AnyTool
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How do I make a mind map?

Open AnyTool Mind Map Tool and you get a central topic with a few branches already on the canvas. Select a node and press Tab to add a child or Enter to add a sibling, then type — hit Enter and keep going, so you can build the whole map from the keyboard. Double-click or press F2 to rename a node, Delete to remove it and its subtree, the arrow keys to walk the tree, and Space to collapse or expand a branch. The layout arranges itself as a tidy horizontal tree with curved connectors, you pan by dragging the empty canvas and zoom with the scroll wheel, pinch or the Fit button, and on-screen buttons add or delete nodes so it works on a phone too. The whole map is saved automatically in this browser’s localStorage, and you can export it as a PNG image, an SVG vector, a JSON file (re-import any time) or a Markdown outline — everything runs 100% in your browser, nothing is uploaded.

  • Central root topic, then add child (Tab) and sibling (Enter) nodes; edit inline with F2 or a double-click
  • Auto tidy-tree layout to the right with curved bézier connectors tinted per branch; collapse/expand any branch
  • Pan by dragging the canvas, zoom by scroll / pinch / Fit; arrow keys navigate; eight node colours
  • Export PNG, SVG, JSON and a Markdown outline; import JSON to restore — 100% client-side
  • Saved locally in your browser; honest limits — a single-device map with no cloud sync or live collaboration

What is

Mind map

A mind map is a diagram that organises ideas around a central topic, with branches radiating out to related sub-topics that themselves branch further — a visual tree that mirrors how thoughts associate, used for brainstorming, note-taking, planning and study. Each node holds a short label; lines (often curved and colour-coded) connect a parent to its children, and collapsing a branch hides its detail so the big picture stays readable. AnyTool’s Mind Map Tool is a 100% client-side, keyboard-friendly mind-map canvas: a tree model with a root and child/sibling nodes, an automatic tidy-tree layout with bézier connectors, pan-and-zoom, and PNG/SVG/JSON/Markdown export, saved to your browser’s localStorage.

Generators

Related terms

BrainstormingConcept mapOutlineTree diagramNodeBranchRoot topic

Frequently Asked Questions

It is saved only in your browser’s localStorage and never uploaded — there is no account, server or tracking, so it stays completely private to this browser.

AnyTool Mind Map Tool is 100% client-side. The whole map — every node, its text, colour, collapsed state and parent-child links — is stored in your browser’s localStorage and is never sent to any server. There is no sign-up, no login and no analytics, and the tool keeps working offline once the page is cached. Because the data lives only in your browser, clearing your browsing data or switching to a different browser or device removes it, so use Export to download a JSON backup (or a PNG, SVG or Markdown outline) you can keep and re-import any time.

Tab adds a child, Enter adds a sibling, F2 or a double-click edits, Delete removes a node and its subtree, the arrow keys navigate, and Space collapses or expands a branch.

The map is built to be driven from the keyboard, following the convention used by Xmind, MindMup and MindMeister. With a node selected: Tab adds a child and Enter adds a sibling (both drop you straight into editing), F2 or a double-click renames the node, and Delete or Backspace removes it together with its whole subtree (the central topic can’t be deleted). The arrow keys move the selection — left to the parent, right to the first child, up and down to the previous and next sibling — Space toggles a branch collapsed or expanded, and Escape cancels an edit or clears the selection. Toolbar buttons mirror every action so the tool also works entirely by mouse or touch on a phone.

Nodes are placed automatically as a tidy horizontal tree — depth sets the x and an in-order leaf walk sets the y — with curved connectors; collapsing a branch hides its subtree and reclaims the space.

You never position nodes by hand. A classic tidy-tree algorithm computes every node’s spot: its horizontal position comes from its depth in the tree, and its vertical position comes from an in-order walk that gives each visible leaf the next free row and centres every parent on its children, so siblings never overlap. Parent-to-child connectors are drawn as smooth cubic-bézier curves tinted with the child branch’s colour. Collapsing a branch removes its subtree from the layout walk, so the surrounding nodes immediately close the gap — handy for keeping a large map readable. The layout recomputes on every change, and a Fit button scales and centres the whole map in view.

Use Export to download a PNG image, an SVG vector, a JSON file or a Markdown outline, and Import to load a JSON file back on any browser or device.

Because the map is a personal, single-device tool with no cloud sync, exporting is how you back it up, share it or move it. PNG export renders the canvas to an image with html2canvas so you can drop it into a deck, doc or email; SVG export hand-builds a crisp, theme-independent vector of the whole tree; JSON export downloads the entire model — title, root and every node — as a formatted file that Import reads back, validating and migrating the data so an older or hand-edited file still loads safely; and the Markdown outline turns the tree into nested bullets for notes or docs. Keep an exported JSON backup so a cleared cache or a switched browser never loses your work, and use the same files to carry a map to another device.

