Customizing Your Mind Map

Mind Map

> Mind Map How-Tos > Customizing Your Mind Map

Posted by Chelsea Yang | 11/07/2019

Here, the best platform possible for mind map users to realize their creative potential is provided, with all tools needed to customize mind maps.

Though Edraw has included as many examples as possible, some users are really creative when creating maps through Edraw Mind Map and need to customize their mind maps.

Apply Mind Map Themes

The simplest and fastest way to customize your mind maps is to apply one of the preset styles from the Mind Map Theme gallery. There are 10 themes in total for your option. These themes work magic on your mind maps. With just two clicks, a theme automatically enhances color, line style and more, in an instant.

1. Open the Map Theme Gallery from the Mind Map tab.

2. Select the Theme you prefer from the Gallery.

3. To change the color, use the Theme Color palette on Page Layout menu.

Theme Color

4. To change the shape fill pattern, go to Home -> Fill.

5. To change style of certain lines, go to Mind Map -> uncheck Lock Connector -> select target lines -> click Fill on Home menu.

Insert Symbols or Clipart to Customize Mind Maps

Along with the mind map library, the Symbols library also shows after you open Mind Map template.

Click the Symbols title to use the built-in symbols.

Symbols for Customizing Mind Maps

From the Symbols library, drag the symbol you need into the target mind map shape.
Release the mouse when an orange box shows around the shape.

Insert Symbols into Mind Map

Some symbols can be easily edited. You can change their styles as you like. For example, you can change the percentage of Dynamic Progress through the floating action button. As for the Numbers symbol, you can double click it to change the number in it.

Edit Mind Map Symbols

Add Boundaries to Customize Mind Map

In complex mind maps, the mind map itself might get a little messy. To solve this problem, you can add new and fully customizable boundaries around a group of shapes. In this way, your mind map will be more structured and difference between different topics can be clearer just like the following example.

There are many options to achieve this purpose. The first way is to use a predefined shape to cover a group of mind map shapes. Let's take Market Research Mind Map as an example. See how to do it from the illustrations below.

After you fill in all contents in the mind map and format it well, open the library of Basic Flowchart Shapes.

Drag one Display shape to cover one topic and all of its sub topics.

Display Shape

Click Fill on Home menu, choose No Fill. The outline of this shape works as the boundary.

Click Line and select the same color with this Topic shape.

Select the shape and drag the green handles to rotate or resize the outline so that it can contain all shapes of this topic.

Repeat the above steps so that the left three topics are all grouped in distinctive boundaries.

Add Boundary

Another way is to use Pencil Tool. It helps you add free form boundary at your own will.

Go to Symbol menu.
Click Pencil Tool to activate it.
Draw boundaries.
Click Select button to deactivate pencil tool.

To see more detailed explanation of how to use pencil tool, go to Drawing with the Pencil Tool.