Ways to integrate Excel with MindManager

Why export a mind map into Excel? That's what we asked when we did a "what do you use it for?" check on a few of the 10,000+ people who use our previous version of Excel Add-in for MindManager.

Our customers continue to astound us with creative ideas ways of using MindManager and Export to Excel.

Here's a sampling of 4 intriguing recipes for using it:

Instant estimates for purchases

1. Use MindManager to brainstorm every component of something you need to buy...for example, let's say you want to build an IKEA kitchen, you first brainstorm every cabinet you need

2. Fill in the price in the resource field in MindManager for every item you want to purchase

3. Export-to-Excel and SUM the resources column, or... SUM only each specific groupings and you've got an instant estimate!

Total cost of project in 3 steps

1. Brainstorm every task in MindManager, then put the price of each task per hour in the resources column. 

2. In Excel, use Find and Replace to remove the word " hour(s)", then multiply duration column by resource column (for example =F2*G2), and place that in the next column I...

3. Finally, Sum Column I... and you've got the cost of the project!

For example, consider this design phase ...

Sort the Day's Priorities

1. Brainstorm everything you need to do,

2. Export to Excel, in Advanced and turn off "Outline Branches"

3. In Excel Delete rows 1 and 2.

4. Use Excel Data Sort to put the important tasks on top.

In Excel:

"Instant" Project Status Board

This one is too clever!

1. Use MindManager to keep track of project status of all tasks. Use Priority #1, 3 or 4 (which happen to be RED, GREEN or YELLOW)...to indicate severity of delay in task.

2. Once a day, Export to Excel, in Advanced and turn off "Outline Branches", then use Find and Replace to remove the numbers 1, 3 and 4 from the priority column!

3. In Excel, Save as Web Page to your company web site.

4. You have... a status sheet Green = On time, Red = Critical, Yellow = Delayed!