Scapple doesn’t force you to make connections, and it doesn’t expect you to start out with one central idea off of which everything else is branched. There’s no built-in hierarchy at all, in fact—in Scapple, every note is equal, so you can connect them however you like. The idea behind Scapple is simple: when you are roughing out ideas, you need complete freedom to experiment with how those ideas best fit together.
Creating notes is as easy as double-clicking anywhere on the canvas and then typing; making connections between ideas is as painless as dragging and dropping one note onto another. And unlike with paper, you can move notes around and never run out of space.
Scapple is an easy-to-use tool for getting ideas down as quickly as possible and making connections between them. It isn’t exactly mind-mapping software—it’s more like a freeform text editor that allows you to make notes anywhere on the page and to connect them using straight dotted lines or arrows. If you’ve ever scribbled down ideas all over a piece of paper and drawn lines between related thoughts, then you already know what Scapple does.
Scapple’s nonlinear approach to the process of creative thinking is similar to what Gabriele Rico calls “clustering” in her popular book, Writing the Natural Way.
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Write notes anywhere on the virtual paper
Connect notes using drag and drop
Completely freeform
Stack notes in columns of related ideas
Drag notes directly into Scrivener
Customise the appearance of notes including font style, colours and a choice of border styles
Create background shapes to group notes
Watch a brief eight minute introduction, demonstrating the macOS version of Scapple.
Mac OS X: 1.2 — Release Notes
Windows: 1.0 — Release Notes
You can pay for Scapple using a variety of credit cards or a PayPal account.
E-Check (only available in the U.S.) and wire transfer also available. Bank fees may be applicable.
Scapple for macOS requires Mac OS X 10.6.8 (Snow Leopard) or greater, running on a 64-bit Intel based Mac.
Scapple for Windows is compatible with XP, Vista, Windows 7, 8.1 and 10 (32 or 64-bit). 80 Mb disk space. 1 Gb RAM.
Scapple comes with a generous “household” licence. This allows you to install Scapple on multiple computers (running the same operating system you purchased Scapple for) provided that you are the primary user or owner, and on any machines owned by members of your immediate family residing in your household. Businesses require separate licences for each user.
(*Not a spelling mistake—we’re British.)