Detailed Explanation

Methodology

The Tree Model and Tidy-Tree Auto-Layout

AnyTool Mind Map Tool keeps a single map object as its source of truth: a title, a rootId, and a nodes record mapping each id to a node with text, a colour key, a collapsed flag and an ordered array of child ids — a tree expressed as an id→node map. Positions are never stored; they are derived by a pure tidy-tree layout recomputed on every change. A post-order walk assigns each visible leaf the next free row (× a fixed row gap) and gives every parent the average y of its visible children, while a node’s x is simply its depth × a fixed level gap, producing a horizontal tree that grows to the right with siblings that never overlap and parents centred on their subtrees. A collapsed node contributes nothing to the walk, so hiding a branch instantly reclaims its vertical space. The drawing is then normalised into a positive coordinate space with a margin, and each parent-to-child link is rendered as a cubic-bézier connector tinted with the child branch’s colour.

  • Map = title + rootId + nodes record (id → { text, color, collapsed, children[] }); positions are derived, not stored
  • x = depth × level gap; y from a post-order walk: leaves take the next row, parents centre on visible children
  • Collapsed branches are excluded from the walk, so hiding a branch reclaims space immediately
  • Connectors are cubic-bézier curves from a parent’s right edge to a child’s left edge, tinted per branch
  • Layout is pure and recomputed (useMemo) on every change; a Fit button scales the whole map to the viewport
How It Works

Keyboard-First Editing, Navigation and Collapsing

The canvas is built to be driven from the keyboard following the convention shared by Xmind, MindMup and MindMeister. With a node selected, Tab adds a child and Enter adds a sibling — both create the node and drop straight into an inline text editor — F2 or a double-click renames a node, and Delete or Backspace removes the selection together with its entire subtree (the root cannot be deleted). The arrow keys navigate the tree: Left selects the parent, Right the first visible child, and Up/Down the previous/next sibling (falling back to the nearest node by laid-out y when there is none). Space toggles a branch collapsed or expanded and Escape cancels an edit or clears the selection. Every keyboard action is mirrored by a toolbar button, and a small collapse/expand control sits on each parent node, so the tool is equally usable by mouse or touch; pan is a drag of the empty canvas and zoom is the scroll wheel, a pinch gesture or +/−/Fit buttons.

  • Tab = add child, Enter = add sibling, F2 / double-click = edit, Delete = remove node + subtree
  • Arrow keys navigate: Left → parent, Right → first child, Up/Down → previous/next sibling
  • Space collapses/expands a branch; Escape cancels an edit or deselects; the root can’t be deleted
  • Every shortcut has a toolbar-button equivalent, so it works fully by mouse or touch
  • Pan = drag the empty canvas; zoom = scroll / pinch / +/−/Fit, zooming toward the cursor
Privacy & Security

Local Storage, Four Exports and Honest Limits

Everything runs locally in the browser with no account, server or tracking. The whole map is serialised to localStorage on every change, so it survives a refresh and works offline once the page is cached — nothing is ever uploaded. There are four exports: a PNG of the canvas via html2canvas (lazy-loaded only on click, rendered at the untransformed natural size for a crisp image), a hand-built standalone SVG vector of the entire tree, a full-fidelity JSON of the model, and an indented Markdown outline of the node text. Import validates and migrates a JSON file — defaulting unknown colours, dropping child ids that point at missing nodes, and pruning anything unreachable from the root so an orphan or accidental cycle can’t corrupt the tree — before replacing the map. Honestly, this is a personal, single-device map: there is no cloud sync, no shared link and no real-time collaboration, and because the auto-layout owns positioning, nodes snap to their computed spots rather than staying wherever they are dragged. Very large maps can get dense, so collapsing unused branches keeps them readable, and because clearing browsing data erases the map, keeping an exported backup is recommended; resetting to the starter example asks for confirmation first.

Mind Map Tool: in-browser (AnyTool) vs typical online mind-map apps
CapabilityAnyToolTypical online mind-map apps
Where it runs100% in your browser, nothing uploadedHosted — map stored on a server
AccountNone — open and useUsually sign-up / login required
Child & sibling nodesTab / Enter, fully keyboard-drivenYes
Auto-layoutTidy horizontal tree with curved connectorsYes
Collapse / expand branchesYes, space reclaimed instantlyYes
Pan & zoomDrag to pan, scroll / pinch to zoomYes
Export / backupPNG + SVG + JSON + Markdown outline; import JSONCloud sync; export sometimes paid
CollaborationNo (single-device, export to share)Often real-time (paid plans)
PrivacyMap only in localStorageData held in the vendor cloud

AnyTool runs the whole canvas locally and uploads nothing; it is a private, single-device map with PNG/SVG/JSON/Markdown export rather than a synced, collaborative service.