Notes and media

A topic is a few words. Anything longer goes in a note. Pictures, icons and links hang off topics too. Everything on this page is free.

Notes, written in Markdown

Select a topic, tap ⋯, then Note. The note opens full screen with a formatting bar above the keyboard: headings, bold, bullets, checkboxes, code and images. You can type the Markdown yourself too. While you type, headings grow, bold turns bold and code switches to a monospace font. The symbols stay visible but greyed out, so you can always see what you wrote.

Switch to Preview to read the note formatted, with tables, quotes, code blocks, checklists and links you can tap. A note that already has text opens in Preview. Tap a checkbox in Preview and the note’s text updates to match.

A topic with a note shows a small badge. Tap the badge to open the note.

On a tablet there is room for Note, Image and Icon on the toolbar itself, so you can usually skip the ⋯.

Notes on a tablet

The note opens in a panel beside the map, and follows whichever topic you tap next. Expand it to full screen to put the editor and the preview side by side. With a keyboard attached, ⌘B, ⌘I and ⌘K format the text, and ⌘E switches between Edit and Preview.

Notes save as you type, including when you swipe the note away or leave the app. Closing a note makes the whole session one step in the map’s undo, so you can take back an entire edit in one go.

Where notes go

• Search looks inside notes as well as topics.
• Presentation shows a topic’s note, formatted, on a card below the map.
• Markdown and OPML exports keep the note exactly as you wrote it. An OPML file imported back gives you the same note, character for character.
• HTML export shows the note formatted. PDF export shows the text without the Markdown symbols.

Pictures in notes

Tap Image on the note’s formatting bar to add a photo from your library or take a new one. Large photos are scaled down to 2048 pixels on the long side before they are stored. Tap a picture in Preview to open it full screen and pinch to zoom.

Pictures are stored in the app, not linked from somewhere else. That means they travel with backups, with maps you share as a Smart Mind file, and with sync. A web address in a note is shown as a placeholder and never downloaded.

Pictures on topics

A topic can also carry a picture of its own, drawn right on the map. Select a topic, tap ⋯ → Image, then choose from your library or take a photo. Drag the Size slider to make it bigger or smaller, or remove it again from the same place.

Icons and emoji

Select a topic and tap ⋯ → Icon to put emoji or symbols in front of its text. Tap one again to take it off, or Clear to remove them all. They work well as markers: priority, status, or who a task belongs to.

Web links

⋯ → Add a web link attaches an address to a topic, and a link badge appears on it. Tap the badge to open the page in your browser. You can leave out https:// and the app adds it for you.

Related

• Add notes and images: step by step
• Share and export: what happens to notes in each format