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Visualize your ideas with a concept map maker

Keep your team’s ideas flowing and organized with a concept map maker from Confluence.

Get started with a free concept map template.

What is concept mapping?

Concept mapping is a powerful visual technique for organizing and structuring knowledge, ideas, and concepts. It involves creating a diagram that displays the relationships between different concepts and transforms complex information into a clear, organized map.

Whether you’re a student looking to grasp new material or a professional aiming to streamline decision-making and problem-solving, concept mapping provides a structured way to organize and present your ideas. By mapping out relationships, you can gain a clearer understanding of the bigger picture and bring clarity to complex information.

Benefits of concept maps

Concept maps offer powerful advantages for both individuals and teams. By turning ideas into a visual format, they make complex information easier to explore, understand, and communicate. Here are some of the key benefits:

Organize and structure knowledge visually, making complex topics easier to understand and remember.
Identify relationships, patterns, and trends at a glance, revealing how concepts connect.
Break down complicated topics into manageable parts, improving clarity and decision-making.
Enhance information retention and spark creative brainstorming by presenting ideas in a flexible visual layout.
Strengthen collaboration, communication, and critical thinking by giving teams a shared, analytical view of information.

Create dynamic concept maps

Confluence offers several dynamic concept mapping tools to help you organize your projects, decision-making processes, and knowledge base effectively. It provides everything you need to learn how to make a concept map quickly and efficiently.

User-friendly interface

Confluence whiteboards make creating and editing a concept map quick and intuitive.

Drag-and-drop functionality lets you simply drag and link the concepts you create to form relationships.
A variety of color themes allow you to tailor concept and relationship link displays according to your preferences. Customization options help keep your map organized and visually appealing.
Flexible editing tools, such as link arrow adjustability, concept resizing, and movability, ensure your concept map is easy to manage and keep up-to-date.

Learn more about Confluence whiteboards

Collaborate with team members

Concept maps enable smooth team collaboration so everyone can contribute to and utilize a shared map.

Easily visualize relationships between concepts. Anyone can add or modify concept shapes, links, and text to create a shared model of the topic.
A visual approach ensures your team is on the same page, able to spot information gaps and identify areas needing clarification or more research.
Team members can simultaneously access and edit an interactive concept map. Updates are automatically saved and visible to everyone, so progress is never lost, and the concept map reflects the team's current understanding.

Integrate with other tools

Concept maps integrate easily with other applications so teams can connect workstreams.

Connect your concept map to other tools through Application Programming Interface (API) features or by exporting it.
Export your map as an image file to embed in documents, presentations, or websites. You can also export it as a JSON file to integrate it programmatically.
You can create, read, update, and delete concept maps and their elements directly from your applications using an API. This enables seamless two-way syncing between your preferred tools.

Concept map examples and free templates

Confluence offers a variety of templates for every kind of team and project, making it easy to create dynamic concept maps. Start with a blank canvas for complete flexibility, or use a ready-made template to build a structured map quickly.

Explore templates

Mind map

A mind map template organizes thoughts using diagrams, colors, and images — ideal for generating new ideas and supporting creative thinking.

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Flowchart

A flowchart template makes it easy to visualize complex systems and project processes, helping you understand how different components interact.

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Brainwriting

A brainwriting template offers an inclusive framework for brainstorming sessions, helping teams generate innovative ideas and solutions.

Use template

Why Confluence?

Versatile content creation

Bring your ideas to life with a rich palette of content: Whiteboards, Databases, and videos within every Confluence Page.

Organization that scales

You’ll never outgrow Confluence. Project resources and company knowledge stay centralized and discoverable.

Powerful integrations

Connect Confluence to thousands of your favorite tools to access data and manage workflows across apps.

Data protection

User-level permissions keep your information private. Company data stays secure and always remains in your control.

“You create more ownership of your own decisions and of the future of the company. Transparency makes your employees better entrepreneurs, which we think is a huge win.”