Copy and paste
Select one or more branches and press ⌘C. Each selected branch is copied with everything below it, and the app you paste into receives the richest form it understands.
Copy
⌘C copies the selection in several forms at once:
- formatted text, for apps such as Pages, Notes, TextEdit and Obsidian, which receive a bulleted list with bold, italics and links
- Markdown text, for apps that accept only plain text
- a Graphmark form, so that a copy and paste between maps keeps notes, tags and tasks
⌘X cuts the selection in the same way.
The Edit menu has three more ways to copy:
| Command | What it copies |
|---|---|
| Copy as Markdown (⌥⌘C) | Only the Markdown text. Use it when you want the source, for example to paste into a code editor or a chat with an AI assistant. |
| Copy as PDF | A picture of the selected branches, or of the whole map when nothing is selected, as a vector PDF. |
| Copy as PNG | The same picture as a PNG image. |
The PDF and PNG copies have a transparent background, so they sit on any page or slide.
Paste
⌘V pastes into the map:
- A list becomes branches below the selected branch. With nothing selected, it becomes new main topics. A folded branch is unfolded so you can see what you pasted.
- A picture is attached to the selected branch. See Pictures.
Paste as Markdown (⌥⌘V) in the Edit menu reads the plain text on the clipboard as Markdown, even when formatted text is available too. Copy a list from a web page, for example, and ⌘V gives you the list as the page showed it, while Paste as Markdown gives you the text the page’s author wrote.
While you edit text
While you edit a title, or work in the document pane, ⌘C, ⌘X and ⌘V copy and paste text as in any other text field.