MindView lets you enter task and time-related information on any of the branches of your mind map in order to create different types of documents, such as timelines, task lists and project plans. MindView lets you enter task and time-related information on any of the branches of your mind map in order to create different types of documents, such as timelines, task lists and project plans.
This topic explains how to enter task data on the branches of your document to create a simple task list or a project plan. For information about entering time data for a timeline, see "Inserting timeline data".
Although you can also enter task data directly in other views such as the Outline view (task lists and project plans) and the Gantt view (project plans only), the Task/Timeline panel described here allows you to enter task data on your branches while brainstorming your document in one of the standard Mind Mapping views.
Click the Task/Timeline tab on the right of the workspace or choose View | Show/Hide | Panels | Task/Timeline Panel to open the panel.
Make sure the document type is set to Task Management.
Select a branch for which you want to add task data.
(optional) Enter a Start date.
(optional) Enter an End date.
(optional) Choose a Priority level.
(optional) Choose a percentage value to indicate how far the task has progressed to Completion.
(optional) Assign Resources to the task by typing their names separated by semi-colons.
You can also click the Resources button to the right of the field to open the Task Resources dialog. See "Assigning resources" in the "Gantt view" chapter for details about using this dialog and information on how to create a global resources list.
Repeat the procedure to add task data to other branches.
(optional) To display, directly on the branches of the mind map, the task data you just entered, choose View | Data | Show Branch Data 
(or right-click the workspace and choose Show Branch Data) and check the fields you want to see in the sub-menu.
You can hide or show the fields on individual branches with the Show Branch Data icon of the Format tab (or the Show Branch Data option in the branch local menu).
It is also possible to format the task data displayed on the map in different ways. For more information, see "Formatting a branch".
You can delete the time information inserted on a branch at any time by selecting it and clicking the Delete Times button.
Once you have finished brainstorming your task list, you can display it in grid format in the Outline view for a better overview and faster editing. You can also obtain a chronological display of the tasks along a horizontal axis by switching to the Timeline view. See "Using the Outline view" and "Using the Timeline view" for more information on these two views.
You can also import an existing task list from Microsoft Outlook or export your task list to it, as well as synchronize different versions of the same task list stored in both programs.
For more information on the procedures involved, see "Exporting to Microsoft Outlook" and "Importing from Microsoft Outlook".
A project plan is a series of interdependent tasks that need to be performed in a particular order.
The MindView Gantt view is dedicated to the creation, editing and management of project plans according to the rules of project management. It is the best view to use when working on a project plan, since it allows you to visualize immediately the consequences on the overall plan of any changes you make.
There are two important differences between the way in which MindView handles a simple task list and the way in which it handles a project plan:
In a project plan, all parent branches become summary tasks. The start dates, end dates and durations of summary tasks are calculated automatically from their sub-tasks and cannot be edited.
In a project plan, tasks are only scheduled during working time, as defined by the project and resources calendars.
For a full description of the Gantt view, including how to set up, create and manage a project plan, see "Using the Gantt view" and the topics that follow it in the "Gantt view" chapter.
The Task/Timeline panel described here gives you an alternative way of viewing and editing the information associated with the tasks of your project plan. It is useful if you want to brainstorm your project plan in one of the standard Mind Mapping views rather than using the Gantt view. Once you have finished brainstorming, switching to the Gantt view will enable you to take advantage of the full capabilities of the project management features offered by MindView.
Click the Task/Timeline tab on the right of the workspace or choose View | Show/Hide | Panels | Task/Timeline Panel to open the panel.
If you are creating a new project plan, make sure the document type is set to Project Management.
Select a branch for which you want to add task data.
(optional) Enter a Duration, using the drop-down list on the right to choose between different duration types (minutes, hours, days, weeks, months).
For detailed information about the different ways of entering a duration and how MindView uses this value to schedule tasks in a project plan, refer to the paragraph "Entering a task duration" in "Entering and editing tasks" (Gantt view).
Although you can add start dates and end dates to your project tasks, it is not recommended unless you understand the implications of doing so. It is normally better to let MindView calculate the start and end dates of the tasks automatically with reference to the project start date, the task durations, and the task links that you might have set up in the Gantt view. For detailed information about how MindView handles start and end dates in a project plan, refer to the paragraph "Specifying start and end dates" in "Entering and editing tasks" (Gantt view).
(optional) Choose a Priority level.
(optional) Choose a percentage value to indicate how far the task has progressed to Completion.
(optional) Assign Resources to the task by typing their names separated by semi-colons.
You can also click the Resources button to the right of the field to open the Task Resources dialog. See "Assigning resources" (Gantt view) for details about using this dialog and information on how to create a global resources list.
Repeat the procedure to add task data to other branches.
(optional) To display, directly on the branches of the mind map, the task data you just entered, choose View | Data | Show Branch Data (or right-click the workspace and choose Show Branch Data) and check the fields you want to see in the sub-menu.
You can hide or show the fields on individual branches with the Show Branch Data icon of the Format tab (or the Show Branch Data option in the branch local menu).
It is also possible to format the task data displayed on the map in different ways. For more information, see "Formatting a branch".
MindView lets you export your project plans to Microsoft Project for further work. You can also import existing Microsoft Project plans into the Gantt view, directly from Microsoft Project or via the Microsoft Project XML format.
For more information on exporting and importing directly from Microsoft Project, see "Exporting to Microsoft Project" and "Importing from Microsoft Project". For the export and import options using the XML format, see "Exporting to XML" and "Importing from XML".