How to Build Mind Maps in ClickUp

ClickUp helps you move beyond rigid Excel charts and build visual mind maps that keep ideas, tasks, and projects all in one place. This how-to guide walks you through replacing spreadsheets with flexible mind mapping workflows so your team can brainstorm, organize, and execute without leaving your workspace.

The steps below are based on the concepts in the original Excel mind map guide, adapted so you can do everything faster and more clearly inside a modern work platform.

Why Use ClickUp Instead of Excel for Mind Maps

Traditional spreadsheets can sketch out a basic mind map, but they quickly become cluttered and hard to adjust. A dedicated workspace like ClickUp gives you:

• Visual mind map layouts instead of grid cells
• Bidirectional links between ideas and tasks
• Real-time collaboration and comments
• Templates for repeatable brainstorming sessions
• Connections to documents, whiteboards, and dashboards

These advantages make it easier to grow a simple idea into a structured project plan without re-creating everything in another tool.

Plan Your Mind Map Before You Open ClickUp

Before building anything, clarify the goal of your mind map. In the source Excel-based approach, you start with a central theme and branches. The same planning applies here:

• Define the central topic: product idea, process, marketing campaign, or knowledge base.
• List main branches: features, audience segments, channels, deadlines, or milestones.
• Note subtopics: tasks, resources, owners, and dependencies.

Having this outline ready will make setting up your workspace in ClickUp much faster and more consistent.

Create a Space and List for Your ClickUp Mind Map

To mirror the structure of a spreadsheet mind map, begin by setting up a dedicated area for your ideas. Here is a simple structure that works for most teams.

Step 1: Create or Choose a ClickUp Space

1. Open your workspace and click to add a new Space.
2. Name it after your main topic, such as “Product Mind Map” or “Marketing Strategy.”
3. Set basic settings: statuses, default views, and access for your team.

This Space becomes the container for all tasks, subtasks, and views connected to your mind map.

Step 2: Add a List for the Central Topic

1. Create a new List inside the Space.
2. Use the central theme as the List name, for example “New App Launch.”
3. Think of this List as the hub that will hold each branch as a task.

In a spreadsheet, each row might represent an item. In ClickUp, each task will become a branch or node in your mind map.

Build the Core Structure of Your ClickUp Mind Map

Now you can translate the skeleton of your mind map into tasks and subtasks. This lets you keep the visual overview and the detailed execution plan together.

Step 3: Add Tasks for Main Branches

1. Inside your List, create tasks named after your primary branches, such as “Market Research,” “Feature Ideas,” “Budget,” or “Timeline.”
2. Use color tags or custom fields to group similar branches if needed.
3. Assign owners and rough due dates for high-level accountability.

These top-level tasks mirror the first layer of nodes you would normally draw around the center in an Excel diagram.

Step 4: Add Subtasks for Details

1. Open each branch task and create subtasks for specific ideas or actions.
2. Break complex items into nested subtasks if your plan has several levels.
3. Attach files, links, and notes to each subtask for quick context.

This hierarchy replaces manual shape-drawing and connector lines, while remaining easy to edit as your thinking evolves.

Use ClickUp Views to Visualize Your Mind Map

One of the advantages over spreadsheets is the ability to switch between visual and tabular representations. Instead of managing shapes in cells, you can use different views to see your mind map from several angles.

Step 5: Switch to a Visual View

Depending on your plan type and preferences, choose a visual view to approximate or improve upon an Excel style mind map:

• Mind Map-style layouts: See tasks and subtasks as connected nodes to quickly follow relationships.
• Whiteboard or diagram-style layouts: Drag and drop nodes, draw relationships, and annotate ideas on an open canvas.
• Board view: Represent branches as columns and ideas as cards for a kanban-like perspective.

These visualizations make it easier to spot gaps, duplicate ideas, or overloaded branches.

Step 6: Use List or Table View for Structured Data

To reproduce the grid-like feeling of Excel while keeping all the benefits of ClickUp, switch to List or Table view:

• Display tasks and subtasks in rows.
• Show custom fields as columns for phase, priority, cost, or effort.
• Sort or filter data to slice your mind map in different ways.

This view makes reporting and prioritization easier than scrolling through a cluttered spreadsheet.

Enhance Your ClickUp Mind Map With Templates

In the original Excel-based process, every new mind map requires copying shapes, reformatting, and recreating formulas. A big advantage of ClickUp is the ability to save your best layouts as templates.

Step 7: Turn a Completed Map Into a Template

1. Open the Space, Folder, or List that holds a well-structured mind map.
2. Use the template options to save it, including views, tasks, and fields.
3. Name the template clearly, such as “Brainstorm Mind Map Template” or “Process Mapping Template.”

Next time you run a workshop, you can spin up a new mind map with a few clicks instead of rearranging spreadsheet cells.

Collaborate and Refine Inside ClickUp

Excel files are often emailed around as attachments, leading to version conflicts and lost feedback. With a collaboration-first workspace, your team can contribute directly on the mind map.

Step 8: Invite Stakeholders and Assign Work

• Share the Space or List with your team and stakeholders.
• Assign owners to branches and action items.
• Use comments for feedback on specific ideas or nodes.

This keeps discussion attached to the exact part of the mind map it refers to, unlike long email threads or scattered chat messages.

Step 9: Track Progress From Idea to Execution

• Apply statuses to tasks and subtasks to show where each idea stands.
• Use dashboards to summarize progress across your mind map.
• Review and archive completed branches to keep the visual map clean.

Over time, you build a living knowledge base instead of static Excel diagrams that are forgotten after a workshop.

Connect Your ClickUp Mind Map to Broader Workflows

Your mind map does not have to exist in isolation. You can connect it with documents, goals, and operations so ideas turn into real outcomes.

• Link tasks to documents that include research notes or specifications.
• Tie branches to goals or key results to measure impact.
• Create automations to notify stakeholders as key items move forward.

If you need additional guidance on structuring processes and workflows around your visual maps, specialized consulting sites such as Consultevo can complement your internal expertise.

Move Beyond Excel Mind Maps With ClickUp

By shifting from static spreadsheets to a flexible workspace, you keep brainstorming, planning, and execution together. You still get the structured feel of Excel when you need it, but you gain visual views, templates, collaboration tools, and live progress tracking.

Use the steps in this guide to define your topic, build a hierarchy of branches and details, visualize it with different views, and then turn your best setup into a reusable template. Over time, every new project can start with a clear, living mind map that grows alongside your work.

Need Help With ClickUp?

If you want expert help building, automating, or scaling your ClickUp workspace, work with ConsultEvo — trusted ClickUp Solution Partners.

Get Help

“`