How to open a .xmind file without XMind
Three ways to open a .xmind file when XMind is not installed, in your browser or on iPhone and iPad, and how to turn it into PNG or Markdown.
In short
- Open the XMind viewer on this site in a browser on your computer, tablet or phone.
- Choose Open file, or drop the .xmind file on the map area. The file stays on your device.
- Enter the password if the file asks for one, then look through each sheet.
- Edit any topic if you need to, then export a .xmind file, a PNG image, Markdown or OPML.
Someone sent you a .xmind file and you do not have XMind. You can still see the map, change it, and send it back. This guide covers the quickest ways, what to do when a file will not open, and how to get the contents into a form that anyone can read.
What a .xmind file is
A .xmind file is a mind map saved by XMind, a mind mapping app. It holds the topics, how they are nested, notes, and the sheets of the map. Double-clicking it on a computer without XMind usually does nothing, or offers to search for an app. The file is not broken. Your computer just has nothing assigned to open it.
If you need the file’s technical details, the file format page has them. You do not need them to open a map.
Way 1: Open it in your browser
The XMind viewer opens .xmind files of up to 50 MB in the page. Nothing is uploaded, because the file is read on your device. That matters if the map holds client names, plans or anything else you would not want to send to a server.
Here is what to expect:
- A file with several sheets gets a tab for each sheet.
- A password-protected file asks for its password. The password is checked in your browser too. See password-protected files.
- You can click a topic and edit it, add topics, or move them.
- It works on a phone or tablet browser as well, though a large map is easier on a bigger screen.
Close the tab and the map is gone from the page, apart from the autosave described below. Export before you leave if you want to keep your changes.
Way 2: Export the map you need
You may not want to edit at all. Often the real task is to put the map somewhere else: in a report, a slide, an email or a note. Pick the export that fits.
- A .xmind file keeps the whole map, so the sender can open it in XMind. If you only edited a file, the edits are patched into the original file in place. A password-protected map is exported sealed again with its password.
- A PNG image is the easiest to share or print. XMind to PNG goes straight to the image.
- Markdown gives you the topics and notes as a plain-text outline you can paste into any document. XMind to Markdown does this in one step.
- OPML is an outline format that many outliner and note apps can import. If you are not sure what that means, see OPML for mind maps.
Exporting a map lists what each format keeps.
Markdown and OPML keep the text and the nesting, but not the layout of the picture. A PNG keeps how it looks, but you cannot edit the text. Choose by what you need next.
Way 3: On iPhone and iPad
MindmapPal for iPhone and iPad opens .xmind files from the Files app, works offline and keeps each map as a file you own.
It is coming soon and is not on the App Store yet. You can join the waiting list on the home page. Until then, the browser route above works on an iPhone or iPad too.
If the file will not open
Most failures come from a short list of causes.
The file is too large. The web tool takes files up to 50 MB and up to 220,000 topics. A file over either limit will not open there.
The password is wrong. Passwords are case-sensitive. Ask the sender to confirm it, and watch for characters that look alike, such as a zero and a capital O.
The file is damaged. A download that stopped halfway, or a file renamed by an email system, can end up unreadable. Ask for the file again, and send it in a zip if your email keeps changing it.
It is not really a .xmind file. Check that the file name ends in .xmind. An XMind export to PDF or an image will not open as a map. The help pages explain each message the tool can show.
Will your edits survive?
The browser tool saves your work as you go, in this browser only. That means closing the tab and coming back on the same device will usually bring your map back, but it will not appear on another computer. Password-protected files are not autosaved. For anything that matters, export a file when you finish and keep it somewhere safe.
A short checklist for the sender and the receiver
If you are on the receiving end, ask the sender for a PNG as well as the .xmind file, so you can see the map even before it opens. If you are the sender, a Markdown export is a good plain-text fallback: anyone can read it, and any mind map tool can rebuild a map from it.
To see how MindmapPal compares with XMind itself, read MindmapPal vs XMind. For other apps that open .xmind files, see XMind alternatives. To go the other way and turn text into a map, see convert Markdown to a mind map.