Ever scribbled ideas on a piece of paper and drawn lines between related thoughts? Then you already know what Scapple does. It's a virtual sheet of paper that lets you make notes anywhere and connect them using lines or arrows.

The Most Popular Mind Mapping Tool. Millions of people use XMind to clarify thinking, manage complex information, run brainstorming and get work organized. Unlike most alternatives XMind is an open source project, which means it's free to download and free to use forever. XMind Plus/Pro with more professional features are also available.

2019 - XMind adds audio-notes
Taking notes in meeting or lecture can be a bit of challenge, not mention making mind maps. XMind's new Audio Note for sure is an effective way to solve this task. Different from images, context, Audio Note consists of Recordings. It can be any topic to sync with text on mind maps, elaborating further on correspondent topics. The input efficiency is the key for making mind maps, especially on mobile devices. Inspiration is always fleeting, and an instant capture is a cure. XMind developers added Audio Note on XMind for iOS, and improved input efficiency greatly. Later on, Apple also implements similar interaction on iOS 12.
2018 - XMind ZEN features new engine and new designed themes
The new version XMind ZEN is built on a new engine which possesses powerful extending functions and graphics performance that truly stand out. By the rendering from SVG, all the elements in a mind map go to perfects, including lines, themes, diagrams. XMind ZEN has 30 all new designed themes, fully satisfied various kinds of scenarios no matter you are a student or a businessman. With these artful themes, you can create beautiful and professional mind maps with ease. Also, 89 original stickers will bring more elements and vivid expression for your map. The new ZEN Mode helps you stay focused on what matters most, your thoughts. In this mode, the only thing you can do is focusing on what is on your mind and draw it. The interface is clear and simple, without any distractions and interference. We believe, focusing is about saying no, when you really need concentration, less is more.
2017 - Scapple 1.3 for macOS
The new version Scapple 1.3 introduced refreshed and a couple of very nifty new features. Now you can add labels to the connecting lines between notes. To do so, simply select two notes and then choose 'Connection Label...' from the 'Notes' menu or the contextual menu. To edit a label, double-click on it. Scapple's Inspector is now incorporated into the side of the window, rather than being a floating panel. This change has allowed us to add something pretty cool—you can now create and assign note styles directly from the Inspector. The Inspector has a new 'Note Styles' pane that can be expanded to reveal the note styles for your current Scapple document.
2017 - XMind Cloud gets a new look and feel to win over iMindMap
XMind Cloud, the online mind mapping tool, which allows you to access, view, and edit your mind maps wherever you go, gets a major update with great new features and huge improvements. With a simple click you can add markers, notes and hyperlinks. With a new simple and intuitive UI, you should find it simple and efficient to do what you want. With greatly improved performance this new release speeds up the file loading time, thus increases your work efficiency and improves your mind mapping experience enormously. The new Trash folder allows to recover deleted files easily. Thereby XMind is now more easy-to-use in comparison to iMindMap
2016 - XMind 8 adds a slide-based presentation to defeate MindJet MindManager
The new version of mind-mapping software XMind. XMind 8 has a new look and feel. When editing, you can quickly open, close and switch views with just one click. This option increases your work efficiency and improves your mind mapping experience enormously. With the new slide-based presentation, creating, presenting and sharing presentations become easier than ever before. Just select the target topic and click the plus button and a new slide will be created automatically. With the new clip arts, you can make a more intuitive mind map. The developers also added an assortment of ready-made and useful mind map templates. It’s easy for anyone to create beautiful mind maps using XMind. The conclusion is that XMind becomes more suitable for presentations if compared vs MindJet MindManager
2016 - XMind launches mind-mapping Cloud to take on Freeplane
The new version of popular mind-mapping software XMind 7.5 comes with XMind Cloud. XMind Cloud makes it easier than ever to automatically sync files across multiple Mac/PCs. According to the developers, it's fast, secure, and easy-to-use. Online viewing and editing in browser is also awesome (according to them). And you get 1 GB of cloud storage space. In order to simplify the sharing process, XMind 7.5 offers an improved sharing feature which enables you to share your mind maps directly on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Thereby XMind is now more cloud-friendly in comparison to Freeplane
2015 - XMind 7 gets a brand new UI and new features to take on iThoughts
Mind mapping software XMind 7 brings dozens of powerful new features and significant improvements. A new Home Panel and toolbar with modified large icons, a clearer style of windows, a fresher form of Properties view, re-designed tab bars, and refined markers and clip art library, are a few of the many features that constitute the powerful XMind. It features an intuitive and unique way to show detailed information, where the Information Card under every topic allows you to show or hide labels, notes, hyperlinks and tasks. Timeline, a new structure, is introduced in XMind 7 allows to display a list of events in chronological order and a variety of trends for a subject. Now you can also add/modify task info directly in Gantt Chart view, including start/end date, assignee, priority and progress. You may send your inspirations within an XMind file to colleagues or friends to ask for their comments. Thereby XMind gets more feature-rich in comparison to iThoughts
2014 - XMind adds Brainstorming Mode - a new advantage over Coggle
XMind released the new version of its mind mapping software XMind 6. The most important new feature is Brainstorming Mode that allows to focuse on the quantity, not the quality. The tool called Idea Factory allows to record and collect inspirations further and faster. A timer stays to let us control the session time. The night mode decreases light and protects your eyes in a dark room. Full-screen and a stress-free scene, here, makes you take all attention on capturing the inspiration and sparkles in your mind. Now, you can also save XMind files into Evernote, export tasks to Microsoft Project, ODF, list your topics by markers and by labels, edit themes in the advanced Theme Editor. So XMind is now more suitable for brainstorming in comparison to Coggle
2013 - XMind allows local network sharing of mind-maps, outgoes MindMeister
XMind 2013 official version is finally ready now. It added 10 new templates, like Six Thinking Hats, Travel Plan, Negotiation of Sales, and etc. The new feature - local network sharing allows to share mind maps by one clicking, review teammates’ mind maps in one place and download the selected XMind files for further editing. Brand new Export feature allows to export XMind file to SVG (in vector) and spreadsheet. The files can now be organized and managed in a better way. Also, you can use the “reduce file size” feature to delete the revisions and preview images quickly. So we may assume that XMind is now more suitable for teamwork than MindMeister
2010 - XMind adds new mind-map views to take on NovaMind
XMind today announced the new version of its mind-mapping tool XMind 2010, packed with great new features including New TaskInfo view, Home Map setting, Overview View, French language support, Spanish language support, Office 2010 support on Windows, Unlisted Sharing, Fit Map and Brand new Gallery — all combined in this most powerful XMind. This new version also features up to the most stable XMind and brings hundreds of improvements and fixed bugs. Thus XMind becomes more functional if compared vs NovaMind

