Help & Tutorial
From your first node to power user.
Everything ideaBraid can do, in one page. New here? Start at the top. Looking for one thing? Jump straight to it. The single most useful habit: press ⌘K — the command palette runs every command and searches your nodes.
Getting started
1. Install. Download for macOS, Windows, or Linux from the download page. There’s no account and no sign-up — the app opens straight to a new map.
2. Your free trial. Every feature is unlocked for 7 days. After that the app drops to Reader mode — viewing, presenting, and exporting stay free forever, and nothing you made is ever deleted.
3. Make your first map. Double-click the centre node to name it. Press Tab to add a child, Enter to add a sibling. Keep going — that’s a mind map. Prefer a head start? The empty screen offers 9 templates across Planning, Analysis, and Personal.
4. When in doubt, press ⌘K. The command palette lists every command, shows its shortcut, and searches your nodes by name.
Nodes & editing
Build almost entirely from the keyboard. Select a node (single click) and:
| Tab | Add a child node |
| Shift + Tab | Promote — move the node up one level |
| Enter | Edit the selected node (or commit + add a sibling while editing) |
| Type any letter | Replace the selected node’s text |
| Delete / Backspace | Delete the selected node(s) |
| Arrow keys | Move selection to the neighbouring node |
| Shift + Arrow / click | Add nodes to a multi-selection |
| Escape | Clear selection, exit editing, or cancel the current tool |
Mouse. Double-click a node to edit it. Drag a node onto another to re-parent it. Right-click a node for its menu: Add child, Add sibling, Delete, Focus on this branch, Add web link…, and Make it a task. Right-click empty canvas to add a node, sticky note, or table.
While editing text, Enter commits and starts a sibling, Tab commits and starts a child, and Escape just commits. Nodes collapse and expand to hide or reveal their children.
Layouts
The same content, arranged seven ways. Switch instantly from the View menu or the command palette (search “Layout:”) — nothing is redrawn by hand.
Everything flows to the right — the classic mind-map tree.
Balances branches on both sides of the root. Tip: “Move branch to the other side” rebalances a branch by hand.
A hierarchy that reads downward, like an organisation chart.
Lays children out along a horizontal time axis.
An Ishikawa / cause-and-effect diagram.
Branches radiate evenly around the centre.
Drop nodes anywhere. Also turns on automatically when you free-drag a node with the Move tool.
AI features
AI runs on your own key. Map content is sent only when you run a command, and only to the provider you chose — ideaBraid never proxies your prompts.
Set it up once
Open AI settings… (command palette or the AI menu) and choose a provider: Anthropic (Claude), OpenAI, or Ollama (local). For Anthropic or OpenAI, paste an API key — it’s stored in your operating system’s keychain, never in the map file. For Ollama, point to your local server URL and refresh the model list. Hit Test connection to confirm.
The four commands
Turn one goal node into 3–8 actionable subtasks. Accepted items become open tasks.
Suggest child ideas that branch off the selected node.
Add one concise child that summarises the whole subtree.
Type any instruction — e.g. “translate this branch to Spanish” or “find missing topics.”
Every suggestion appears as a ghost preview — accept or reject each one, or accept/reject all at once. Nothing changes your map until you say so.
Tasks · Board · Gantt · Dashboard
Any node can become a task, and the same map renders as a board, a timeline, or a dashboard — no export, no second app. Cycle views with ⌘E or the view switcher.
Make a node a task
From the style bar (or right-click → “Make it a task”), cycle the state: none → open → doing → done. Add a priority (1 highest → 5, click again to clear), a check-back date for reminders, an assignee, and start / due dates (edited in the Gantt view).
A Kanban board with three columns — To do, In progress, Done.
A timeline of start/due dates, with assignees, dependencies, and critical path.
Open / in-progress / done counts, % complete, overdue and unassigned, a burndown, and an Open-items list filtered by All / Today / This week.
Run Map health from the palette to catch loose ends — empty nodes, tasks with no date or owner, a child due after its parent, or unbalanced branches.
