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Dendra manual

Everything the app does, in the order you are likely to need it.

What Dendra is

Dendra is a mind map editor: one central bubble, branches growing out of it, and as much colour, detail and structure as the idea deserves. It runs in any modern browser at dendramaps.com and as an app on iPhone and iPad. The map is the same in both, and it keeps working with no network.

Where the name comes from

Dendron is Greek for tree. That is the shape of every map here: a trunk in the middle and branches that split as the thinking goes further.

The same word gave us dendrites, the branches a neuron grows to reach its neighbours. So the name points at both ends of the job — the tree on the screen, and the tree inside the head that the screen is trying to copy.

Quick start

1. Open the app to return to your last map. A new library starts with the Welcome to Dendra example. Choose Edit to make changes.
2. Tap or click the central bubble to select it.
3. Press + in the bottom bar and choose Child node or Sibling node. The new bubble opens straight into text editing.
4. Press Enter for another bubble on the same level, Tab to go one level deeper.
5. Rename the map in the title field at the top of the screen.

The map saves itself as you work. The Undo and Redo buttons at the bottom go back and forward through everything you did in this map.

Every map is always editable. Select a bubble and use the Node button to see and change its text, notes, links and images.

The canvas

• Move the view: drag the background, or scroll with a trackpad or wheel.
• Zoom: the + and − buttons on the right, Cmd/Ctrl with the wheel, or pinch on a touch screen.
• Fit: Fit in the bottom bar brings the whole map back into view when you get lost.
• Select: tap or click a bubble. Arrow keys move the selection to the bubble in that direction.

Bubbles

Select a bubble. On a computer, a small bar appears over it. On a phone, use the information button in the bottom bar for its properties:

The same fields, with more room, live in the Node panel, which the Node button in the bottom bar opens. To change the text, double click the bubble or press F2; on a phone, select the bubble and press the pencil button.

A long press (or right click) on a bubble opens a menu with all of it in one place, plus Sticky beside it. The same long press on the background offers a new sticky, a new bubble, the map tools and fit to screen. Stickies are loose notes that float on the canvas and belong to no branch; drag them anywhere.

Completing instead of deleting

The ✓ button completes the whole branch, including collapsed descendants. It goes to Tools › Completed. Restoring brings back the children, colours, notes, due dates and images. The list keeps the last 200 branches.

The collapsible History panel on the map keeps the last 100 actions. You can also open it from Tools › History. Undo one without undoing later actions. Conflicts offer recovery as a copy without replacing current content, under the original parent or the centre if that parent is gone. History travels between devices with the same account and active cloud sync.

Tools › Due dates is the other review list: every bubble with a deadline, in date order, in this map.

Moving branches

• Drag a bubble between two siblings to reorder it. A line shows where it will land.
• Drag a bubble onto another bubble to move the whole branch under it.
• Space folds or unfolds the branch under the selected bubble. A folded bubble shows the number of children waiting inside it.

Layouts

Tools › Layout changes the shape of the whole map. Picking a layout or a theme shows it on the map first, with the tools moved out of the way: tap Apply to keep it, or Cancel to go back.

Arrange automatically keeps the map tidy after every change. Turn it off and Arrange now tidies once, leaving you free to nudge bubbles afterwards.

Tools › Theme shows sixteen themes as small previews of the map itself, ten dark and six light. Paper, Linen, Daylight, Mint, Blossom and Slate are the light ones — pick one of those before exporting something to print.

Your maps

Maps at the top left opens the library: every map with its date, plus open, duplicate and delete. New asks what to start: a Mind map (an empty central idea) or a To-do list. The most recent maps also sit next to the button on wider screens, one tap away.

A to-do list is a map in the Outline layout, one task per line, with the first task already open for typing. Enter adds the next task, Tab a sub-task. The ✓ ticks a task off and files it in Tools › Completed, where it can come back. Due dates, notes and colours work as on any bubble, and Tools › Layout turns the list into a mind map at any time.

Deleting a map does not throw it away: it goes to Trash, at the bottom of the library, where it waits 30 days. Restore puts it back whole, with its bubbles, notes and images. Delete forever, Empty, or the 30 days running out remove it for good, on every device. The trash holds the 100 most recent maps.

Saving, account and sync

You can create, edit and save maps on this device without an account. They reopen when you return. Maps belonging to an account remain hidden until you sign in. Signing in moves your visitor maps into that account without replacing its existing maps. An account is only needed for cloud features, such as syncing across devices. Sign in with Google, Microsoft or Apple in ••• › Account › Sync account.

With an account, maps live on the device and in your account, and every device signed in with the same email sees the same library. A mark in the top bar tells you when that is not happening:

• Not syncing · sign in — there are changes with nowhere to go. Tap it to open the account section.
• Sync failed — the last attempt did not go through. Tap it to see why: no internet, an expired session, Pro needed, or the server not answering. Your work is safe on the device; Sync maps now tries again. When the reason is that Pro is needed, Keep on this device only removes the warning; sync comes back by itself once Pro is active.

