Canvas Basics: Add, Edit, Drag, and Collapse Nodes

Select a node and press Tab to add a child below it. The new node opens for editing immediately.

Type the text and press Enter to commit; no need to click into the node first.

With a committed node selected, press Enter to add a sibling right below it, again ready for typing.

Keep pressing Enter to list a whole set of parallel points in one go.

Double-click a node to edit its text. In the clip, ⌘ A selects everything, the new text replaces it, and Enter commits.

Escape discards the edit, so commit with Enter or by clicking empty canvas.

With a node selected, tap Space to enter editing with the caret at the end of the text — handy for adding to a node without leaving the keyboard.

It has to be a tap: holding Space and dragging pans the canvas instead.

F2 is another way into editing and behaves like Space: caret at the end, type, Enter to commit.

If you are used to renaming files with F2 this will feel natural; the binding can be changed in the shortcut settings.

Drag a node onto the centre of another node and release: it becomes that node's child, and its whole subtree comes along.

If you release outside the target's box the move becomes a sibling reorder instead.

Hold ⌘ (Ctrl on Windows) and click nodes to add them to the selection. Then drag any selected node and the whole group moves under the new parent.

No modifier is needed while dragging; dragging a box on empty canvas also selects several nodes at once.

Hover a node and a collapse handle appears at the end of its branch. Click it to fold the whole branch; the handle turns into a badge showing how many children are hidden.

Click the badge to expand again. Collapsing only changes what is shown, not the map itself.

Hold Space and drag to pan. Dragging on empty canvas without Space draws a selection box instead.

The mouse wheel zooms around the pointer; the current zoom level shows in the bottom-right corner.