# Turn scattered thinking into a connected map

You have notes, a plan, and a few files about the same thing, and right now they are scattered across folders that do not talk to each other. By the end of this page you will have pulled them onto one board, wired them together as you work, and then watched a real map of that work draw itself, a map you can color, save, and return to in one click. The point is not to make a pretty diagram. It is that the structure ends up being a side effect of doing the work, not a second job you do afterward.

This is a guided path. For the exact mechanics at each step, follow the link into the reference page rather than memorizing anything here.

## 1. Lay it out in space

Start with a [canvas](/docs/workspace/canvas/), an infinite board you arrange things on. Drop your loose notes, files, and a few sticky cards onto it and push them around until related things sit near related things. Clusters will form: the research over here, the open questions over there, the decisions in the middle.

Why start here: space is how people actually think before they know the shape of a thing. You do not have to name a folder or pick a category. You just put things where they feel like they belong, and the arrangement itself starts telling you what the structure is.

:::tip Don't sort first
Resist the urge to organize before you arrange. Dump everything onto the board, then move it. The right groupings are easier to see than to guess.
:::

## 2. Embed the live plan, not a picture of it

Now drop your plan onto the same board. On a canvas this is the real, live [plan](/docs/workspace/plans/), not a screenshot of one. Edit it on the board and the file updates; edit the file and the card updates. The same is true of any note you embed. See [Canvas: Live, not a snapshot](/docs/workspace/canvas/#live-not-a-snapshot) for how embeds stay tied to their source.

Why this matters: a static screenshot rots the moment the work moves on. A live embed means the board is a window into your real work, so the map you are building never drifts out of date behind your back. You can sit the brief and the plan side by side and actually run from that view.

## 3. Connect ideas as you write

Here is where the structure starts building itself. Instead of only drawing lines on the board, link items inside your writing with a [wikilink](/docs/workspace/wikilinks-and-backlinks/): type two brackets and link to any item by name, mid-sentence, without stopping to file anything.

Every wikilink does two extra things for free. The item you link to gets a [backlink](/docs/workspace/wikilinks-and-backlinks/#backlinks-context-that-finds-you) pointing back at you, so context you never filed by hand finds its way home. And each link becomes an edge in the graph you will open in a moment.

Why this beats organizing up front: you do not have to design a taxonomy before you understand the thing. You link as you go, and the relationships, backlinks, and graph emerge from the work itself. The links are the structure.

:::tip Link first, organize never
Don't stop to decide where something "should" live. Drop a wikilink, keep writing, and let the connections surface the structure later.
:::

## 4. See the structure that emerged

Open [Undraverse](/docs/undraverse/groups-and-presets/), your whole workspace drawn as a living map. Every note, plan, and canvas is a node, and every wikilink you wrote is an edge. This is the moment the path pays off: the shape you were guessing at on the canvas is now something you can actually see.

What to look for: clusters you did not plan, and gaps where something you expected to be connected is drifting on its own. These are exactly the patterns a file tree hides from you. A lonely node usually means a missing link, so this view doubles as a to-do list for your thinking.

## 5. Color a pattern and save the view

A growing map gets busy, so the last step is to make the part you care about stand out and then save that view. In Undraverse, create a [group](/docs/undraverse/groups-and-presets/#groups), a reusable color rule that paints every node matching a query (for example, everything tagged for this project). Pick a color so that pattern pops out of the noise. Then save the whole setup as a [preset](/docs/undraverse/groups-and-presets/#presets) so you can return to this exact view in one click instead of rebuilding it every time. The step-by-step lives in [What to try](/docs/undraverse/groups-and-presets/#what-to-try).

Why save it: the first time you build a useful view it is worth the few seconds it took. The tenth time you want it, a saved preset is the difference between a map you actually use and one you rebuild from scratch and therefore never open.

:::note Groups are rules, not lists
A group keeps matching new items automatically as your work grows, so the view you saved today still highlights the right things next month without you touching it.
:::

## Where to go next

- **[Canvas](/docs/workspace/canvas/)**: every way to arrange and connect live items in space.
- **[Wikilinks & backlinks](/docs/workspace/wikilinks-and-backlinks/)**: the syntax and what each link powers.
- **[Undraverse: Groups & presets](/docs/undraverse/groups-and-presets/)**: color rules, presets, and reading the graph.