Google Drive is a file storage and synchronization service provided by Google which enables user cloud storage, file sharing and
Google Drive support page provides more information regarding Google Drive.
- Prerequisites
- Getting Started
- Saving Maps to Google Drive
- Accessing maps stored on Drive
- Sharing your Google Drive map with friends
- Realtime Collaboration
Prerequisites
As mentioned, to access Google Drive, you need to have a Google Account. If you are using any Google products like Gmail, Google Plus or Blogger, you probably have one. If you don't have one, you can create it for free at www.google.com/accounts
Most probably you have a personal (private) google account and you can access Google Drive directly. In case, if you are using a corporate Google Apps account, the administrator needs to enable Google Drive access (most probably, it should have already enabled). Go to http://drive.google.com to check if you have access to Google Drive. That is, you can login and use Google Drive properly.
While saving and opening files from Google Drive, data transfers from your browser to google drive directly. It is not transferred through our servers. As such, Mindmaze does not store or is completely unaware of your google account credentials. To check if you have access to Google Drive, the best way is to visit http://drive.google.com and check yourself.
Getting Started
When using Google Drive with Mindmaze for the first time you need to authorize to let Mindmaze use your Google Drive account. When opening or saving maps in Google Drive, data is transferred from your browser to Google account directly. Authentication is a way of telling Google that you trust Mindmaze and allowing Mindmaze to use your google account for storing and opening files. To authenticate Mindmaze with your google account, click on 'Click here to authenticate'.
Like with all google products, if you are not logged in to your Google account, the page redirects you to the sign in page. Sign in with your google account which you want to use for storing mindmaps. Once successfully logged in, Google asks your permission for using Google Drive with Mindmaze. Check the image below. Click on 'Accept' to continue.
Once accepted, it will enable Mindmaze to store and retrieve files from Google Drive. At this point, if you visit http://drive.google.com, you will notice that a new application, Mindmaze, is added to your Google Drive account. This is for your convenience so that you can open Mindmaze or Freemind mindmaps directly from Google Drive by clicking it.
Initially if you were saving or opening the file, this operation will now continue. Mindmaze won't ask you to authenticate from now on unless you are logged out of your Google Account. Remember, Mindmaze won't be able to open your maps stored in Google Drive if you are not logged in. If you try to access maps without logging in, Mindmaze will again ask you to log in to your Google Account.
Maps stored in Google Drive are private. Hence, you can open/save an existing map with a Google Account only if you had previously created that map with same Google Account. For instance, you created a map named 'Vacation' with google id, 'abc@gmail.com'; you cannot access this map if you are logged into another account, say 'xyz@gmail.com'. This way maps are private and only the creator can view it. (There is way to share your Google Drive maps with your friends. It is mentioned below.)
Saving Maps to Google Drive
To store maps in Google Drive with Mindmaze, you have to let Mindmaze know that you want to use Google Drive. Click on the drop icon next to 'Save' button found at Top-Right corner. This will show different storage places for your maps. Select Google Drive. Notice that the icon next to 'Save' button is now Google Drive triangle. It shows the default storage option. Once a map is saved to Google Drive, it becomes the default storage option for your maps.
You can also save to Google Drive by clicking 'File'->'Save As'->'Google Drive'. 'File'->'Save As' menu also shows different storage options for your maps.
Note: When you store a map to our own server as public map it remains public and you can share the URL to your friends. Later, if you modify this map and save it as public map it gives you another URL. That is, it is stored as another map. This is different in Google Drive. There is only one version and one URL. Even if you make changes and save the map, it overwrites the same map with the same URL.
- Public maps has different URLs each time you modify and save it
- Private (Google Drive) maps have only one URL. It overwrites the initial map if you modify and save it.
Accessing maps stored on Drive
Mindmaze remembers the map you were working with when you left off the last time. If you visit Mindmaze site again, it automatically opens it. Mindmaze also remembers the recent 10 maps you were working with. This is saved as bookmark in 'File' menu. When you click the 'File' menu, you can see those maps as shortcuts. On clicking those shortcuts, corresponding map will be opened. Mindmaze stores up to 10 recent maps and it is stored in the browser storage. Therefore, it won't be synchronised with other mobile device or desktops.
