In this article, I’m going to walk you through how I did it last time, why I did it again (so I could search System Settings), and how I improved the process to do it much faster than last time. But you may want to just jump to the mind map without hearing all of the gore behind its creation. You can find it here:<\/p>\n
Searchable Mind Map of All System Settings for macOS 26.1 (Tahoe)<\/a><\/p>\n From that page, you can also download the mind map in SVG format to have for your very own. You can get a Markdown version, which, when opened with Brett Terpstra’s Marked app<\/a>, is really useful. You can even get an OPML file if you favor an outline view. I even provided a ridiculously large PNG image file of the map, which is in no way helpful but might make a nice poster for the side of a building.<\/p>\n Now let’s get to the story behind the magic.<\/p>\n In 2017, I decided to mind map all<\/em> of the iOS Settings for iOS 11. This gargantuan task took me over a month, working on it for literally hours every single day. When I started, I had no idea it would take so long. But when I start a project, I nearly always finish it, even if no one asked me to do it.<\/p>\n When I published my Mind Map of Doom<\/a> (\u2122\ufe0f Donald Burr), I made sure to say that I would not be fixing any typos and that under no circumstances would I even consider trying to keep the mind map up to date as Apple changed it over the ensuing OS updates.<\/p>\n I have always been very proud of this mind map, and I smile when other people mention it, even though the admiration comes with a shake of the head at what kind of person would take on such a task. I also remembered calculating that, if printed out full-sized on US Letter paper, it would have been over six feet tall!<\/p>\n But it\u2019s not iOS I mapped; this time, I\u2019ve mind-mapped all of macOS 26 Settings.<\/p>\n I did have a problem to be solved when I undertook this next adventure in mind mapping. You\u2019ve probably noticed that Settings has gotten awfully complicated and deep, and it\u2019s often quite difficult to figure out where Apple may have buried a setting you seek. As a way to combat this problem, Apple added a search field, but for some reason, the success rate is only around 72%. You can find some settings using search, but a significant number of searches go unresolved.<\/p>\n As I\u2019ve bemoaned this situation, I\u2019ve ranted that this should be very easy to implement because there can\u2019t be that<\/em> many words in all of Settings. It\u2019s not like they\u2019re having to search something like, say, the Internet<\/em>, right?<\/p>\n Here\u2019s a perfect example. You know how sometimes you need to set the service order, like moving Ethernet above WiFi? Try searching for that in System Settings. You\u2019ll be rewarded for your trouble with the message:<\/p>\n \n No Results for \u201cSet Service order” Because I’ve got my handy dandy mind map of System Settings, I can tell you that Set Service Order is under Network, as you might expect, but you have to know to hit the nondescript, 3-dot menu with the downward chevron that\u2019s below the network device listing. Among a few other gems, you\u2019ll find Set Service Order.<\/p>\n My goal, through the magic of mind mapping, was to give you a searchable document that would show you exactly how to get to the setting you need.<\/p>\n As I started noodling around with the idea of going through this pain a second time, remembering the weeks and weeks of drudgery, I realized that the reason it took so long was that I had to type in every single setting. What if I could create the mind map without ever typing in anything at all? This would require some third-party tools that I already have at my disposal.<\/p>\n Before I dig into the tools, I know you’re never going to mind-map System Settings yourself. But as you learn about how I did this, keep the tricks and tools I’ll employ in the back of your mind for your own future projects.<\/p>\n If the goal is to never type any of the text, that means we need a way to copy and paste the original text. System Settings (and lots of other applications and tools) doesn’t have selectable text. The App Store, the Music app, the Books App, every image you see on the Internet \u2014 all of these have text you cannot select.<\/p>\n The good news is that there are several tools for macOS that will allow you to select and copy text from images or from any screen that doesn\u2019t normally allow selection of text.