Mind Map Card ①: Creating and Editing Cards¶

💡What is a mind map card?

The mind map card is the core note unit in MarginNote. You can think of it like this:

When you excerpt content in a document, it's called an "excerpt"

When you organize it in a mind map, it's called a "mind map card" or "note card"

After you add it to a review card deck, it's called a "flashcard" or "review card"

They are different identities of the same object, free to move between documents, mind maps, and review card decks.

💡What you'll learn on this page:

The parts that make up a card (title, excerpt, comment)

The 5 ways to create a card

Quickly editing one or several cards

In-depth editing with the card editor

1 The three parts of a card¶

`1.1 Title` (Title)¶

Plain-text field; does not support Markdown formatting
Has a length limit; up to 250 characters

💡Tip: Keep titles short. When you exceed the character limit, move the extra content into the comment.

`1.2 Excerpt` (Excerpt)¶

Content from a document, such as text or images.
The original content extracted from a document with the excerpt tool
Keeps its link to the document, so you can jump back to the original text

`1.3 Comment` (Comment)¶

Note content you add yourself
Supports many formats:
Handwriting
Rich text (supports Markdown/LaTeX/HTML/CSS)
Code blocks and Mermaid flowcharts
Audio and images
Tags
Use Edit Comments to reorder comments or delete them

💡Excerpt vs. comment:

Excerpt: original content from the document that keeps its document link

Comment: supplementary content you add, such as your understanding, analysis, memory techniques, and so on

2 The 5 ways to create a mind map card¶

2.1 Comparison of the 5 creation methods¶

Method	Best for	Pros	Quick action
Create from blank	Brainstorming, free creation	Fast, flexible	Double-click an empty area of the mind map
Create from a node	Extending an existing structure	Preserves the hierarchy	Select a card → ➕
Create from the outline	Quickly entering lots of text	Word-like, efficient	Press Enter in the outline
Excerpt from a document	Extracting content from textbook documents	Preserves the source text	Use the excerpt tool to select document content
Create with AI	Batch-generating cards	Saves time and effort	AI chat + [Create Card] module

2.2 Method 1: Create a card from blank¶

Double-click an empty area of the mind map to quickly create a card; or 🖼️ image

💡Setting: Enter the title or the body when creating a card?

By default, creating a card prompts you to enter the card body. If you'd rather enter the title first, you can set this up:

Tap the mind map side toolbar → hand tool → turn on Title First for New Cards

2.3 Method 2: Create a card from a mind map node¶

New Child Card

New Sibling Card

🖼️ image (as shown by the icons above)
New Child Card: becomes a child node of the current card
New Sibling Card: sits at the same hierarchy level as the current card
New Parent Card: becomes the parent node of the current card

💡When to use:

New Child Card: expand on the details of a knowledge point

New Sibling Card: add related knowledge alongside it

New Parent Card: group existing cards under a higher-level category

2.4 Method 3: Create a card from an outline node¶

Outline

Enter the outline editing view and press Enter at the end of any node to create 1 sibling card.

💡Advantage: The outline view is like Word's outline mode—great for quickly entering large amounts of text and then automatically generating the mind map structure.

For more on outlines, see: Outline editing and indentation

2.5 Method 4: Create a card by excerpting from a document¶

Use the excerpt tool (or the hand tool) to excerpt content from a document and add it to the mind map.

Cards created this way keep their link to the document, so you can jump back to the original text.

Detailed tutorial: Manually excerpt to build a mind map

2.6 Method 5: Create cards with AI¶

Open the AI sidebar or floating window, enter your specific card-making requirements, and add the [Create Card] module; the AI will create cards automatically based on your requirements.

💡Basic steps:

Open the AI chat window
Enter your card-making requirements, for example: "Turn this passage into mind map cards"
Add the [Create Card] module
Send it to the AI to generate cards automatically

For more on AI, see: Meet the Chat sidebar (Chat): reconstruct the full thinking process; Meet the Ask floating window (Ask): ask the AI in place within documents and mind maps; Make good use of modules: write a great prompt in 3 seconds

3 Quickly editing cards¶

3.1 Editing a single card¶

3.1.1 Quickly edit content¶

Double-click a card's title / excerpt / comment to quickly enter the corresponding edit mode.

3.1.2 Change color and tags¶

Click a card to bring up its pop-up menu, where you can change the card's color and tags on the Basic tab.

For more on the card pop-up menu, see: The card pop-up menu and its customization.

3.2 Bulk-editing multiple cards¶

3.2.1 Dragging rect / selection tool: bulk-edit multiple adjacent cards¶

Long-press and drag on an empty area of the mind map to enclose the target cards; then use the bottom menu bar to bulk-edit them.

