iThoughts can import and export Freemind format files (.mm) - both v0.8.x and v0.9.x on Mac and Windows.

The following attributes are preserved when importing and exporting:

1. •Node text (but not the format - bold etc.)
   

2. •Node notes (but not the format - bold etc.)
   

3. •Node colour
   

4. •Hyperlinks
   

5. •Relationships (including colour and arrow head)
   

6. •Icons (limited to 2 per node)
   

7. •Folded (collapsed) state.
   

8. •General layout (left/right’ness, descendants and sibling ordering.)
   

9. •Start Date, Due Date and Progress (% complete)
   

10. •NB: This is achieved by encoding the values in the notes field in Freemind 0.8.x and in the attribute tag in Freemind 0.9.x (see Task Management for more details)
    

At the time of writing, 0.8.x is the ‘released version’ and 0.9.x is still considered ‘bleeding edge’.

The two versions have subtly different (although largely compatible) file formats. The main areas of difference are in how they encode the node text and associated notes. 0.9.x also supports more icons and node attributes.

iThoughts can import either version seamlessly. When exporting, however, iThoughts needs to know what encoding to use since Freemind 0.8.x cannot open a Freemind 0.9.x file properly - the structure will be ok, but the text will be missing as in the screenshot to the right.

Freemind 0.9.x can open either format without too many problems.

So why not always export in 0.8.x format - I hear you say? Good question - and it was our original approach!

However, the 0.9.x format is more flexible when it comes to text layout and formatting. It also adds support for node attributes which we use to store percentage complete, start and due dates. It adds support for more icons and it is the supported format moving forward!

We would recommend, if possible, that you upgrade to the latest 0.9.x version of Freemind (see http://sourceforge.net/projects/freemind/files/freemind-unstable/ )