Organising your thoughts can take many forms,from simple lists to complex outlines and project management systems. My favourite brainstorming format is mind mapping which gives a very visual overview of ideas and makes planning and remembering much simpler. And for that reason I have long been a devotee of Craig Scott’s iThoughts application for iPad and iPhone. Creating mind maps with iThoughts is extremely easy and the results are visually superb. Synchronisation between iPhone and iPad (iThoughts HD) via Dropbox is rapid and reliable. Up to now, however, there has been a big hole in my workflow: The lack of a complementary Mac application.
There have been workarounds, involving exporting and importing into existing Mac applications, including the creation of outlines in products such as OmniGroup’s Omni Outliner, but this is no substitution for instantaneous synchronisation. Now the problem is solved with the introduction of iThoughtsX from toketaWare, Craig’s little one-man business just outside York. iThoughtsX is almost wholly compatible with iThoughts and iThoughts HD in terms of features, but is fully compatible in terms of synchronisation between all versions.
I have been using iThoughtsX for the past few days and was initially amazed to find all my existing mind maps from the iPad appearing in all their glory on the screen of my MacBook Pro. At last I have a complete system on all platforms that I can rely on. I shall be reviewing the full iThoughts suite in the future when I have gained further experience. However, even on first impressions, I have no hesitation in recommending iThoughtsX to any existing iOS-version owners. And if you have not tried any of Craig’s mind-mapping apps I think you will be delighted. Try out the iPad or iPhone version first and you will get a very quick and easy overview of the capabilities. You now have the confidence to know that once you are hooked you have a ready upgrade to the Mac version.
iThoughtsX is available direct from toketaWare for £39.69. It’s a pretty hefty cost but well worth it if you are devoted to mind mapping.
Read David Sparks’s review before making a decision. David is a long-time iThoughts user and has had the opportunity to try iThoughtsX in beta for the past month. David’s review goes into considerable detail which I have not mentioned here.