Edraw MindMaster Review: Free Mind Map Software for Mac, Windows and Linux

Released in October 2017, Edraw MindMaster suddenly rises as a new force in mind mapping software. At first it was taken as a nobody and now has raised the attention of some well-known mind mappers.The free version has already received good reputation from users all over the world.

Interface

The UI of MindMaster is similar to that of MS Office software, making it easy for beginners to start mind mapping in no time. Besides, different from traditional mind mapping tools that have monotonous skin, MindMaster have three interface themes so that you can switch between white, light gray and dark gray. One more sweet functionality in its UI is that a quick color strip is placed on the canvas so that you can set the fill color and line color for a quick action.

Platform

• Windows: Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 10
• Mac: Mac OS X 10.8 and later
• Linux: Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora

Price

Edraw MindMaster offers a free version and pro version. The free version is powerful enough to meet common demands of mind map users. The pro version offers advanced functionalities for heavy users – export mind maps into editable Word, PPT, Excel and PDF files, generate Gantt Chart from the mind map, set the rainbow color, traverse topics in presentation mode, export and print slides, numerous clip arts, more theme types and hand-drawn style. The pricing plans of Pro version are as follow:

Perpetual License

Subscription

Upgrade protection is provided in subscription term.

$5 for 1 month, $28 for 6 months, $48 for 12 months.

Main Features

Cross-platform

Exciting news came that Edraw MindMaster is not only available for Mac and Windows users but also perfectly compatiable with Linux system. Linux users don’t need to worry about the real effect. It’s totally the same as that in Mac and Windows.

Abundant Built-in Resources

It has to be mentioned that Edraw MindMaster Pro offers massive fine built-in vector templates and clip arts covering various fields such as animal, business, education, fashion, festival, food, nature, people, social life, media,  sports technology, transportation and social life etc. These premade clip arts save you much time searching the Internet for stitable visual elements. Mindmap beginners can make full use of these resources to gain inspirations and mapping skills in layout and color matching.

Advanced Presentation Modes

The functionality of auto-creating slides in one click is convenient for users who are not good at making slides and save them much time. This software auto-creates slides by disassembling your mind map into separate branches. If you hope to display the whole picture at any time, you can choose the traverse presentation mode to highlight certain parts- either traverse topics or traverse branches.

Professional Gantt View

For people in the role of project planning and task management, Gantt chart is a necessary and essential tool in displaying the work breakdown structure. With Edraw MindMaster, after adding tasks in a mind map, you can switch to Gantt view to track task progress. Task information is also editable in Gantt mode.

Pros & Cons

Pros

• Perfectly compatible with Mac, Windows, and Linux.
• Massive fine built-in mind map templates and clip art libraries.
• Offer free version.
• Import files of MindManager and Xmind.
• Nice options in theme, design, and presentation.

Cons

• Can’t grab the map  (using the mouse) to move it around as a means of navigating the content.
• Not available for mobile devices.

I went for the trial of one month and has now been using the versatile Pro version in life planning, project management, and decision making. Guess whether it will become a big player in the mind map software market. Obviously, it’s very early days, and only time will tell!

Resource from http://www.mindmapsoft.com/edraw-mindmaster-review/