Maps

A map is a workspace's living outline - a tree of Topics you and Mesh can add, rename, move, nest, and delete. It holds a whole body of work, its notes, and its references together as the work grows.

Demo clip coming soon
A map
In Geometry: a Symmetry & Tessellations map climbing from lines of symmetry up to patterns in art and nature.

When to reach for a map

Make a map when work needs to keep its shape over time - a course, a plan, a research thread, a project. It's where you and Mesh both know where new work belongs. For a one-off question, just ask; no map needed.

Each topic is one unit of the work - a concept, an area, a step, a question, or a container for smaller ones. Topics nest to any depth, and the shape is yours. Our Geometry map, Symmetry & Tessellations, climbs from lines of symmetry, to rotational symmetry, to the four transformations, to tessellations, and on to patterns in art and nature.

Build a map yourself, or ask Mesh to make one from a chat or from what's already in the workspace. It can start empty, with a single topic, or as a fuller outline when you ask.

Reading the map

A few quiet markers tell you where things stand. Parent topics carry a chevron to open and close; a header button expands or collapses the whole tree at once.

Active topicA green crosshair marks the one topic Mesh is centered on - only on the active map.
Resume pointOn any other map, a gray crosshair marks where you last left off - a quiet bookmark, not a live position.
A topicEvery other topic shows a plain gray dot. Click its row to open its home.
Demo clip coming soon
The active marker
On the active Geometry map, the green crosshair sits on Rotational Symmetry; another map shows a gray resume point instead.

Every map and topic has a Hub

Each map and each topic has a Hub - its home base. Open a map's from Map Hub in the header, or a topic's by clicking its row. The card floats over the tree, and Expand blows it up to fill the panel.

A rich noteThe heart of the Hub - the same editor as your standalone Notes, saved as you type.
ReferencesLink out to anything else in the workspace - a file, image, artifact, video, or another topic.
ContextOn the map's Hub only: your decisions for the map - the goal, details to respect, how hands-on Mesh should be.
MemoryThe plain, dated facts Mesh has learned about how the work is going.
Demo clip coming soon
A topic Hub
Opening the Rotational Symmetry topic: its note, its Memory button, and its active-topic chip.

Shaping the structure

Press Edit in the header to rearrange the tree. Changes draft as you go and land only on Save - or throw them away with Cancel.

  • Add - Add topic drops a new top-level topic; a topic's menu adds one before, after, or under it.
  • Move and nest - grab a topic by its Drag topic handle and drop it anywhere, at any depth.
  • Rename - click a topic's title, or the map's, to rename it in place.
  • Delete - remove a topic from its menu.
Demo clip coming soon
Editing the tree
In edit mode: dragging Tessellations under a parent, then adding a topic under it, before Save.

Mesh can make these same changes when you ask, and it always checks before removing anything. Deleting a topic with smaller ones under it asks how to handle them: Keep subtopics lifts them up a level, or Delete all removes the whole branch.

Activating a map

Making a map active tells Mesh which structure to center on; only one is active at a time. Set it from the header chip, the map list menu, or the Hub, and an Active tag appears on its list row.

Inside a topic's Hub, Activate this topic makes it the active topic - what Mesh treats as where you are, and what lights the green crosshair. There's much more on centering Mesh in Working in a map.

Tip  Not sure where a new note belongs? Activate the map and topic it's about, and Mesh files it in the right place for you.