Freemind on the Mac, and converting to OPML

I wrote last year about a great open source brainstorming and mind mapping tool, Freemind 0.8.0 - Java Mind Map software, but I was concerned that the program hadn’t seen a significant update in several years. Well, it’s just been updated this year to 0.8.1, and you can download it from SourceForge.net: FreeMind. Version 0.9.0 is still an unstable beta, and not readily available

As a Mac guy, I’m interested in Importing/exporting to FreeMind from my favorite outliner program, OmniOutliner. I started by downloading version 0.8.1 from 2008-01-26, as a Mac OS X .dmg file, which is the most recent version of the program available as a DMG file.

Next, it’s time to run XSLT transformations on the Mac. Some XSLT resources:

The Tao of Mac - Resources led me to XSLT Tools Scripting Addition. I downloaded their XSLT Tools. I also looked at AquaXSL, from Scandalous Software - Mac XML Tools by Todd Ditchendorf, which is not suitable for bulk transformations, but demonstrated that I could take a FreeMind document, convert it to OPML, and open it in OmniOutliner.

I can script this using Automator: Transforming a Shell Script into an Automator Action using the xsltproc tool, or I can just do it from the command line, like this:

xsltproc --verbose --output output-file.opml /Applications/FreeMind/accessories/mm2opml.xsl inputfile.xml

Note that xsltproc doesn’t care what the file names or extensions are, either.

Now I’m getting greedy: I’d like to use these tools to connect FreeMind to OmniFocus. Answers to the question Export to omni outliner? led me to some AppleScripts that might help: Omnifocus to Omnioutliner Pro exporter and Create an OPML version of the Omnifocus database, or Curt Clifton | Software offer some export scripts for OmniFocus.

These tools are useful for anyone who uses mind mapping software that supports OPML, including NovaMind Pro Mind Mapping Software.