Free-form canvas
When structure gets in the way, loosen it. Three tools sit at hand: Select (default), Hand (drag to pan), and Move (drag nodes freely — which switches the map to the freehand layout).
Add a sticky note or a 3×3 table anywhere (add rows and columns as needed). Great for annotations and small data.
“Create relationship…” then click a target node to draw a labelled link across the map (Esc cancels).
Wrap a subtree in a boundary frame to group it visually.
Shapes (rounded, rectangle, pill, diamond, cloud), fill colour, dashed border, bold, italic — or clear it all. Add tags, notes, and a branch summary brace.
Attach an image or a document to a node, or add a web link. Everything travels inside the .mind file.
Toggle rainbow branch colouring and node numbering, and highlight everything sharing a tag.
Pitch mode
Present a map without exporting it. Run Pitch mode (View menu or palette) and the camera glides node to node, starting at the root and following the branches you can see. Collapsed nodes are single slides — their hidden children are skipped.
| → · Space · Enter · PageDown | Next slide |
| ← · PageUp | Previous slide |
| Escape | Exit (advancing past the last slide also exits) |
Export, import & your files
Your files are yours. Maps are saved as .mind files on your disk — an open zip archive, no account and no forced cloud. Save with ⌘S, open with ⌘O.
Never lose work
Saved maps write to disk automatically as you work.
A background journal captures changes every second — even in an untitled map. Reopen after a crash and choose Restore, Discard, or Not now.
Browse and restore earlier states of a map (Save and Auto points). Optionally embed the history inside the file itself.
Replay how a map grew, step by step.
Keep several pages inside one file; an Inbox page collects your quick captures.
Jump to a recent map, browse your library folder, or search across content.
Away from your desk? Quick capture (⌘⇧N) opens a tiny box from anywhere — even when ideaBraid is in the background — and drops the thought into your Inbox page.
License & trial
ideaBraid has three modes. Trial — the first 7 days, every feature unlocked. Editor — a valid license, full editing forever. Reader — after the trial without a license: viewing, presenting, and exporting stay free forever, and your maps are untouched.
Buy a license. Run Buy a license ($59)… to open secure checkout in your browser. You’ll get a license key by email — it covers macOS, Windows, and Linux, includes one year of updates, and there’s an optional $39/year renewal (the app keeps working either way).
Enter your key. Press ⌘K → Enter license key…, paste the whole line, and Activate. Activation needs the internet once; after that the app works fully offline. Questions or a revoked key? support@ideabraid.com.
Themes, templates & links
Four built in — daylight, midnight, plum, and saffron. Apply from the palette (“Theme: …”).
Build your own palette on top of the daylight base, then Save and apply — or Reset to default.
Nine built-in starters (Planning, Analysis, Personal). Turn any map into your own with “Save as template.”
Link maps with [[double brackets]]; the Linked mentions panel shows everything that points back.
A running log of edits — text, nodes created/moved/deleted, task changes, relationships, and more.
A quiet banner tells you when a new version is ready — one click to download and restart.
Keyboard shortcuts
On Windows and Linux, use Ctrl wherever you see ⌘.
| ⌘K | Open the command palette (also searches your nodes) |
| ⌘E | Switch view (map → outline → board → Gantt → dashboard) |
| ⌘Z / ⇧⌘Z | Undo / redo (Ctrl+Y also redoes on Windows) |
| ⌘S | Save the current map |
| ⌘O | Open a .mind file |
| ⌘P | Quick switcher — jump to a recent map or search |
| ⌘⇧N | Quick capture (works even when the app is in the background) |
| ⌘F | Find & replace inside the map |
| Tab | Add a child node |
| Shift + Tab | Promote — move the node up one level |
| Enter | Edit the selected node (or commit + add a sibling while editing) |
| Type any letter | Replace the selected node’s text |
| Delete / Backspace | Delete the selected node(s) |
| Arrow keys | Move selection to the neighbouring node |
| Shift + Arrow / click | Add nodes to a multi-selection |
| Escape | Clear selection, exit editing, or cancel the current tool |
Still stuck?
We’re a small team and reply fast. Email us and we’ll help — or point you to the exact command.