Mindmap online storage options

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There are mainly three types of storage options for your mindmaps created with Mindmaps. Their features are different from each other. You have to choose an option which is apt for you. They have exceedingly different capabilities and constraints.1. Public storage in our own server.

When you save a mindmap as Mindmaps type, it is stored in our own server. Maps saved via our server are read-only and are public. Thus anyone who has the URL can read the mindmap by going to that URL. However, we provide random URLs and it is very hard to guess. But if you are particular about the privacy of your maps and only want to share with people you choose, we suggest using Google Drive as storage option which is explained below.This storage is useful if you want to share something to the entire world anonymously. Users can view your maps without any registration or ID. As the URL won’t change for this storage, you get URL shortener service from google via ‘Share’ button. Note that once you save a map in our storage it is saved under a new URL. If you do some modifications to it and later save it even if under the same browser session, it is saved under a different URL. We take backups of mindmaps stored in our server once in a month. Once you save a map in our own server, it will be there for atleast one year.2. Google Drive.

(read Using Google Drive with mindmaps for more information) Google Drive is a file storage and synchronization service provided by Google which enables user cloud storage, file sharing and collaborative editing. This option is useful if you want your maps as private. You can share these maps with your friends via Google Drive. These maps are stored under same URL even after modification. If you save a map and later do some modifications and again saves it, it rewrites the original file.Note that files are loaded and saved directly by your browser to Google Drive and it is never passing through our server. It is the preferred storage for private maps.Google Drive provides a synchronisation mechanism where it automatically back up your mindmaps to your local disk (or company file share if you are working in a team environment and if you have one). 3. Browser Storage.

All modern browsers provide this option. It is saved directly in your hard disk under browser storage. This is browser dependent storage. That is, if you save your work in a browser, you cannot open the same in another browser. The maps are also persistent, that is, even if you close the browser session or shut down off your computer, the maps are still there. Even then, if you intentionally delete browser data – all stored data of your browser (including your stored mindmaps) will be lost. Note that if you are using Mindmaps via Chrome Apps, you automatically gets unlimited storage for your mindmaps in localstorage, ie, the only space limit for your mindmaps is the free space in your hard disk. The permission is already set. On the other hand, if you have come to mindmaps via search engine or another way, you might have to give permission for mindmaps to use unlimited storage. Browsers, otherwise restrict this storage limit to 5mb only. Best method is to use Mindmaps app via Google Chrome Apps.4. Additionally you can export your mindmap as a file or into other cloud services.

Go to Document->Save As and it shows options to export as a file or into cloud services like Box, DropBox or Google Drive. Note google drive is provided as an option for convenience only. Best way to use Google Drive with mindmaps is to use the second option in open/save dialog to use drive directly. If you chose to export it as a file, you can save the file into a file location you choose. This way, you can copy the exported file to any other storage device like a portable disk and can import the same file at a different location using ‘Document’->’Open…’->’From File’.If you had opted to export it into cloud services like Box or Dropbox, you can later import it via ‘Document’->’Open’->’From the Cloud’. Direct support for Box and Dropbox will be provided soon.Selecting a storage for your map Click on ‘Document’->’Save As…’ It shows different options for saving and exporting your maps. Clicking on ‘Save As..’ button again saves/rewrites the original Google Drive file or create a new mindmaps server file.Choose a storage system which is best suited for you. Storage capabilities and constraints Different storage systems have different features. A comparison among Public storage, Google Drive and Browser Storage is outlined below.

Public storage	Google Drive	Browser Storage
Price	Free	Free up to 15GB, Google will charge you for more	Free
Access	Anonymous	Requires a Google ID and user authorisation to access Google Drive, even if the map is marked public on Google	Tied to browser profile
Privacy	Everything is public, data passes through our servers	You control privacy settings on Google drive. Data never goes through our servers	Only the same browser profile can access it
File size	Up to 12MB	Up to 10GB, depending on your account limits at Google	Depending on your browser and free space on the disk
Backups	Once in a month.	You can backup automatically using Google Drive sync applications	Depends on you – if there is a backup running on your local machine, it can back up the maps along with the other browser profile items
Map URLs	Tied to a map version. Every time you save, a new URL is generated	Tied to a map. Created the first time you save a map. Further changes are saved to the same file, even by other users, so the URL remains the same.	NA
Data retention	One year. Our guarantee.	You decide, depending on Google Drive capabilities	You decide
Storage license	Because storage is public and anonymous, all user generated content is licensed under CC1.0 Universal	You decide	You decide