Enhance Your Microsoft Office

Productivity With Mindjet MindManager

Table of Contents

Introduction 1
Your Microsoft Office Hub 2
Microsoft Office Integration Overview 2
Export Capabilities, In Brief 2
Import Capabilities, In Brief 3
A Note on Filters (How to Exclude Map Topics from Export) 3
Excel/Mindjet MindManager Integration 4
Features 4
Benefits 5
Outlook/Mindjet MindManager Integration 5
Features 5
Benefits 6
PowerPoint/Mindjet MindManager Integration 6
Features 6
Manual or Automatic Slide Generation 6
Preview and Format Capabilities 7
Benefits 7
Project/Mindjet MindManager Integration 7
Features 7
Export Map Content 8
Import Project Data 8
Benefits 8
Visio/Mindjet MindManager Integration 8
Features 8
Exporting to a Visio Org Chart 8
Exporting to a Visio Flowchart 9
Benefits 9
Word/Mindjet MindManager Integration 9
Features 9
Export Map Content 10
Import Word Text 10
Benefits 10
Beyond Microsoft Office: Working with Microsoft SharePoint 11
Summary 12
Introduction
This white paper describes how Mindjet® MindManager® business mapping software seamlessly integrates with
Microsoft® Office®, the world's pre-eminent business productivity toolset, to boost individual and enterprise
productivity1. In short: here we explain how Mindjet MindManager functions as a special “hub” that both
complements and helps unleash Microsoft Office software's full productivity capabilities.

With employee productivity rates at record levels and still rising, it may be surprising to learn the typical
organization's knowledge workers devote about one-third of their time to searching for and retrieving information.2
Instead of getting things done, they're spending hours each day re-keying, copying, cutting, and pasting content;
scanning their email folder; probing file directories; switching between various programs and the like.

A more subtle, but no less pervasive, obstacle to productivity is the fundamentally counter-productive nature of
business productivity software itself. Far from supporting the way most people think—visually and non-linearly—
these programs straightjacket users with non-intuitive, multi-tiered, and sequential operating methodologies. (In
fairness, nearly all modern software imposes these unnecessary constraints, not just business productivity software.)

Perhaps modern productivity software's greatest weakness, however, is its propensity to create information and
process silos wherever it is used. Despite the widespread use of extremely refined, wholly interoperable suites of
productivity software, such as Microsoft Office, rank-and-file employees, managers, and entire enterprises still
lack the ability to:

• Access and synthesize all the information at their disposal

• Easily and fluidly work in concert with clients and colleagues enterprise-wide
• “Connect the dots” to see—and understand, share, and take action on—the big
picture

Mindjet MindManager's integration with Microsoft Office removes these limitations.

1
Mindjet MindManager also integrates with a broad range of enterprise applications and content sources including sales automation and
customer relations management systems, RSS feeds, databases, and web sites.

2
International Data Corporation (IDC), “The High Cost of Not Finding Information,” Article published in KMWorld - Vol. 13, Issue 3, March 2004.

Enhance Your Microsoft Office Productivity With Mindjet MindManager 1

Your Microsoft Office Hub
Once individuals, departments, and even entire organizations begin using Mindjet MindManager, they find
they can leverage the separate strengths of Microsoft Office products more effectively and more widely, while
actually spending less time working within each application.

How? Mindjet MindManager seamlessly pulls in and exchanges Microsoft Office data inside a highly visual
“map,” enabling users and organizations to easily enrich, fully exploit, and quickly take appropriate action on
new and existing Office content.3

Essentially, MindManager maps provide everyone in your organization with a single, common, and intuitive
“front end” for easily centralizing, visualizing, working with, and sharing or publishing information—no matter
how that information was created or where it resides. Mindjet MindManager makes instantly available all the
information an organization needs, plus the content sources behind it, in a graphical, readily understood view
whose benefits can be quickly extended enterprise-wide.

Microsoft Office Integration Overview

Mindjet MindManager integrates with Microsoft Excel®, Microsoft Outlook®, Microsoft PowerPoint®, Microsoft®
Project, Microsoft Visio®, and Microsoft® Word, providing the export and import functionality that enables
organizations to simply and fully leverage the software's productivity-enhancing power.

Mindjet MindManager export capabilities ensure knowledge workers and team leaders can generate (or pull in
from other sources) and organize all their content from inside one easy-to-understand visual interface—then
publish and share that content in various Microsoft Office formats as appropriate or desired.

Mindjet MindManager import capabilities allow organizations to take advantage of Microsoft Office content by
bringing it inside a common interface where it can be managed and reused alongside all other relevant information.

