When I heard that
Matchware was releasing MindView 6, I was excited to find out its new feature set and how it would help me to do my work. For the past several years I have been using MindView 5 to craft my very structured consulting reports that I deliver to the schools that I work with. Over the years I have developed some templates that really have helped me to communicate ideas in a very clear fashion. One of the chief reasons that I go back to MindView time and time again is because I have always found that MindView has some of the best Microsoft Office integration when exporting mind maps to Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
The timing of the release for MindView 6 could not have been any better for me since I needed to complete a Request for a Proposal (RFP) for an assistive technology grant that the state was offering. I decided that I would test out the capabilities of this version by using MindView 6 to write up the proposal and estimate the costs for the proposed project. MindView 6 has a much cleaner look and
now adheres to the user interface conventions set forth by Microsoft. Users of previous versions will feel right at home using MindView 6 since the Ribbon structure has not been changed. When I am developing an RFP, I really like the ability to brainstorm ideas and what better way to do but in a mind map. Using MindView 6, I can get all my ideas down quickly and then begin to organize my ideas and activities. Moving ideas around MindView 6 is fast and intuitive and the interface shows you exactly where your idea will land-no guess work here. Once I had roughed out my ideas I was able to attach notes to my activities which would become the body of my RFP. The interface of MindView 6 to create notes feels as if you are in a mini version of Word, complete with a full array of formatting tools at your disposal.
One of the requirements of any grant is to spell out the costs and this is an area that you would not normally think of using a mind map for but in the case of MindView 6 you would be wrong. MindView 6 has powerful calculation features which
enables the user to create formulas that automatically update throughout the mind map. The ability to see your costs roll up on any activity in
the mind map works really well and it lets you do what if's in real time. Using the SUM feature you can easily roll up cost for a particular activity and see the impact it has on the overall estimate for the grant. In MindView 6, like
it's predecessor, there is a Calculation panel that lets you create items, cost and formulas. Once you get the hang of it you will find this a handy feature when you need to work with numbers
inside your mind map. With the release of MindView 6 you can now enter and edit
numbers directly on the item itself without the need to go into the Calculation
Panel which saved me and inordinate amount of time. It is now easier
then ever to set currency defaults-which saved me some time as well. While there were
certainly a large number of improvements and features in MindView 6 most users will find them to be very subtle and well integrated into the application without feeling overwhelmed by feature creep. Once I had entered all my costs into the mind map I was able to export the
financials into a well formatted Excel report that I could attach to the RFP. Hopefully, if I am successful and receive the grant I will be able to monitor the activities in the project management side of this application.
All in
all my experience with MindView 6 was very positive in future posts, I will highlight some of the features that would make this an ideal tool for students.
I want to thank the folks at
MatchWare for providing me a copy of MindVirew 6 so that I could do the review.
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