<\/p>\n TextSniper from textsniper.app\/\u2026<\/a> is a single-purpose app designed to help accomplish this task. It\u2019s $8 directly from the developer, $10 via the Mac App Store<\/a>, and it\u2019s available with a Setapp subscription. I said TextSniper was a single-purpose app, but it can also read QR codes and translate text to speech. By default, TextSniper will capture line breaks, but you can toggle that off. We\u2019ll talk about why that feature is important in a little bit.<\/p>\n The very powerful CleanShot X, designed to take screenshots and record onscreen video, can also capture text from what appear to be inaccessible sources. CleanShot X is available for $30 from the developer at cleanshot.com\/…<\/a> and through a Setapp subscription. CleanShot X\u2019s settings include a section for adding keyboard shortcuts where you can have one to capture text without line breaks and one with line breaks.<\/p>\n My go-to screenshot tool is Shottr from shottr.cc\/\u2026<\/a>. You can use it for free with slightly limited tools and occasional nagging, or buy it for $12, or be a member of the friends club like me for $30. Shottr also has the built-in capability of selecting an area from which to grab text.<\/p>\n By default, Shottr doesn\u2019t add line breaks. If you capture a block of inaccessible text from a website image, line breaks would make each line a separate segment of text, when you\u2019d probably want it as the original paragraph. I think that\u2019s why no line breaks is the default.<\/p>\n But there are many times you would<\/em> want line breaks, so right after you capture some text with Shottr, a little window pops up at the top of the screen offering to toggle on<\/em> line breaks. In Settings for Shottr, you can reverse the behavior so it defaults to keeping line breaks, but you can press the button after capture to remove them.<\/p>\n All three of these tools are equally good at copying inaccessible text, and it\u2019s terrific that we have so many choices on macOS. I use Shottr, but use what works for you.<\/p>\n Now, let\u2019s explore how I used Shottr to copy text in conjunction with mind mapping.<\/p>\n After the demise of my beloved iThoughts, I moved over to MindNode from www.mindnode.com\/\u2026<\/a>. My post on choosing an iThoughts replacement<\/a> may be my most commented on research project. Last December, the folks at MindNode released a new version of MindNode called MindNode Next<\/a>, but after testing early versions and finding they didn\u2019t support all of the capabilities I need, I\u2019ve stuck with their MindNode Classic version. I really should give MindNode Next another try sometime soon to see how far they\u2019ve gotten in developing the tool, since it is the future of the product.<\/p>\n To the very best of my ability, in creating the mind map for System Settings, I worked really hard to not include anything specific to the apps and devices on my Mac. However, in a few cases, I took poetic license. For example, I included settings for AirPods and Beats headphones, using my AirPods Pro and Beats Fit Pro. You probably don\u2019t have exactly the same devices as me, but since there was a whole section for these controls, and they’re very different depending on whether you have Apple earbuds or Beats, I thought you\u2019d allow it.<\/p>\n Now let\u2019s talk about how I used these tools together to capture all of macOS System Settings in less than a week and around 10 hours of work instead of a month of grueling work.<\/p>\n I opened System Settings on the left side of my screen, with MindNode on the right. In MindNode, I had a central node with an appropriate title. Once you\u2019ve added the central node, hitting Enter gets you out of typing mode and selects the current node, and a second Enter creates a new child node. If you\u2019re not a keystroke person, there will be a little plus to the right of the node when you hover over it, inviting you to create a new child node.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s the first amazing part. At the very top of System Settings, it says Apple Account. Without clicking into System Settings<\/em> and keeping MindNode as the active window, I used the keystroke \u2318\u21e78 to bring up the crosshairs to select text for Shottr to capture. (I chose that keystroke because it\u2019s the same as TextSniper, which I used before adding Shottr to my repertoire.) Even though you\u2019ll be clicking and dragging across the System Settings window, it does not bring System Settings to the foreground.<\/p>\n We now have the text in the System Clipboard, and the first top-level node in MindNode is ready to accept text. Since MindNode is still in the foreground, we can hit \u2318V to paste in the text. Boom, no typing! Maybe this sounds like it will take way longer than just typing \u201cApple Account\u201d, but when you need to do this literally hundreds of times, it goes way faster than typing and<\/em> there will be no typos.