If two devices change the same map while apart, the version edited last wins and the app says so; no duplicate copy is made. Different maps changed on different devices simply merge. Deleting a map moves it to the trash everywhere, restoring brings it back everywhere, and an old device coming back online cannot resurrect what was already deleted for good.

Two different emails are two different libraries. To bring them together, sign in with the same email on both — and export the side with unique content first, because merging keeps the newest version rather than making copies.

Sharing and collaborating

Share in the bottom bar holds the three sharing options. Send a copy puts the whole map, compressed, inside a link. Nothing is uploaded: the map travels in the link itself. Whoever opens it gets a copy in their own library, and from then on the two maps go their separate ways. Very large maps do not fit in a link; the app says so and suggests exporting JSON instead.

Share › Collaborate live is the live version: a room where several people edit the same map at once and see each other's changes. The map owner uses People with access to manage that map's invitations. The administrator must also enable global collaboration access for each person. Stop collaborating closes the room and leaves you with the map.

Administration

••• › Account › Admin is available on the website and iOS only to the administrator, after the server confirms access. It opens a separate management page, not a panel over your map. You can also open Management directly; the server still checks your account.

Use the side menu on a computer, or the bottom navigation on a phone: Overview shows the totals, Accounts shows the account directory and plans, and Access manages global collaboration permissions. Back to maps returns to the map you were working on.

It shows known accounts, cloud map totals and active Pro subscriptions, with test subscriptions counted separately. The administrator can add or remove global collaboration access and edit collaborator names. Removing global access keeps the account and existing map invitations; it prevents new collaboration authorizations. It does not cancel purchases.

The initial account total may be incomplete: identifiable accounts are recovered from existing data, and the others appear when they sign in again. Unused invitations are not accounts. Admin data is not available offline and is cleared when signing out.

Export and import

Under ••• › Files:

• JSON — the full map, and the only format that can be imported back. This is your backup.
• SVG — vector drawing, for slides or printing at any size.
• PNG — an image, for pasting anywhere.
• PDF — one page with the whole map.
• Obsidian — a canvas for an Obsidian vault, with images alongside in a zip.
• Import JSON — brings a map file back in as a new map.

Imported and shared maps are cleaned on the way in: sizes, colours and links are checked. If anything had to be left out, the app tells you exactly what and how much.

Free and Pro

The free version covers three maps and does not put images inside bubbles. Dendra Pro removes the limit, allows images, and syncs across devices — web and iOS.

With Pro, paste an image from the clipboard while editing a bubble's text and it lands inside the bubble; tap it to see it full size. Images are shrunk before being stored, so a map stays small enough to sync and to share.

Pro is bought in the iOS app, monthly or yearly, and renews until cancelled in your Apple account settings. On the web, sign in with the same account and Pro unlocks there too. There is no separate purchase on the web.

On the computer and on the phone

It reads and edits best on a computer. A big screen shows the branches far enough out to see the shape of the whole idea, the keyboard builds a map faster than any menu (Tab, Enter, arrows), dragging a branch to a precise spot is easy with a mouse, and long notes are simply less painful to type. If you are going to build or reorganise a map, do it there.

And yes, the phone works too — it is the same app and the same maps, not a cut down version. The bottom bar holds the common actions, the panels slide up from the bottom, pinch zooms, and a long press opens the menu of whatever you pressed. Reading a map, ticking something off, adding a bubble that just occurred to you, fixing a date, showing the map to someone at a table: all fine on a phone.

With an account, both are the same library, so the usual rhythm is build on the computer, carry it in your pocket, and let the two meet on their own.

Focus, search and folders

On phones, history starts folded and sign-in uses a compact bar. Open History whenever you need it; the choice is remembered locally.

A map first opens around its central idea at a readable scale. This device remembers your zoom and position for each account. Fit still gives an overview when you want it.

Select a bubble and use Focus on branch. Full map returns without changing the saved structure or folded branches. Edits inside focus save normally.

Search nodes finds bubble text, including closed branches. Choosing a result shows its branch in focus. Show more keeps every match available.

In Maps, search by map name or folder and use the filter. A map can belong to one folder. Folder lets you choose an existing name or create a new one. Select can move several maps.

Open and Folder stay visible. Use More options to rename, duplicate or delete a map.

New maps created from a folder, duplicates and restored maps keep their folder. Renaming or removing a folder changes organization, never the maps themselves.

Folders follow normal library sync on the same account, with Pro needed to upload. They are not included in the map copies you share.

Keyboard shortcuts

Creation and navigation shortcuts work on the canvas, not on buttons or fields. Press Esc or Shift + Tab to leave the canvas. The fold/unfold control in the canvas corner stays large enough to tap at any zoom.

Working offline

Dendra can open without a network, but private maps stay locked until the server confirms your account. Losing the connection locks the private view; saved changes stay on the device in that account's library. Connect again and choose Check account again. Visitor maps do not open any saved private content.

Each account has its own maps and history, even on the same device. Older device maps whose owner cannot be confirmed are kept separately, never automatically opened or uploaded. Signing in recovers that account's maps from the cloud.

Getting help

••• › Help has Show intro again, which replays the four step tour, and Send feedback, which opens your mail app with the app version and device already filled in. Tell me what is missing or what went wrong.

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