Build it once, reuse it forever!
Save setup time and build a consistent approach to mapping by sharing your custom map markers across different maps and team.
Once you’ve learned how to add, rename, or remove text and icon markers, you’ll quickly realize that it isn’t something that you want to do for every map. Don’t worry though, you don’t have to!
Take a step back and look at the types of maps that you commonly create. Are they meeting maps? project maps? problem solving or strategy maps? If you use the same type of map often, build a template of markers that you can apply to default maps or your map templates.
Follow the steps below to setup reusable marker lists or apply saved lists to maps.
Build Reusable Map Marker Lists
For each type of map (e.g. a status meeting map, project dashboard map, brainstorming map, etc…) setup your ideal combinations of icons and text markers.
Save a New Marker List:
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Setup the markers the way you want them in your map.
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On the Tools tab, in the Templates group, click Map Marker Lists.
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The Template Organizer’s Map Marker Lists tab left side shows the map marker list names and their folders. The right side shows a preview of its contents. Note: text markers get saved but aren’t previewed in the pane.
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If you want to add the new markers list to a specific folder, select it in the folder listing, or use the Folder commands to create a new folder. You can save a map marker list in more than one folder, if desired.
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At the top of the tree listing, click Add New Marker List, and then click From Current Map.
The marker list saves into a file with an .mmms extension which can also be shared with other users too.
Apply a Saved Marker List:
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Open a map.
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On the Tools tab, in the Templates group, click Map Marker Lists.
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Click the name of the list you want to use, and then click Apply.
Go forth and markup your maps! In this series, we’ve covered what markers are, how to apply them, customize them, and reuse your list of markers across multiple maps and users.
Remaining questions about map markers? Let’s keep this dialog going with any remaining questions or comments about Map Markers below! Oh, and if you have ideas about how to improve them, send them in too!
Related posts in this series:
- Map Markers: What are they?
- Map Markers: How to Codify Maps with Icons & Text Markers
- Map Markers: How to Use Markers to Simplify Map Editing
- Map Markers: Focus on What Matters Most
- Map Markers: Power Your Process with Custom Markers (Part 1)
- Map Markers: Power Your Process with Custom Markers (Part 2)
About the Author: Michael Deutch is Mindjet’s Chief Evangelist, content contributor for the Mindjet Blog and the Mindjet Connections newsletter. Get more from Michael on Twitter.
Grant – this technique works with both icon and text markers. I noticed behaviour around resources changes depending on where they’re set up. Try adding all your resources in the Map Markers pane instead of entering them in the Task Info pane. Then save the marker set and apply it to a template.
Johannes – create your ideal map marker set and save them for later reuse. Also, you can save the map as your new default map template. Every time you start a new map, the map markers that you setup will appear.
I want the same set of map markers for all my mindmaps. How do I set the one i created to be the default one? So that every time the program starts, my map markers appear automatic?
Whilst this is helpful in saving general map markers. I am struggling to find out how to save text markers into the template or default maps. Text markers are ideal when identifying resources, but I do not seem to be able to get the saved in a template so that they are there the next time I open up the template.
This is a technique that should also apply to things like your image library, your templates and your map parts. Investing the time in setting this up really pays off when you keep on using them.