Support for external display - cards/mindmap on external display, document on iPad

Feature Requests IpadOS Ver.
#1

Hello. I have seen this feature being requested for many years, and the iPadOS developer docs suggest that it is a relatively easy ticket to fill. I would like to be able to connect my iPad to an external monitor, and extend MarginNote to display my mindmap (or cards) on the monitor, while keeping the doc open for full-screen viewing and annotating on the iPad. This would be very similar to the multi-window or split mode, but would be an ergonomic miracle. Without this feature, the apps feels incomplete to me in regard to workflow support.

Is there a roadmap for this? It has been asked for since 2018-2019, and many apps now support an external display, rather than simply mirroring (i.e. Notability).

#2

This is already possible on Mac. It would be great to see parity with the iPad so we can take advantage of the touch screen and pencil.

#3

Hello

Thank you for writing in.

We have the same need!

I have raised your request to our Development team but we cannot assure a time frame when it will be put into effect. Please feel free to contact us again if you need any assistance and we will be happy to provide further help.


Kind Regards,
MarginNote-Chelsea
Support Team

#4

I have not seen follow-up communication in previous threads where a similar comment was posted. Will there be any sort of follow-up or transparency regarding the roadmap and status of this potential feature from the development team?

#5

Hello

Sorry, this is indeed not available now, and there is no specific development plan for the time being.
You can use the following mirroring first to see how far away from your need. If it can't be met, please describe your situations in detail. And we will evaluate whether it is in line with our development direction. A detailed usage scenario will help a lot. Thanks!

image

Kind Regards,
MarginNote-Chelsea
Support Team

#6

Sure. I often use Marginnote on my Macbook with one window open to the mindmap on an external monitor, while the other has the book content. This way, I have more screen space for the paper and the mindmap and have physical separation between the two, which helps with context switching and directing my attention between annotating and structuring my information. Additionally, I make heavy use of my iPad and Pencil for highlighting, moving around mindmap notes, and most importantly- writing handwritten notes, drawing diagrams, and solving practice problems. I would like to be able to recreate my setup on the Macbook with the iPad and an external display so I get the best of both worlds. This is currently not achievable with mirroring and makes for a clunky experience (I need to switch which display I look at whenever gong between reading and annotation, and the small screen space is divided in half) so display extension is the way to go.

#7

Hello

Extensions on iPad is actually not so difficult, since full-screen mirroring has been implemented. The hard thing is not about technique, but the interactions. Because the external display cannot be controlled by keyboard and mouse the same as on the mac, it's necessary to develop independent interaction rules, such as how to control the zooming of the mindmap on the external display. Or maybe just display a part of the screen, that is, the mindmap section takes up a rather small part on iPad and display this part on external monitor, etc.

These things need to be designed from the ground up. I think we can discuss about it to see what you wish.

According to our development team, if there is a simple interactive execution plan, it can actually be implemented immediately. But if it is complicated, it will be arranged to a larger version update. So there is still uncertainty about the roadmap.

Kind Regards,
MarginNote-Chelsea
Support Team

#8

I see. This is a very good point and depends on the complexity of the interactions that could be supported if the mindmap or other views were on the second monitor, perhaps the team has some ideas based on their familiarity with the code base. Personally, I would be satisfied (minimum viable product) with a mindmap view that jumps to a selected highlight with a linked note if the linked note is selected. However, I thought about it some more and agree that it would be nicer if the navigation was more thorough and released at a later date.

#9

Hello

Thank you for your understanding and suggestions. Feel free to contact us if you have more problems. ^^

Kind Regards,
MarginNote-Chelsea
Support Team

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#10

Hello.

In recent days, I found that it may fulfill your needs as follows.

  1. Open two windows of MN.
  2. Screen Mirroring one of the window.
  3. Expand the document in this window and open the mindmap in the other (the not displayed one).
    Then you can use gestures on the iPad and read on the external screen.
    Furthermore, you can get the displayed window floated, and move it aside when you don’t need it.

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