don't want to backup search indices. All my various search indices tools store files in this folder. The X1 index is 400 MB for a 14GB dataset, but much of my data are in large non-indexed databases.
   
2. You can control readily what folders are indexed. I turned off Outlook search since I use Lookout. NOTE: X1 does NOT appear to index Outlook Task or Note folders.
   
3. It indexes PDF and a wide variety of data types. You can preview files within X1. Big feature. It even includes viewers for obscure applications, like MindManager.
   
4. You constrain your search results by additional quick filters such as data, result type, substring on file name. You can readily sort search results by the usual metadata (file name, date, etc) and by file PATH.
   
5. You can tell it not to index files over a certain size (I used 10MB).
6. You can control when it builds the indices. However, control is limited. Indexing is not all that smart, since my machine is often active (backup, maintenance, etc) the index wasn't getting built. I had to turn off the default option of waiting for an inactive machine. The index did get built and it wasn't a big performance hit. You can't specify a time range for index building.
   
7. You can't index network shares with Yahoo's licensed free version. The commercial version of X1 does this. I may buy the commercial version for my home.
8. It indexes folder names and it treats folders as first class searchable items. You can constrain a search to limit it to folders. This is a HUGE advantage over Copernic.
9. When you find an item, you can right-click to open it in the enclosing folder.
   

Some defects:

1. No fundamental defects for file search so far. Big advantage over Copernic!
2. Toolbar is kind of dumb. I don't care about Outlook searching (I use Lookout for that) but those items still appear on the toolbar. They also appear on the desktop toolbar and take up a lot of room. However you can specify "Files" as the default to search (RMB, properties) on the desktop toolbar then hide everything but the data entry field.
3. YECH (Update 1/18/05). You can't get rid of the Yahoo toolbar in Outlook. Sure you can remove it, but it returns the next time you restart Outlook. This is very annoying, because (see next point) X1 is a crummy tool for searching Outlook. I have a longstanding problem with toolbars in XP that show up unwanted -- I'm still fighting an idiotic Adobe Acrobat 4.0 toolbar that's infested my OS for years. I think I have to figure out where these damned things live -- problem is I think they can live in many places in the OS.
   
4. NOT a good choice for Outlook search. I use Lookout for that, but this would be a huge problem if I dependend on X1. It doesn't index notes and tasks! I didn't notice if it indexed Outlook attachments, didn't care enough.
5. Minor defect: it doesn't seem to understand abstract entities, like "desktop" or "documents" -- only physical directories.
6. It doesn't "smart rank" search results (ie. explicity metadata > directory match > file name match > etc), though in practice the rapid sorting of results and subsearch capabilities mean I don't miss this too much.
7. It doesn't, apparently, search Eudora mail archives. For that you need the non-Yahoo version of this.
8. It doesn't search mounted drives. Again, the non-Yahoo X1 version of the app does this.
9. Update 6/30: It ignores basic windows metadata (subject, author, keyword) entered via document properties dialogs. It ignores PDF metada entered within Acrobat. It doesn't index text comments on Acrobat documents. All of these things make YDS a poor choice for indexing scanned documents. Quite disappointing, actually.
   

My configuration

1. Limited search to the folder that contains my data and the desktop folder. (Removed all other folders, for non-removables set to ignore via "modify" button.)
2. Moved indices to my "Cache" folder (no backup of this folder).
3. Max file size to index 10MB.