XMindMark is a lightweight markup language for mind mapping inspired by markdown. It is designed to present structures and elements of a mind map easily. And we usually write it by plain text in files which has .xmindmark extension name.
However, if you're not familiar with core concepts of Mind Map yet, you might need:
- Explore and try XMind - the most professional and popular mind mapping tool.
- Or take a glance at Wikipedia about Mind Map.
The first line of XMindMark will be considered as central topic, any empty lines before will be ignored.
Central Topic
You can describe sub-topics by starting a new line with - or *, with at least one space. Like:
Central Topic
- Main Topic 1
- Main Topic 2
Empty lines between sub-topics of the same level will be ignored.
Central Topic
* Main Topic 1
* Main Topic 2
* Main Topic 3
Main Topics (the first level of sub-topic) should have no indent, however, you need apply indent to other sub-topics of deeper level.
NOTE: One Tab (\t) will be treated as Four spaces.
Central Topic
- Main Topic 1
- Main Topic 2
* Subtopic 2.1
* Subtopic 2.2
- Main Topic 3
* Subtopic 3.1
- Subtopic 3.1.1
- Subtopic 3.1.2
* Subtopic 3.2
Floating Topic is not supported yet.
Syntax: [<number>] - This marker symbol indicates a specific Relationship.
First, mark a topic by [<number>], like [1]. The number marker should appeared at the end of the topic content. The number itself makes no sence and do not have to be continuous.
Then append [^<number>] (like [^1]), at the end of the aforesaid topic.
NOTE: Relationship created only when the source topic and target topic have a same <number>
* To topic [1]
* Topic
- From topic [^1]
If you must use [] within topic content, write \[\] instead. (like in Markdown).
Spaces within [] which follows a topic content is NOT allowed.
Write your relationship title content within () after [^<number>]
* To topic [1]
* From topic [^1](Relationship Title)
Syntax: [B<number?>] - This marker symbol indicates a specific boundary. ? means that the number is optional.
Appending [B<number?>] after topic content means that the specific topic will be wrapped by a boundary.
If there are multiple topics continuously at the same level with [B<number?>] followed, respectively, they will be wrapped by the same boundary. Like this:
* topic 1 [B]
* topic 2 [B]
* topic 1 [B1]
* topic 2 [B1]
Both of above example described that two topics will be wrapped by a same boundary.
If there are multiple boundaries in a group of topics at the same level, make sure add numbers after B to diffrentiate every boundary:
- main topic
* topic 1 [B1]
* topic 2 [B1]
* topic 3 [B2]
* topic 4 [B2]
In this example, "topic 1" and "topic 2" will wrapped by a boundary, however "topic 3" and "topic 4" will wrapped by another boundary.
Boundary can also have a title. To do this:
- Perform a separatly line with the same indent depth, after the topic(s) it wrapped.
- Started with
[B]or[B<number>]:and one space, to declare which boundary it points to. - Write your boundary title.
- main topic
* topic 1 [B]
* topic 2 [B]
[B]: Boundary Title
In this example, the boundary wrapped "topic 1" and "topic 2" has title with content "Boundary title"
Boundary with Relationship
We treat boundary title as a normal topic, so you can simply append [<number>] or [^<number>] to boundary title or topic, just like aforesaid.
- main topic
* topic 1 [B]
* topic 2 [B]
[B]: Boundary Title [1]
- main topic [^1]
In this example, we described a relationship connects "main topic" with a boundary which wrapped "topic 1" and "topic 2".
Syntax: [B<number?>] - This marker symbol indicates a specific summary. ? means that the number is optional.
Similar to Boundary, we describe Summary by [S<number?>].
Logically, Summary is also a topic, if you forgot edit title for your summary topic by [S<number?>]: ..., We will create a default topic for you. This will reflected in the XMind file transformed by this XMindMark file.
* topic 1 [S]
* topic 2 [S]
[S]: Summary Topic
* topic 1 [S1]
* topic 2 [S1]
[S1]: Summary Topic
Both of above examples created a summary topic for "topic 1" and "topic 2" with topic content: "Summary Topic"
The difference with Boundary is that Summary topic could have sub-topics of itself:
* topic 1 [S]
* topic 2 [S]
[S]: Summary Topic
- subtopic 1
- subtopic 2
So you can perform Boundary, Relationship with summary topic and it's sub-topics just like other normal topics:
* topic 1 [S]
* topic 2 [S][1]
[S]: Summary Topic[^1]
- subtopic 1 [B]
- subtopic 2 [B]
Every marker symbol of topic must be placed after topic content without any spaces. Like:
Seasons of 2021
- Spring [1]
- Summer [B1]
- Autumn [B1][^1](Cool)[S1]
- Winter [S1]
In the example above, "Summer" and "Autumn" will be wrapped by a boundary, "Autumn" and "Winter" will be wrapped by a summary topic, a relationship will connected "Spring" and "Autumn" with title: "Cool".