Export Capabilities, In Brief

You can export an entire MindManager map, or select Map Topics (Topics are a map's “information
object” building blocks), to the following:
• Microsoft Outlook
• Microsoft PowerPoint
• Microsoft Project
• Microsoft Word
• Microsoft Visio

The software's Office export toolbar, located at the bottom of the Mindjet MindManager window,
provides quick, one-button access to these export commands.

The newly exported content can be used to create new Microsoft Office files or to enhance
existing ones.

3
Mindjet MindManager is also an excellent content creation tool when used, for example, in its “traditional” role of brainstorming and
capturing ideas. But for the purposes of this white paper, we'll focus on its ability to boost individual and organizational productivity
through its integration with Microsoft Office.

Enhance Your Microsoft Office Productivity With Mindjet MindManager 2

 Import Capabilities, In Brief
Import into your MindManager map the following Microsoft Office content:
• Microsoft Word files or select paragraphs
• Microsoft Project files or select Project tasks
• Microsoft Excel data ranges
• Microsoft Outlook items including Tasks, Contacts, Appointments, and Notes

The newly imported content can be used to create new MindManager maps or to enhance
existing ones.

A Note on Filters (How to Exclude Map Topics from Export)

Because you may not wish to display every Map Topic in your new Microsoft Office files, Mindjet
MindManager can filter out select Topics when exporting content to the following Microsoft Office
products:
• Microsoft Outlook
• Microsoft PowerPoint
• Microsoft Project
• Microsoft Word

Only visible Topics are exported. Filtered Topics remain in the map and can be revealed simply by
removing the filter, which is always just a click away; the Remove Filter toolbar button appears whenever
a filter is active. To see the number of hidden Topics, just roll your cursor over the Filter button.

Enhance Your Microsoft Office Productivity With Mindjet MindManager 3

 There are two ways to filter a map. You can select a set of MindManager Topics and use the Filter
command, located on the toolbar, to show or hide those Topics. Or use the Power Filter command,
available in the Mindjet MindManager Pro version only, to filter Topics based on their properties. The
Power Filter enables you to match Topics with criteria from individual property types—including map
markers, task information, and review information—or a combination of property types.

Excel/Mindjet MindManager Integration

Features
Mindjet MindManager's Excel Linker feature captures Excel spreadsheet data, links it as an object to a Map
Topic—whether created from scratch or pulled in from other Microsoft Office products, or from other data
sources—and displays the data range in your map. A MindManager filter can hide the data range if desired.
The link is easily established using the toolbar-based quick-launch button found in both programs. And the link
is live: as the Excel spreadsheet changes, so will the Excel data range in your map.

Excel data ranges can be edited from inside Excel or the MindManager map; the changes are automatically
reflected in the other application. Inside Mindjet Manager, simply double-click the Topic with the data range and
make the edits data using the native Excel interface. Or double-click the spreadsheet directly. Break the link
between the two applications (right-click on your map's Excel icon to bring up a “Disconnect from Microsoft
Excel” menu item) to convert the data range into a MindManager spreadsheet that can be manipulated inde-
pendently inside your map.

The Mindjet MindManager spreadsheet charting feature further enables you to display the Excel data in chart
or table form.

Note: The Excel Linker is available in the Mindjet MindManager Pro version only and requires Excel 2000 or
later.

With the MindManager Excel Linker you

can add just the right amount of up-to-
the-minute spreadsheet information to
a MindManager map.

Enhance Your Microsoft Office Productivity With Mindjet MindManager 4

Benefits
The MindManager Excel Linker enables you to show your audience exactly the spreadsheet information they
need to see—nothing more—whether it's a single data range or combined data ranges from multiple Excel files.
By selecting only the up-to-the-minute spreadsheet information you want to share, you can reach a wider audi-
ence more effectively than with Excel alone—and save time too.

The benefits are numerous. First, the people with whom you share the information won't be overwhelmed by
extraneous information; they see only the data range you want them to see.

Second, your audience will more easily understand the data when it is presented inside the graphically rich
MindManager interface.

Third, when they see all related information in context, they can develop a fuller understanding of the spread-
sheet's relevance and the situation as a whole. Because the Excel data lives inside a MindManager map, you
can add comments, specify follow-up actions, and more.

Finally, because you don't have to create a special, scaled-down version of the original Excel file—the Excel
Linker enables you to capture and share the relevant portion of the spreadsheet with just a few clicks—you
streamline the communications process.

