Productivity tools are software that can help make work and planning easier and more efficient. XMIND is a mind-mapping software that runs on java. And we’ve told you in an earlier issue how mind-mapping software can help increase productivity.

We’re assuming you know a little about such software. Mind mapping software can be tiny bit confusing to start with, and XMIND is no different in this respect.

The interface, to its credit, looks pretty clean and well-laid-out. There are five templates to suit your style and the feel of your work, other the default template.

Elements such as shapes, lines, and boundaries are pretty well-designed, and go well with the templates. You can add external templates to the current list. Using the software is pretty straightforward, and the shortcuts are easy to remember and well-placed. It appears all the shortcuts used in the program can be changed to those of your choice.

When you done with your work, you can export it to PDF, image formats, a power point presentation, or a word file.

The help provided is quite detailed. There are screenshots where you need them. A feature called Dynamic Help provides quick help in a sidebar whenever you click on a particular tool or feature.

Although this software runs on java, it doesn’t feel too heavy, but uses over 120 MB of memory!

There doesn’t seem to be a lot wrong with XMIND other than price. At $ 100 for a single license, it’s quite a bit ask for a software like this. There are alternatives: Free Mind, for example, is a free, open source program that can do more less what XMIND does! The only reason you would want to go buy this software is perhaps for its fairly refined look and feel.

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