As I do every year, I am taking this week to relax, recharge, and ski with friends. While I’m away I will be re-running the most popular posts of the year. This was one of the most popular posts in March, 2015.

Some students prefer to see ideas organized in an outline style while others see large concepts better when they’re in a mind map format. Text 2 Mind Map and MindMeister’s Google Docs Add-on bridge the gap between the outline format and the mind map format. Both tools allow you to type an outline then see that outline turned into a mind map.

To create a mind map on Text 2 Mind Map type out an outline in the text box. After typing your outline click “draw mind map” to have your mind map created for you. If after creating your mind map you need to add more elements to just add them into your outline and click “draw mind map” again. Your mind map can be downloaded as a PDF or PNG file. The mind maps that you create on Text 2 Mind Map can also be shared via email, Facebook, or Twitter.

To create a mind map with MindMeister’s Google Docs Add-on create a bullet point list in your document. Highlight your list then select the MindMeister Add-on and click “insert as mind map.” A mind map will then be generated based on your list. There are a couple of tips to note about MindMeister’s Add-on. First, you cannot edit the position of cells in the mind map. Second, you must use bullet points or number lists generated by the list menus in Google Docs. I tried just selecting a list without the bullet points and MindMeister didn’t create a mind map for me.