MindManager 12 for Mac: Q&A with our VP of Product

If you haven’t heard the good news yet, let me fill you in. A few weeks ago, we launched MindManager 12 for Mac, our most robust and powerful Mac-based product yet. So far, we’ve heard a lot of great feedback from our valued customers, and we’d like to say a big “thank you” to everyone who has taken the time to share their thoughts.

Take a look at our What’s New video to get a sneak peak of what’s available in MindManager 12 for Mac.

To keep the conversation going, I sat down with our VP of Product, Michael Deutch, to hear more about makes MindManager 12 for Mac the most exciting Mac launch yet. Here’s what we had to say.

What’s so exciting about the MindManager 12 for Mac release?

Mac is back! We’ve brought some great new capabilities with this release and some very special features just for Mac users. This release expands on the new features from MindManager 11 for Mac, giving users more control and flexibility that ever before.

What can Mac users expect from this release?

More great capabilities to enhance your productivity, visualize your work and show it off in new ways.

If you love keyboard shortcuts like me, you’ll be thrilled to try out the new Touch Bar capability. This is available for all MindManager users with Touch Bar-equipped MacBooks. A few folks on our team were skeptical of this feature, but I absolutely love it.

The Touch Bar is context-based, meaning the available control options change depending on whether a map is opened or not, if a topic is selected or not, and so on. We’ve exposed our most commonly used features and made them all available with a quick touch, helping you make and edit maps faster and more efficiently than ever before.

Our new themes and match width features will have you jazzing up your maps and sharing them with style. Speaking of sharing, we’ve updated the HTML5 export and publish capabilities to provide intuitive interactive diagrams that now also include filtering capabilities.

But that’s not it, we’ve got more! Read on.

How does it build off of the last Mac version?

This release extends a couple of features that we first released in MindManager 11 for Mac.

First, we’ve extended the Objects and SmartShapes library. These customizable shapes can be used to form entirely new types of diagrams like funnels, matrices, venn diagrams and more. All the shapes are resizable, formattable, and play well with our powerful new feature, SmartRules™, which I’ll explain below.

Beyond laying out a background for new diagram types, these shapes are also useful for creating boundaries in workflow diagrams, business process diagrams and concept maps.

We’ve also extended the task management capabilities to include the tracking of effort against a task and include that effort in the task roll-up capabilities.

What are some of the most exciting new features?

Apart from TouchBar support, which I’ve already talked about, I think the new SmartRules feature is the most exciting addition to MindManager 12 for Mac.

SmartRules allows you to set up triggers within your diagrams that can transform both a topic’s format and its data. For instance, if a topic belongs to a specific branch, you can update its appearance automatically. Or, if you move it or add a topic to a specific shape within a diagram (i.e. part of a matrix or venn diagram), you can update data elements like priority and progress along with its format. Change the fonts, topic shapes, colors, icons, tags automatically with SmarRules!

There are now so many different ways to build intelligence into your maps to ensure consistency and enforce processes within your diagrams. These aren’t just pretty pictures, they’re living documents that visualize your world, highlight changes, support your processes and increase your productivity. Save your SmartRules into the library and reuse them in other diagrams, or build them right into your templates.

How will this release change how Mac users work with MindManager?

We’re in the business of helping people visualize and make sense of their worlds. We’ve expanded the types of diagrams people can create, enhanced how they’re presented and shared, added productivity enhancements to help you diagram faster and more consistently. We’re extremely proud of this release and look forward to continuing to deliver new ways for you to engage with your ideas and data and map out more effective ways to be successful!

How can customers get their hands on MindManager 12 for Mac?

Michael: You can start a free, 30-day trial of MindManager 12 for Mac or purchase an upgrade of your current version in our e-store, from your MindManager account manager or a preferred seller.