Common actions:

Cut / Copy: copy cards to the clipboard
Color / Tags: change the cards' color and tags
Link: get the cards' bidirectional links
Delete: delete the selected cards
Chat: open the AI chat window

Advanced actions: see the mind map bottom toolbar

3.2.2 Select Branch: bulk-edit every card in a branch¶

When a card branch is too long to select entirely with a drag rectangle, use the Select Branch feature to select the whole branch at once.

Steps:

Select the target card
Tap More on the bottom menu bar
Choose Select Branch
The card and all of its descendant nodes are selected

💡When to use: send an entire branch to the AI, bulk-add to review, bulk-change colors, and so on.

3.3 Quick editing with the outline¶

🖼️ image.

💡The outline view is especially good for editing a card's title and content fields, much like editing text in Word.

For more on outline editing, see: Outline editing and indentation.

4 In-depth editing with the card editor¶

The card editor is a standalone editing window for in-depth editing and management of a single card, with support for rich-text formats such as Markdown, LaTeX, and code blocks.

💡When should you use the card editor?

When you need to add complex content (code, formulas, audio, images, etc.)

When you need to fine-tune a card's multiple comments

When you need to set the front and back of a flashcard (review card mode)

4.1 How to open the card editor¶

Card editor

Click a card in the mind map and tap the editor icon (shown above) in the pop-up menu to open the card editor.

4.2 Editor window overview¶

Top-left: switch the card type
Note Card: the study card you see in documents and mind maps
Review Card: the flashcard, split into a front (the question) and a back (all the card's content)
- You must Add to Review first before you can switch to the review card
Top-right: close the card editor
Top bar: press and drag to move the editor
Bottom-right: press and drag to resize the editor window

4.3 Edit text styles (Markdown supported):¶

You can change the font and font size, emphasize text, and change font shading and font color.

⚠️Note: Card titles don't support Markdown; only comments support Markdown formatting.

💡The following covers only the editor functions for note cards. For editing review cards (flashcards), see: Flashcard creation ③: Set the front and back of a flashcard

From left to right:

Apple Pencil Doodle Mode
Draw and mark on images inside the card
Draw in the comment area (the blank space below) for working through calculations, analysis, and so on
Camera / Photo Library

Camera

Add photos to the card in two ways: take a photo with the camera or pick an image from the photo library.

💡When to use:

Quickly photograph the slides during a lecture and add them to your notes

For content that's hard to copy, such as wrong-answer problems from other web pages or printed material, take a screenshot and add it directly to a knowledge point in the mind map

Taking photos with the camera supports flash, shape recognition, auto shutter, and more. See: Camera
Audio

Create a new recording, or choose audio from the system Files app. For how to make a recording, see: Microphone

💡Useful for recording classroom explanations, or for personal speaking practice, talking through the logic of a concept, and so on 2. Tags

Create a new tag for the card, or add an existing tag.

3. Emphasize - Apply the emphasize (cloze) format to a block of characters in a card's comment. - Once you turn on recall mode or add the card to a review card deck, the emphasized parts are hidden—useful for review and recall. See: Document review: cloze occlusion and recall mode, and Flashcard creation ②: Add cards to a review card deck.

💡Note: comments in Markdown format don't yet support the emphasize feature. 4. Edit Comments

Reorder how comments are displayed, or delete comments

💡If you can't find the Edit Comments function, try widening the editor window. 5. More

See: Card editor

5 Frequently asked questions¶

Q1: What's the difference between the title, excerpt, and comment?

A: The title is the card's name, the excerpt is the original content from the document, and the comment is the note you add yourself.

Q2: When creating a card, when do I enter the title and when do I enter the body?

A: By default you enter the body. If you'd rather enter the title first, turn on Title First for New Cards in the hand tool settings.

Q3: What's the difference between excerpting from a document and creating from blank?

A: A card excerpted from a document keeps its link to the document, so you can jump back to the original text; a card created from blank is standalone, with no document link.

Q4: How do I quickly edit a card's title?

A: Double-click the card title to quickly enter edit mode.

Q5: What's the difference between the card editor and outline editing?

A: The card editor is best for in-depth editing of complex content on a single card; outline editing is best for quickly editing the titles and text of multiple cards.

6 📌 Next steps¶

Congratulations—you've mastered the basics of creating and editing mind map cards!

Next, learn how to organize and manage large numbers of mind map cards and build a structured knowledge system:

→ Continue learning: Mind Map Card ②: Card organization and management