When wanted to map out thoughts or ideas in Obsidian, there is no native way to create mindmaps
Canvas is great but it doesnt have the base functionality that a mindmap feature would (such as collapsing branches etc). This makes large complex mindmaps impossible in Obsidian
There are no useful cross platform, free solutions for this problem
Proposed solution
Create an open-standard Mind-Map feature native to Obsidian in the same way Canvas is, i.e. a Core Plugin
The ability to put thoughts to āpaperā in a more flexible and detailed way than writing or Canvas would solve the issue
It fits the use case of Obsidian perfectly as a PKMS
What would this look like by the way? Would it be similar to, but different than Canvas? If Canvas did have mind-mapping features, would you still be asking for something distinct here?
Now, when you have to create a regular tree diagram similar to Mind Map using Canvas, it takes a lot of time due to the fact that you have to position all the nodes precisely by hand.
Now there is a Canvas Mind Map plugin, but as mentioned in the topic itself, its usability is far from ideal.
And tools for Canvas that allow you to quickly (Tab, Enter, Shift + Enter) create a tree structure with automatic positioning of nodes with equal distance between them, and with automatic movement of all nodes, if one node is created somewhere in the center, are really lacking.
If Canvas had a feature that allowed users to create nodes at a given distance from each other, users wouldnāt have to put them in order manually, and it would speed up the process of creating Canvases considerably.
But if in some place it is necessary to depart from the usual structure, and, for example, to introduce an additional node with a comment, then the whole order will be broken, and I do not see how the developers can preserve the functionality with such nuances.
Thatās why the āCanvas Mind Mapā plugin is relevant only in the simplest cases, or as a tool for creating a basis, which will be adjusted later.
For me, the best example of software for creating Mind Maps is XMind, where you can create Mind Maps very quickly, but it lacks the flexibility and freedom that Obsidian Canvas has.
Which is unfortunate, because referring to the comments from the developers, we can conclude that they are just different tools.
Quick and easy creation of Mind Maps is really lacking, as well as automated arrangement of nodes with equal distance between them, to keep the Canvas in order, to read everything better, and better perceive the information on it, and not buried in the chaos of disorder.
But I would like to see this as an improvement of the Canvas functionality, not as a separate solution, simply because, in my opinion, Canvas as a basis is quite suitable for this functionality, and personally I would like to interact with Mind Map as with Canvas, and to be able to perform all those manipulations that are now available for Canvas, and that are requested by users.
But as far as collapsing branches is concerned, this can be a problem, because the structure can be non-linear on the Canvas, and just the whole Canvas can be collapsed.
And from the performance point of view, Canvas is quite laggy now, and collapsing/deploying a large number of nodes may be accompanied by strong lags, which will not be very convenient, so, as an alternative, a Canvas: Visually isolating hovered card and its connected cards with other cards may be suitable for better readability.
And if weāre still talking about a separate solution, Iāve written about something similar too, just not in the context of Mind Maps, but in the context of slightly different visualizations. As a more comfortable and beautiful replacement for Mermaids (which is also sorely lacking).
I think a better example would be with Zenkit. See here:
h**ps://zenkit.com/en/solutions/mind-map/
This would really be a killer feature imo, since the bases view would essentially leverage the (infinite) canvas like background, where each note can be linked in a mind-map view.
A mindmap only works in a strict hierarchy, as soon as you have multiple parent nodes or arbitrary connections folding and rearranging is no longer possible, because nobody would know what path to follow for folding and how to rearrange the leftovers.
So basically it would have to be a seperate feature from canvas.
All the solutions where a mindmap is placed on a canvas are not really mindmaps, they might have folding but without rearranging there is really no benefit from folding.
Even putting a mindmap āisolatedā on a canvas would be kinda pointless because you can not make any connections to it, and when your mindmap grows because you unfold, what then? You would have to put it into a seperate window anyway and building a whole mindmapping application just to access the shopping list from your vault seems a big task.