Outlook/Mindjet MindManager Integration

Features
Mindjet MindManager can create Microsoft Outlook Notes, Tasks, Folders, Appointments and other items inside
a MindManager map—without even opening Outlook; import existing Outlook items into a map; and turn Map
Topics into Outlook items, including Tasks that can be exported to Outlook.

The Mindjet MindManager Outlook Linker ensures the new items remain linked to, and synchronized with, their
Outlook counterparts. So changes to an item in one application are reflected in the other, and can be edited
from inside either application. Outlook items can be edited from inside Outlook or the MindManager map; the
changes are automatically reflected in the other application. Items can be disconnected from Outlook; in that
case, the item's content converts to a custom MindManager map part that can be further defined and reused.

Creating a new Outlook item from within Mindjet MindManager involves, simply, using a task pane to insert the
appropriate Outlook Linker map part—named for the Outlook item it creates—into the map. The Outlook item is
created and the appropriate form pops up to capture the necessary item data.

Map Topics can be exported to Outlook as Tasks, and the respective Tasks lists can be synched so edits,
additions, or deletions to one application's Task list are updated in the other. Changes can be made from
inside a MindManager map or Outlook.

MindManager Topic Alerts, similar to the Outlook appointment and reminder features, automatically create
a corresponding Outlook appointment that is kept current with the synched maps. Once set, Topic Alert
reminders remain active whether or not Mindjet MindManager is running. Topic Alerts can be set for any
Map Topic and edited from inside either application.

Note: Microsoft Outlook integration is available in the Mindjet MindManager Pro version only and requires
Outlook 2000 or later.

Enhance Your Microsoft Office Productivity With Mindjet MindManager 5

 Without ever leaving your MindManager map, you
can launch emails and retrieve and update the latest
information for all your Outlook items—including
Contacts, Task Lists, Reminders, and more.

Benefits
The productivity benefits of using Mindjet MindManager as a Microsoft Office hub is plainly evident when work-
ing with Microsoft Outlook. Without ever leaving your MindManager map, you can launch emails and retrieve
and update the latest information for all your Outlook items—including Contacts, Task Lists, Reminders, and more.

Say you are in a brainstorming or planning session with your team. You can pull existing Outlook Task and
Contact information (and any other information you need) right into your current map for tweaking, action, and
on-the-fly decision making. And Outlook users can export email messages to a map for display. So instead of
paraphrasing a reviewer's reaction, for example, you can present their comments verbatim.

And because many Outlook items can be synchronized between Mindjet MindManager and Outlook, you'll
avoid duplication of information and effort.

PowerPoint/Mindjet MindManager Integration

Features
Mindjet MindManager provides an intuitive interface for creating presentation content and structure. Entire
MindManager maps, or individual Map Topics, can be exported to Microsoft PowerPoint, which automatically
builds the slide deck. Mindjet MindManager can be used to preview, format, and add to or delete slides from
inside a map.

Manual or Automatic Slide Generation

Slides can be generated automatically, which is always used when presentations are created for the
first time, or manually.

Automatic generation optimizes the distribution of Map Topics among slides: Mindjet MindManager
determines the slide type and information depth and ensures Map Topics are distributed one to each
slide. When slides need to be regenerated, the automatic setting regenerates the entire presentation
and limits the customization options.

Enhance Your Microsoft Office Productivity With Mindjet MindManager 6

 The manual setting regenerates only the slides indicated, can add or remove individual slides, and
offers customization options for changing individual slide types or bullet depth to include more or
less information on any slide.

Deleted Map Topics are automatically removed from the PowerPoint presentation—no regeneration
is required.

Preview and Format Capabilities

Mindjet MindManager offers a task pane for previewing and, if desired, fine-tuning slides before they
are exported to PowerPoint. A preview image of each slide is displayed; shaded areas on the map
show how Topics will be grouped, and on which slides they will appear. Changes to a slide's format
automatically refreshes the slide preview; the presentation, too, will automatically update to reflect the
new formatting.

Benefits
Microsoft PowerPoint users can lay out their presentation—what topics to present, in what order, how to
format the slides, etc.—with greater ease and speed than ever before.

Start with a standard PowerPoint

template or, to save even more time,
select a previously created custom
template. The MindManager inter-
face enables you to capture and
build on your ideas without con-
straint, and quickly organize ideas
into the proper sequence. Then you
can preview the individual slides
and, with the click of a button, cre-
ate your PowerPoint slide deck.
Continue leveraging the strengths of
Microsoft PowerPoint while saving
time and creating more compelling
presentations.

Microsoft PowerPoint users can lay out their

presentation—what topics to present, in what
order, how to format the slides, etc.—with greater
ease and speed than ever before.

