Quick Start Guide

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After you create a new map, start by typing some initial idea, topic, or keyword (we call all those "items") into the search panel on the left. 

Check out the Topics and Keywords suggestions first. Topics include Wikipedia topics and ChatGPT suggestions. Keywords include terms people search for and ChatGPT suggestions. Continue with Questions and Articles.

Once you gather Topics, Questions, Keywords and Articles you want to mention, explore Headings suggestions to form an outline on your whiteboard.

Tip: learn more about how to research with Contextminds.

Click on any of the suggested items to see web search results, and keyword metrics if available. Suggestions are related to:

• Selected item on your whiteboard
• The whole whiteboard if nothing is selected
• or, the text you enter in the search box above.

Tip: learn more about using your map as a search query.

Drag anything you like to your map. Don't overthink it and gather everything that seems relevant. You'll sort it out later.

If you don't see anything interesting, you can add a custom items using the toolbar at the bottom. Drag the corresponding item type (topic, keyword, etc.) from here to the whiteboard and then type the item name manually.

Drag one Item over another in your map to put it in a list or use a Frame to structure headings into an outline.

Click on one item and then drag an arrow to another to create a connection.

Click an item and add a color tag (shortcut: T). Choose a name like "todo", "high priority", "for later" or anything you need and pick a color you like.

Leave it hanging

If you are not sure where to put some item, just leave it floating somewhere on the map - you can sort it later.

Branch out by clicking the plus buttons on the sides of a selected item and typing your own idea. Branch in by clicking the placeholder and typing the new item name, or use hotkeys (K, L, I) for quick branching.

If you have a lot on your mind and it won't fit inside the item, add it as a Note to the item. It will be visible in the "Note" sidebar on the right side of the whiteboard. You can also see all notes at once when no item is selected - just click anywhere on the map outside the items.

• Upload files or paste URLs into notes for reference

Tip: learn more about organizing your whiteboard.

Drag an Content Style element to your map to precisly shape the tone, format, and focus of the generated content. 

If the Content Style is not filled in, we will ask you for instructions later.

Select an item on your map containing an outline and head to "Generate" tab  in the left sidebar.

Select whether to generate a content or an outline in the "Generate" tab. If you haven't chosen a Content Style yet, we'll ask you again now.

Select the desired Content Style - from the predefined options such as Blog post, Article, Social Media post...or, define a custom style.

After that, ContextMinds will send a prompt to ChatGPT taking into account all selected items (in case you have selected specific concepts) or, everything on the whiteboard, if left unselected.

Tip: learn more about generating drafts or outlines from your whiteboard.

Continue chatting with AI to refine the draft to your needs.

Click the pin button to save the generated text as a note pinned to the selected item, or hit the plus button to create a separate item from it. The full text will then be accessible as a note pinned to it in the "Notes" tab of the right sidebar.

• Click Share to send a link (no login required for read-only access), an option to create a copy, edit and send you back – if they log in. Just don't forget to turn on the link sharing.
• Export the map as an image or PDF.

Copy your draft and paste it into your preferred editor for final tweaks.