Freeplane Reviews

I am a real fan of Freeplan and using it for mindmaps, outlines for writings (and import in libre office), workshops (brainstorm and clustering), workshops (using icons, attributes and filters) even in customer situations. I wish I could do more using fremind - e.g. general graph visualisation and analysis like a lightweight neo4j. But this is really unfair as then it would not be a mindmap anymore. Thank you so much for this really great tool! Best regards, Peter

good job

Steep learning curve and sparse documentation but a very responsive User community that only wants you to get the most out of this 'best kept secret' application. It is certainly worth the investment to master this software. The payback is enormous.

I've been a fan of mind mapping for over 2 decades. I've used paper, whiteboards, and several software programs. Freeplane is the best I've found so far in terms of price, features, and ease of use. It produces attractive looking mind maps that are easy to format. I'm still discovering some of the neat little additional features such as attributes, notes, note details, tool tips, and time functions. I currently use it for my project overviews and to-do lists. It's worth spending a bit of time looking at the tutorial map. Thanks for a great program!

Freeplane is a hidden gem. I use it extensively for all kinds of things.

It works. I particularly appreciate that it's cross-platform and exports to DOC format easily. And that pasting from a node into other applications doesn't create line break problems--that happens with Xmind.

Really good

Freeplane is rock solid for mindmapping and after setting up your custom keyboard shortcuts it is an incredible tool for productivity. The search is really good and linking between freeplane and other applications is supereasy. This is a great tool for anyone needing to document and manage knowledge!

full star! It's convenient for office efficiency geeks

FreePlane is a great application with very good potential. I have started to use again at work to get my thoughts down. There are a few bugs but happy to work through this and log bug tickets. I also discovered the Windows 10 Mobile App - ftsmind. Seems to open MM files which is great as I use Windows and Android phone. As an old freemind user, I think FreePlane has more potential. As far as all those people who give FreePlane a bad wrap and 1 star. My advice to you is get involved in the project or go spend some money on the non-opensource products that cost a fortune and see if your experience is any better. When you provide negative feedback to people who give up their own time for free, is not very motivating I'm sure. FreePlane is a great application and very cost effective :) I'm proud to be a supporter.

Sadly, I must also report that Freeplane only looks like a wonderful program, with many features I've been trying to find in a single app. In reality, it is a complete mess that has only left me extremely frustrated and angry at the Freeplane Community for thinking its even slightly acceptable to dump such garbage on an unsuspecting and trusting public, even for Open Source!!! Frankly, it qualifies as abusive. Due to the supposed potential of its features, I literally spent 6 hours trying to learn it using its outdated, incorrect, and often confusing Tutorial. I only made it half way through the Tutorial, and I still feel like I don't have a handle on even basic features due to the mess this App is in. The fun begins with Many Dead Links on the Freeplane Support web pages and continues straight into the Map they use for their Tutorial. Straight away, you're met by a Giant Dead Node labeled "Functions Index" that links to a file that can't be found anywhere in Freeplane's Documentation when you look for it separate from the link. Then, you're blessed with the absence of simple universally accepted logic for how the App works. For example, you can't Click and Drag to choose multiple items. Instead, it doesn't matter what Key you add to clicking and dragging -- the Command, Option, or Shift Key all result in the same action of moving the Map around the screen. Control+Click pulls up the Contextual Menu that Right Clicking does. What a frustrating waste of high value Key+Click Commands. Simple tasks like Deletion and Undo are so stupidly designed, they're still a mystery in many cases, even after my 6 hours of Tutorial-based learning. The word "Delete" doesn't even exist in their Key Word Searchable Help Topics. Nor is there a Menu Option anywhere for Delete. Instead, it's named, "Remove Node", and the Key Command doesn't work. Click on a Node to delete it and only the text is deleted. Try and Undo this and you have to click outside the Node before Undo works to restore the text. Click on the Node's handle to Delete, nothing happens. In fact, the only way to Delete a Node outside the Edit Menu is to use the Cut Command with Command+X -- very dangerous and problematic. Child Node Creation is Menu Dependent as well. Seriously?!!! What nonsense!!! The Properties Panel is also a complete Mess!! Options are no longer Named as Instructed, and the Logic is Confusing. All I wanted to figure out was how to create an evenly spaced list of Nodes with a Similar Style. No way of automatically spacing them out without being tied to very ugly and unusable side effects. The following are just a sampling of additional commands you are told to use that don't do as they say. Sadly, I didn't start the list when it first started happening, so know that there are plenty more to be found in the first half of the Tutorial alone! Moving a connected node in space - Double Clicking oval handle does NOT move node to its original place. Automatic Edge Color - Option does not exist in Properties Panel. Missing - How to evenly space out a Group of Nodes. Free Floating Node Creation - Control+Click (as in one Instruction) and Control+Double Click (as in another Instruction) do NOT create this type of Node. You either have to use the Edit Drop-Down Menu, or create your own Short-Cut Key (Thank God for that feature ability - a True Blessing in this mess!) Free Floating Node Child Creation - Menu dependent, at best. Keeping CTRL pressed while choosing Add Connector does not enable the addition of a Label to the Connector Line Scrolling and panning the map - You CANNOT pan the map with Ctrl+Shift+Curcor up/down/left/right. You CAN with a Mouse Wheel for up/down andr Shift+Mouse Wheel left right. Bottom Line... the Freeplane Community should be ashamed of itself. For something like this to exist is the entire Community's fault, not just one individual's. Freeplane is the type of project that gives Open Source a Bad name!! Thanks for stealing a day of my life for nothing! ---------- UPDATE: Dimitry replied with, "If you want me to change anything please use a classic way and report what you believe to be a bug or inproper documentation. Regards. ---------- Dimitry is clearly committed to preventing other Newcomers from having horribleexperiences. (sarcasm)