Project/Mindjet MindManager Integration

Features
Microsoft Project goals, tasks, timelines, resources, and more can be created inside a MindManager map—
then, with a single click, everything can be exported to Microsoft Project for detailed project management. In
addition, Microsoft Project information can be imported into Mindjet MindManager and instantly transformed
into easily understood status reports.

Because Microsoft Project tasks and MindManager Topics are not linked beyond the initial import/export
operation, changes made to one will not be reflected in the other.

Enhance Your Microsoft Office Productivity With Mindjet MindManager 7

 Export Map Content
Entire MindManager maps can be exported to create new Project files, or selected Map Topics can be
exported to update active, existing Project files. Microsoft Project fills in its task details using the map's
Task Info—this Topic data, which can be defined by users, includes properties such as Priority, Start
Date and Due Date, Duration, and Resources (adding a Task Icon to a Topic automatically assigns the
corresponding task information). Or that information can be filled in directly inside Project.

Import Project Data

Entire Microsoft Project files or
select tasks can be imported into
Mindjet MindManager, which trans-
lates Project task information into
corresponding MindManager Task
Info. The resulting view provides at-
a-glance project status.

Your MindManager map can import complete or

select Project information and display it in a visual,
at-a-glance format that can be quickly understood
by practically anyone.

Benefits
Microsoft Project users will spend much less time getting projects off the ground. Begin by using Mindjet
MindManager to brainstorm a project's components quickly and completely, creating a work breakdown struc-
ture (WBS). After you've scheduled the key tasks, allocated necessary resources, etc., you can export it all, with
a single click, to Microsoft Project for ongoing project management. This is especially powerful when each proj-
ect is a unique venture.

Then, once a project is underway, you can easily communicate the Microsoft Project data—whether or not your
audience is familiar with Microsoft Project files, Gantt charts, and the like. Your MindManager map can import
complete or select Project information and display it in a visual, at-a-glance format that can be quickly under-
stood by practically anyone. Never a need to create Project file subsets: use a MindManager filter to hide any
tasks that are not relevant to your current meeting (or presentation, conversation, etc.); to see all Project data at
any time, simply remove the filter.

Bottom line: You spend less time generating reports and have more time for actually managing your projects.

Visio/Mindjet MindManager Integration

Features
MindManager maps can be exported—in parts, select sections, or wholly—to Microsoft Visio organizational
chart and flowchart drawings. Individual map sections can even be exported to linked Visio sheets, creating
an interconnected web of granular sub-processes.

Exporting to a Visio Org Chart

The MindManager one-click export feature simply translates your current map into a drawing using
Visio's default org chart shapes.

Enhance Your Microsoft Office Productivity With Mindjet MindManager 8

 Exporting to a Visio Flowchart
MindManager maps can define sequential (or structured) flow processes using summary boundaries,
which quickly group related Topics. Relationship arrows can be used to indicate unstructured flows.

MindManager map content can be exported to a generic Visio flowchart, which uses default Visio
shapes and is created simply by choosing the Mindjet MindManager Visio Flowchart export feature.
Alternatively, a Visio stencil may be selected.

For Visio stencils, MindManager automatically imports all the stencil master shapes, which appear in
your map as icons in a Visio group task pane. Map Topics can be coded with these special Visio mark-
ers, indicating which Visio shapes apply to each exported Topic. Markers do not have to be chosen for
every exported Topic; non-coded Topics will be exported using a default shape.

Note: Microsoft Visio integration is available in the Mindjet MindManager Pro version only and requires Visio
2002 or 2003.

Benefits
Instead of getting bogged down with pen and paper or whiteboard and then having to transcribe your efforts,
Mindjet MindManager enables Microsoft Visio users to quickly generate, immediately capture, and confidently
arrange process flow information—which you can export to Visio with a single click. You can also very easily
and quickly edit existing processes and org charts. There's no duplicated effort. And no problems with mis-
placed/lost or misinterpreted information during transcription.

Mindjet MindManager works with Visio to shorten and

improve the flow planning stage and, consequently, the
diagramming work as well.

Word/Mindjet MindManager Integration

Features
MindManager map content can be exported, in outline form, to create Microsoft Word documents; that content
can be edited inside Word and easily re-imported into your map. Conversely, Word documents can be imported
into MindManager maps, turning static text into visual, actionable content. And maps can be published to a
graphics format and simply pasted inside a Word document.