<\/p>\n Hit Enter twice, and you\u2019re ready to enter text for the first child node for Apple Account.<\/p>\n That was a baby step, and now I\u2019m going to blow your mind. One of the advantages of MindNode is that you can work in mind map mode, outline mode, or view both at the same time. In the upper left of the window, you\u2019ll see a little sidebar icon with a dropdown chevron. From that dropdown, if you choose Mind Map & Outline, the left sidebar will show you the outline view while the main window continues to show the Mind Map view.<\/p>\n We\u2019re going to open that side panel because there is one function that works only in outline, and it\u2019s the magical step to this process.<\/p>\n In System Settings, if we select Apple Account, we\u2019ll see a list of seven items, all of which have chevrons pointing to the right, indicating there are deeper options within. We want to create seven child nodes off of Apple Account. We could capture them one by one with the process we followed for the parent node, but there\u2019s a better way.<\/p>\n Switching back to MindNode as the foreground app, and with the first child node ready to accept text, we can again invoke the text recognition tool with our keystroke of choice. But this time, we\u2019re going to drag across all seven elements in System Settings, being very careful not to select the icons to the left of the words, or any of the chevrons on the right. We only want text.<\/p>\n As soon as we complete the selection area, Shottr will expose a pop-up at the top of the screen that says \u201cText without line breaks copied\u201d followed by the text it copied. All seven of the items will be run together, which is not what we want. On the right, you\u2019ll see a button that says \u201cAdd Breaks\u201d. If you select that button, it will change to \u201cCut Breaks\u201d in case you change your mind.<\/p>\n We still have MindNode as the foreground app with a node ready to accept text, so we simply hit \u2318V again to paste. This time, you\u2019ll see all seven items listed one above the other with line breaks all in that same node. Now we\u2019ll learn why I have the outline view showing in the sidebar.<\/p>\n In outline view, if you put your cursor to the left of the last item and hit Enter, it separates that line into a new child node.<\/p>\n Simply hitting the up arrow once pops you into the section with six remaining items, hit Enter again, and now we have five. Rinse and repeat, and all of the items are now properly in their separate nodes.<\/p>\n This was such a huge time-saver to get seven items copied at once, rather than copy text\/paste seven separate times! I used this more than a hundred times in creating this mind map.<\/p>\n The next step in the process, and this is a really important one, is to write a blog post all about this subject and how clever you are. As you\u2019re meticulously describing every step of copying seven lines of text and pasting them into a selected node, and then separating them one by one, discover there’s a far<\/em> easier way to create multiple nodes all at once.<\/p>\n Instead of having an empty child node in text entry mode, select the parent node, copy the 7 lines from System Settings with line breaks, and hit paste.<\/p>\nMapping iOS Settings in 2017<\/h2>\n
The Problem to be Solved<\/h2>\n
\n Check the spelling or try a new search.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n![\"Searching](\"https:\/\/www.podfeet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Searching-unsuccessfully-for-set-service-order-in-System-Settings.png\" "\\"Searching")
![\"Arrow](\"https:\/\/www.podfeet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Arrow-pointing-at-the-3-dot-chevron-where-set-service-order-is-buried.png\" "\\"Arrow"){kind=icon}
Copy the Text Instead of Typing it All<\/h2>\n
TextSniper<\/h3>\n
CleanShot X<\/h3>\n
Shottr<\/h3>\n
MindNode Classic + Shottr<\/h2>\n
Disclaimer<\/h2>\n
The Process<\/h2>\n
Let\u2019s Take it Up a Notch<\/h2>\n
![\"Select](\"https:\/\/www.podfeet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/select-mind-map-and-outline-from-the-left-sidbebar-dropdown.png\" "\\"select")
![\"Add](\"https:\/\/www.podfeet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Add-Breaks-in-Shottr-Text-Capture.png\" "\\"Add")
![\"Left](\"https:\/\/www.podfeet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Left-sidebar-showing-outline-with-main-window-showing-mind-map-and-7-items-in-one-node.png\" "\\"Left")
Now Write it Up and Find a Better Way to Create Multiple Nodes<\/h2>\n