Drag and Drop

Drag and drop is the most direct way to restructure your mind map. Move nodes between branches, reorder siblings, and reorganize your thinking — all by dragging nodes to a new position.

How Drag and Drop Works

1. Click and hold on any node to begin dragging.
2. A shadow follows your cursor, showing the node you are moving.
3. A connection line previews the new parent relationship as you hover over potential targets.
4. Release the mouse to drop the node in its new position.

After you drop a node, the layout automatically recalculates and the entire map adjusts to accommodate the change.

Moving a Node to a New Parent

Drag a node and drop it onto another node to make it a child of that target node. The dragged node (along with all of its children) moves to the new location in the tree.

This is useful when you realize a topic belongs under a different category, or when you want to consolidate related ideas under a common parent.

Reordering Siblings

You can also drag a node between its siblings to change the order. As you drag near the gap between two sibling nodes, the drop target indicator shows where the node will be inserted. Release the mouse to place it in that position.

Restrictions

There are a few rules that prevent invalid operations:

• You cannot drag a node onto one of its own descendants. This would create a circular reference, which is not allowed in a tree structure.
• The root node cannot be dragged. The root is fixed at the center of the map. You can rename it, but you cannot move it.
• Direction is preserved. Nodes on the left side of the map stay on the left, and nodes on the right side stay on the right. This keeps your map’s visual structure consistent.

Automatic Layout Recalculation

After every drop, the layout engine recalculates positions for all affected nodes. Sibling spacing, parent-child connections, and the overall tree balance are all updated automatically. You do not need to manually reposition anything after a move.

Undoing a Move

If you drop a node in the wrong place, press Cmd+Z to undo the move immediately. The node and all its children return to their original position.

You can undo multiple moves in a row by pressing Cmd+Z repeatedly.

Reordering with the Keyboard

If you prefer not to use the mouse, you can reorder siblings with keyboard shortcuts:

• Option+Shift+Up / Down — Move the selected node up or down among its siblings (horizontal layouts).
• Option+Shift+Left / Right — Move the selected node left or right among its siblings (vertical layouts).

This is a precise alternative to dragging when you want to shift a node by one position at a time.

Quick Reference