Its with great disappointment that I am writing this review. Freeplane is an excellent program no doubt, a kind of which is unparalleled. But freeplane developers do not show any consideration for the Open source and Free software community, especially for GNU/Linux. I am seeing this from many years. Freeplane is giving utmost preference to Windows and Mac platforms. Its as if they are being supported by Microsoft or Apple. Why this betrayal with GNU/Linux community. We love Freeplane but you are betraying our love and running after false love towards Microsoft Windows and Apple Mac, even though they don't give a damn about you. Why are you making it so difficult for GNU/Linux users to install Freeplane? The freeplane we get in Software manager is of very old versions. Why do you betray us? Can't you produce binaries for GNU/Linux like that you produce for Windows and Mac. At least can't you give PPA for us to install manually. WHY DO YOU HATE GNU/LINUX? Freeplane should get more than 5 stars, no doubt. But the pain and agony that comes with the feeling of being betrayed again and again has made me give 1 star. In fact I didn't want to give any stars to them.

Un logiciel indispensable. Bien pensé. Ultra efficace.

a) This programm is the fastest I know: I can structure with it, on projected screen, the contents of oral presentations of my students while they speak, to help them visualize the relations of their own ideas. b) it is stable with no equal: I have maps with more than 4000 nodes. Never got stalled, I can't understand how that can happen ;) c) it is highly flexible, you can use different kinds of formats, comments, interconnections, plugins and own keystrokes to customize your own process. I use it since several years for own braining, for understanding readings, for designing working routes, for constructing argumentation paths for articles. And with plugins, even GTDs and so. My learning curve was quite fast, kind of reading instructions... In the forum, I had a problem and the developer reacted in less than 10 minutes with the final solution. simply unsurpassable

It definitely worth to try it, I have been using it to summarize lectures in engineering with several math equations, formated or plane text and raster graphics or even svg inside nodes. I am very impressed for its great usability and quality exporting maps to pdf, latex or images formats.

As time goes on, I keep coming back to this product over and over again. It simply provides flexibility and rapid information management that I haven't been able to find anywhere else. Even in Freemind. This app keeps getting better.

Satisfied.... ;)

Images are not adding at all! Png, svg. So sad :^(. Image adding context menu don't works. It's dead.

Very Powerful - active Development. That's super software

Having tried a coulple of mind-maps programs, I've stuck with freeplane and never looked back (3yrs now)

FreePlane is an excellent MindMapping application. Reliable and easy to use.

Thanks a lot to the developers! One of the most helpful pieces of software ever! My hint for Linux-Users: I had problems with font-rendering on Ubuntu. After installing and activating Oracle JRE (jre-8u66-linux-x64.tar.gz) all looks brilliant.

The mindmap, team really know what they are doing. 1 star will come when inserted photo files will work also after saving those files to O365

I like to work with freeplane very much. I wish I could understand how to work with styles, did not find decent instructions on that. At this moment I'm out: updated to .1.3.15 replaced the older version and now I get the message: "Unable to load Java Runtime Environment".

This is an amazing piece of free software. Incredibly useful, fast and full of useful features. I use it to organise just about everything. Work, trips, information, daily tasks... I keep searching where I can at least buy some beers for the developers