Technology has made many tasks easier for both students and people who have businesses. Since the internet became established, everyone has come to it to find information, clarify doubts, know how to do certain activities or even get programs that do these activities for one.
Undoubtedly, the sector that most benefited from the Internet was the student sector, due to the fact that multiple web tools have come out, totally free, that allow us to do everything from complex mathematical exercises, map simulations, to the creation of plans, graphs and mind and concept maps.
Under this premise, the CmapTools tool emerged, which although it is not the simplest or the most refined, it is undoubtedly a great option to develop all kinds of concept maps, making it much easier, not only for students but also for students. workers, presentations that require these types of maps.
CmapsTools is mainly used for concept mapping but is also useful for diagramming or schematic design. It allows users to use different tools to improve the design and is completely free, which is why it is highly recommended by teachers around the world.
What is CmapTools and how to get it?
As we mentioned previously, this program is designed for the elaboration of concept maps; however, it can go further by creating schematics or diagrams. It includes tools such as arrows, boxes and images that improve the experience and the result and also allows you to use downloaded examples.
This program is available for all operating systems: Windows, MAC and Linux, for both 32-bit and 64-bit. It also has its version for mobile devices and you can download CmapsTools totally free.
How to use CmapsTools?
After downloading and installing it, you must run the program and you will see that it will ask for permission to use the application. After accepting and entering the program, we will notice that it lacks a toolbar.
For this reason, the way to create concept maps is through concepts. The concepts are the ideas to be developed in the concept map. To create a concept you just have to double click on the board and start writing the concepts you want and with the button above, we will create the arrows that will join the concepts.
Add, order and link concepts
As we mentioned earlier, this program works by concepts. To create one, just double-click on the artboard. Once the concepts have been written, they will have to be ordered by relevance. Finally, you must spin the concepts with arrows.
At this point, you must select the concept and then the arrow that will appear in its upper section and then you will only have to drag the mouse from one concept to another to join them with the arrow.
If you join the previously created concepts with arrows, a box will appear in the middle with the word link, to write a connector that simplifies the understanding of the map. On the other hand, if you drag the arrow into an empty space, another concept will be created.
Customize the look of your map
If we go to format and then to the style option, we can change the font type, size, color, styles, alignment and spacing. And of course, it offers several default styles so you can work with preset templates.
In case you don’t like the arrows, they don’t have the color or design you want, you can always edit them from the styles window. If it is not open, it is opened from the Window menu and then on show styles. Best of all, you can not only modify the layout of the arrows but the style of the concepts and links as well.
How to save a map?
Once you’ve finished your concept map, you can save it by going to File and then selecting save Cmap. By clicking on the world icon you can save your map to an external server, this is located in the upper right corner of the screen
With CmapsTools you can use various saving methods, being able to save the mind maps in the cloud or save them on your computer. Finally, before saving, you must choose the format, some of the available options are: BMP, JPG, PNG, SVG, in PDF