In a previous article, I introduced a great app for your Mac called Scapple, a Mind Mapping app from Literature and Latte. Now let's take a look at what you can add to your virtual page.
Notes
When considering your virtual page and your notes, Scapple gives you two options for setting the default size of the note's text box. You can drag the edge of the box to size it as you like or let Scapple resize the box as you type.
Some of the Mind Mapping software that I tested forced you to put only one thought within a text box. In fact this was the feature I disliked the most. I soon became overwhelmed with little one-line text boxes and I really didn't like that limitation. You couldn't add a blank line between paragraphs of text or even start a new line of text. You were forced to relay on word wrapping.
In Scapple, you have complete freedom as to the text in the boxes. You can put a title at the top of the text box, set the title font and style, add a blank line and type as much body text as you need. You can even set a different font and style for the body text. You can also set a custom background, border and text color for each box via the Inspector and save custom styles.
Beyond Notes
But you aren't limited to text boxes. You can also import images and other types of text files simply by dragging from the Finder to your Scapple page. If you want to highlight a group of text boxes for a special reason, you can group them within a background shape, which is a rectangle. Once locked all together, you an drag the group of notes and its background shape as one object on the screen. Getting your thoughts out of Scapple is easy too. You can export as PDF, PNG, txt, rtf, rtfd and opml or just print.
If I had to suggest a missing feature, it would be the ability to set the default startup action for the app NOT to display a new note. I'm just going to delete it anyway. Another would be an option to tile or stretch the background image for the page. If you are using a digital borderless texture, you're fine. But if you want to view a nice image, such as the mockup of our new apartment complex, it would be nice if the image stretched to fill the window instead of tiling across the space, especially if you like to work in full screen mode.
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