Start a project, add a few nodes, connect them and write about them, then turn the whole thing into a document you can share.
Where: Projects (click your project's name, top left) › New / Open / Import… · Keys: [C] connect, [1] Dark Energy, [I] Publisher, [U] Space
What it is
A first run through the whole of Filamental, from building to sharing. Each step is short and links to the page that covers it properly, so you can stop at any point and come back later. If you'd rather practise first, the Help Playground is a project too, and nothing you do there matters.
How to use it
- Start a project. Click your project's name at the top left to open the Projects window, then New / Open / Import…. Under Fast Start, choose Blank, give the project a name, choose a location and click Create project. Filamental makes a folder there, and that folder is your project. Use a Template starts you with a ready-made set of classifications and connectors instead, and Folder opens material you already have. See New, Open or Import and Templates.
- Add some classifications. A blank project has none, so click ＋ in the Node Pages header of the left panel and name the kinds of thing your structure holds: people, decisions, risks, whatever the work needs. Each one gets its own colour. See Classifications.
- Add nodes. Double-click an empty part of the canvas, type a name and press Enter. Every node is a Markdown note in your project folder. See Nodes.
- Connect them. Select two nodes and press [C], or Alt-drag from one node onto another, then pick a connector in the New Connection window. Alt-drag onto empty space instead and you get a new node, already connected. See Connectors.
- Write about them. Select a node and its notes open in the right panel, with a full editor for headings, lists, pictures and
[[links]] to other nodes. See Notes Editor.
- Let Dark Energy arrange it. Press [1], or the Dark Energy button at the left of the bottom toolbar, and the structure spreads out by how connected each thing is. [Ctrl+Z] puts it back. See Dark Energy and Layers.
- Open the Publisher. Click Publisher in the top bar, or press [I]. The first time, Filamental asks you to Choose a hub page, the home page of your document: a Blank page (new), or one of your best-connected nodes. Your structure sits on the left, and the page for whichever node you pick opens on the right. See Publisher Studio and Writing Pages.
- Share it. Click Share in the top bar, choose Shared link and click Publish link. Anyone you send the link to opens your document in their browser, with nothing to install. See Sharing a Document.
Tips
- The free plan holds 20 nodes per project, and bridges don't count. When a project is full, Filamental offers Insert bridge node or Go Pro. See Bridges and Plans: Free and Pro.
- One live shared link is free. More than one at a time, updating a link in place, the HTML file download and presenting are part of Pro.
- Switch between 2D and 3D with [2] and [3] whenever one suits the moment better. See 2D and 3D.
- Don't settle the classifications too early. Structures evolve, and renaming or recolouring one later changes every node in it.
How this helps you
- Use it on your first day, to see the whole path from an idea to something you can send.
- Use it when you've started from a template or a folder and want to know what comes next.
- Use it to show a colleague how Filamental fits together in ten minutes.
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