File formats

Format	Extension	Export	Import
Smart Mind	.smartmind	Pro	Free
OPML	.opml	Pro	Free, pasted
Markdown	.md	Pro	Free, pasted
Plain text outline	.txt	Free	Free, pasted
HTML	.html	Pro	—
PDF	.pdf	Pro	—
PNG image	.png	Free at 1×, Pro up to 4×	—

Exported files are named after the map, with any characters that aren’t allowed in file names removed. Hidden branches are never exported.

Smart Mind (.smartmind)

The only format that keeps everything: topics, notes, pictures, styles, themes, layout, positions, checkboxes, progress, numbering and cross-links. Use it for backups and for moving maps between devices.

A .smartmind file is a zip archive. Inside is a bundle.json holding the maps, and a media/ folder holding their pictures. One file can hold one map, from Share & export, or your whole library, from Settings → Back up everything. Maps in the Trash are left out.

Tap a .smartmind file in Files, a download or an email to open it in Smart Mind. Older files, from before pictures were bundled, are plain JSON with no pictures. They still open.

OPML (.opml)

The outline format most mind map and outliner apps understand. Smart Mind writes the topic tree with checkboxes and notes. Paste OPML into Import → Paste an outline to read it back. A note exported to OPML and imported again is identical, character for character.

OPML carries structure, not looks. Colours, shapes, layout and pictures stay behind.

Markdown (.md)

The map title becomes a # heading, each central topic a ## heading, and everything below a nested bullet list. Tasks become - [ ] and - [x]. Notes are written out as Markdown under their topic, so headings, tables and code blocks in a note survive. Pictures in notes appear as [image: caption].

Pasting a Markdown list into Import → Paste an outline turns it back into a map, with checkboxes.

Plain text outline (.txt)

Topics indented with tabs, ticked tasks marked [x] and open ones [ ], and notes on lines starting with > . It pastes cleanly into word processors and email. Share as text sends the same outline straight to another app without making a file.

Any indented list, pasted into Import → Paste an outline, becomes a map.

HTML (.html)

One self-contained web page in the map’s own colours: nested lists with branch colours, checkboxes, progress bars, and notes formatted as they appear in Preview. Pictures in notes are embedded in the file, so it works offline and needs nothing else to open. Any HTML typed into a note is shown as text, not run.

PDF (.pdf)

The first page is the map, fitted to the page, with the theme’s background and the right orientation. The pages after it hold the full text outline, including notes with the Markdown symbols removed. Print produces the same layout.

PNG (.png)

A picture of the map, cropped to its edges, matching what’s on screen: theme, spacing, and anything Hide ticked tasks has hidden. Selection highlights are never included.

On the free version it is exported at 1× with a small mark. Pro removes the mark and offers 1× to 4×.

Note

Image and PDF exports show the map as it is on screen. Text, Markdown and OPML exports always include ticked tasks, even hidden ones, because an outline that quietly dropped finished work would be missing part of the map.

Related

• Import, export and back up
• Share and export