Enhance Your Microsoft Office Productivity With Mindjet MindManager 9

 Export Map Content
Mindjet MindManager can export an entire map, or select Topics, to a Word document with a single
click. The information appears in outline form, the creation of which can be controlled in variety of
ways:

• The General tab controls the outline numbering scheme, which information to include, and
export options for other map elements.
• The Word Template tab determines the Word template and how MindManager Topic levels
correspond to different Word styles.
• The Advanced tab controls relationships, hyperlinks, attachments, and map graphics.

Import Word Text

Mindjet MindManager can import entire Word documents, using the Heading styles to determine the
map's Topics hierarchy: Heading 1 text becomes the map's Main Topics; Heading 2 (and lower) text
becomes Subtopics; non-Heading text is included as text notes for the Topic directly preceding it.
Mindjet MindManager can also import select Word paragraphs. It is also possible to simply paste
Word text to create Topics on your current map.

Using a MindManager map you can rapidly generate

and capture the key points you want to make;
organize them hierarchically into a coherent story;
and even assemble, and link to, related information
sources.

Benefits
Speed up and improve the writing process, leap past writer's block, quickly develop a tight narrative flow, and
turn your documents into a lively workspace.

Using a MindManager map you can rapidly generate and capture the key points you want to make; organize
them hierarchically into a coherent story; and even assemble, and link to, related information sources. Mapping
a document lets you work without first having a structure in mind, then makes it easy to see relationships so
you can create structure as you go. No need to re-enter information. With a single click, export the content as
an outline to create your document's “skeleton.”

When you import a static, text-heavy Word document into a MindManager map, it becomes a dynamic,
interactive blueprint for action. Use your new map to pull in other Microsoft Office content, visually display
all the information in context, and share it enterprise-wide.

Enhance Your Microsoft Office Productivity With Mindjet MindManager 10

Beyond Microsoft Office: Working with Microsoft SharePoint
Organizations using the Microsoft SharePoint collaborative platform can edit and upload MindManager maps,
once the maps have been downloaded from SharePoint, as easily as they can edit and upload Microsoft Office
files.

Simply download MindManager SharePoint Integration from Mindjet Labs (http://www.mindjet.com/labs). This
free add-in makes small changes to the Microsoft SharePoint server environment, as well as to the
MindManager client, that streamlines the native Sharepoint editing and uploading process. MindManager
SharePoint Integration is available as a manual or automatic installation.

Enhance Your Microsoft Office Productivity With Mindjet MindManager 11

Summary
Microsoft Office's integration with Mindjet MindManager transforms the world's most popular business toolset
into much more than the sum of its parts—and Mindjet MindManager ensures you and your organization reap
all the Microsoft Office productivity synergies the integration unleashes.

You'll spend less time getting more done while gaining a “big picture” view that's indispensable for effective
strategizing and tactical execution.

Integrating Microsoft Office with Mindjet MindManager enables individuals and enterprises to:
• Capture and easily share just the Microsoft Excel data ranges you need—and automatically
update the information inside your MindManager map whenever the spreadsheet changes.
• Create, import, and export Microsoft Outlook items—Tasks, Contacts, more—that synchronize
with Outlook, so you can leverage the latest information without interrupting your current
MindManager planning or brainstorming session.
• Create presentation content and structure with the intuitive Mindjet MindManager interface,
preview and modify the slides, then use one-click export to generate an entire slide deck in
Microsoft PowerPoint.
• Develop an entire work breakdown structure inside your MindManager map—then, with a single click,
export it to Microsoft Project for detailed project management; re-import Project data to create
highly visual status reports.
• Lay out workflow processes using Mindjet MindManager and export them to create Microsoft Visio
organizational chart and flowchart drawings.
• Build tight, compelling narratives with Mindjet MindManager, then turn your maps into Microsoft
Word documents; conversely, imported Word documents can be combined with other content and
reused enterprise-wide.

Mindjet MindManager is your Microsoft Office hub.

Enhance Your Microsoft Office Productivity With Mindjet MindManager 12

Mindjet Corporation
Corporate Headquarters
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USA
Phone +1 (415) 229-4200
Fax +1 (415) 229-4201
Email info@mindjet.com
www.mindjet.com

EMEA
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Phone +49 (0)6023/9645-49
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Email info@mindjet.de
www.mindjet.de

United Kingdom
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Bedford Road, Northampton NN4 7HB
UK
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Fax +44 (0) 1604 230910
Email info@mindjet.co.uk
www.mindjet.co.uk

© 2006 Mindjet LLC, U.S.A. All rights reserved.

Mindjet® and MindManager® are registered trademarks of Mindjet LLC in the United States and/or other countries.

Enhance Your Microsoft Office Productivity With Mindjet MindManager