If you want to see all maps (either Freemind or Mindmaze) you stored with your current Google Account, click "File->Open/Import->From Google Drive". This opens a window showing all maps you stored with current Google Account (you can choose between Freemind and Mindmaze maps with corresponding tabs).
You can also open files by going to drive.google.com. You will see the files stored in your Google Drive account there. Click on any MindMaze file. This should, almost in all browsers, opens the file in Mindmaze. (This feature seems not working in IOS browsers for the time being). Mobile browsers don't exhibit this feature and only option is to use 'Open/Import'->'Google Drive'.
If by clicking mindmaze files does not open in Mindmaze app, Mindmaze might not have been selected as the default application for .mup files. In this case, there is one more configuration step required. Right-Click on any mindmap file, click 'Open With' and then select "Manage Apps". Find MindMaze in the apps list and tick the checkbox "Use by Default". From now on, clicking your MindMaze mindmaps file from Google Drive will automatically let it open in MindMaze app.
In case, MindMaze is not listed in the apps menu, click "Connect more apps" and search for MindMaze in the window that opens up. This way MindMaze is manually added to your Google Drive.
Opening FreeMind files directly
From Google Drive, just as like MindMaze maps (.mup), you can open Freemind maps directly as well. By default, Freemind will be the default application. You need to change this to MindMaze. Right-Click on any Freemind files and select 'Open With'. In this menu MindMaze will be present. Select MindMaze and the Freemind file you selected will be opened in Mindmaze. Another way of opening Freemind files is from File->Open/Import->From Google Drive->Freemind tab.
Note: When you open a Freemind file and make some modifications and change it in Google Drive, it is saved as a new MindMaze file. Hence opening freemind file is treated as an import.
Sharing your Google Drive map with friends
Mentioned earlier, maps saved in Google Drive is private. However, if you wish, you can share your Google Drive maps with your contacts. You can choose which friends have access to your files and access privileges. You can read Google support page on sharing for more information.
You can share a MindMaze document with another user from Google Drive. See the image below.
This opens up another window where you can add/select individual friends or group of friends for sharing the document. You can also invite them via their email id.
When you share a document through Google Drive, Google sends a link to the recipient. They can click on this link to open the file. Their Google Drive account will show this file automatically. In MindMaze, the recipient can open the shared file from File->Open/Import->From Google Drive
One feature of file sharing through Google Drive is that you can set the access privileges. If the access privilege is to save/open a file, then whenever they save the file after some modification, it rewrites the original file. So more than one user can work along with same file and see each other's changes. If the access privilege is read-only, then your friend does not have the option to rewrite the original file. However, they get an option to save the file in their Google Drive Account as different file.
The URL generated through MindMaze for Google Drive maps are permanent. Thus you can share the URL for your map with friends. The URLs for Google Drive maps are in the form http://mindmaze.depaulbookstore.net/#m:g1XXXXXXXXXXXXX Once you share the same map with your friends, your friends can access the map by just typing the URL you shared.
One limitation of Google Drive file sharing is that, even if you make your maps completely public, the end user still requires a Google ID to read the file. People who are not logged into Google Account still won't be able to read your file without first logging in and then authorising with MindMaze. For this limitation, we suggest you work with your map and store it in Google Drive until it is ready to be shared as public. Once your map is ready and final, make it public by using our public storage. Thus public can view your map without the requirement of any ID. (Select MindMaze from the save options menu). Share the URL with your friends. If you feel URL is a bit too long, you can use URL Shortener from File->Share Map to get shorter URLs.
Sometimes, when you open a Google Drive map, MindMaze says you cannot view this map as you don't have enough rights to view the map. This is because the map you try to access is not created by the currently logged Google ID or the map was not shared with currently logged Google ID. In this case, goto drive.google.com, log out and log in with the correct Google ID. This often happens if you are using multiple google account for various purposes or your browser is shared by different users.
Realtime Collaboration
Another nifty feature of MindMaze is that you can let multiple users work on your map simultaneously. Whichever part of globe they are, if they have access to MindMaze, they can work together. Realtime Collaboration is implemented as an Extension. Read Realtime Collaboration page for more information.