Floating topics

Mystified about floating topics, how to make them and what they are for? Here's the low-down.

What do they look like?

They appear as a red rectangle (2D) or cone (3D) representing a new topic that is not yet part of the Topicscape, but is waiting to be dropped on another topic, which is to be its parent child or loose associate. Most of the following assumes you're using the 3D interface, but in 2D, for 'cone' read 'rectangle'. It's otherwise the same.

What are they for?

Their purpose is to hold a topic-in-waiting while you search for the place where it belongs.

How are they made?

There are many ways to make a floating topic:

• Drag a folder and drop it on the field;
• Drag a file and drop it on the field;
• Drag a favicon and drop it on the field;
• When importing a folder, structured text file, FreeMind, PersonalBrain or MindManager file, or OML file, using the dialog from File|Import, select "Floating topic in this Topicscape.

I've got a red floating topic on the screen, now what?

You need to decide where you want the topic to be - usually its parent topic. Then drag the small red cone to the parent cone you've chosen. The target cone will light up to confirm. Drop the small red cone - it will become a child of the target cone.

Choosing the parent to drop it on is the most common case, but the target cone can become a child of the new topic, or a topic to be loosely associated with the new one. The radio buttons at the bottom of the Create New Topic dialog give you this choice.

When a floating topic is waiting to be placed, you can still fly, change Current Topic and use the search dialog while you look for the right topic to drop the new one on. The red cone will stay where it is on the screen, unaffected by whatever is happening in the 3D environment.

The red cones are called floating topics because they float on the window, outside the 3D landscape.