VERSION 11 USER GUIDE Companion for using Version 11 of TheBrain. Posted February 2020 ©2020. TheBrain Technologies LP. All Rights Reserved. TheBrain, PersonalBrain, Brain, Thought, Thoughts, and Work the Way You Think are trademarks or registered trademarks of TheBrain Technologies LP. Other trademarks or service marks appearing herein are the property of their respective owners. Table of Contents Table of Contents Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 1 Thoughts are Information........................................................................................ 1 TheBrain’s Dynamic Graphical Interface ................................................................ 2 Cross Platform Accessibility ................................................................................... 2 About this Guide ..................................................................................................... 2 Note to macOS Users ............................................................................................. 3 Installing TheBrain and Creating an Account ......................................................... 8 Opening Older Brains ........................................................................................... 11 Suggestions for Transitioning to Your New Brain ................................................ 14 A Guided Tour of TheBrain ............................................................................................ 15 Part 1: Start Up and Explore the Brain Window ................................................... 15 Part 2: Create New Thoughts ............................................................................... 20 Part 3: Find, Add Attachments, Link, and Delete Thoughts ................................. 24 Understanding Thought Relationships ........................................................................ 33 Families of Thoughts............................................................................................. 37 Navigating Your Brain .................................................................................................... 39 Opening a Brain .................................................................................................... 40 Opening a Brain that Doesn’t Appear in the Brains Tab ...................................... 42 Managing Brains Using the Tabs ......................................................................... 42 Opening Content Associated with a Thought ....................................................... 43 Showing Thought Content on Hover .................................................................... 44 Previewing Thought Content ................................................................................ 44 Editing Additional Attachments ............................................................................. 45 Pins ....................................................................................................................... 45 Activating Recent Thoughts: The Past Thought List ............................................ 47 Searching Your Brain ............................................................................................ 49 Instant Activation ............................................................................................. 49 Searching within Attachments ........................................................................ 51 Additional Search Functionality ............................................................................ 51 Customizing Your Brain’s Environment ...................................................................... 53 TheBrain’s Default Settings .................................................................................. 53 Using Smart Splitter to Arrange TheBrain Window .............................................. 53 Moving Thoughts in the Plex ................................................................................ 54 Resizing the Thoughts in the Plex ........................................................................ 55 Customizing Your Brain’s Appearance ................................................................. 57 Selecting a Theme .......................................................................................... 57 Customizing a Theme’s Colors ....................................................................... 59 TheBrain 11 User Guide i Table of Contents Defining and Selecting Additional Colors ....................................................... 61 Selecting a Custom Image for the Plex .......................................................... 62 Changing the Default Text Font in the Plex ................................................... 64 Changing the Default Notes Style .................................................................. 65 Reverting to the Original Theme’s Default Settings ....................................... 66 Saving Themes ............................................................................................... 67 Renaming a Theme ........................................................................................ 69 Deleting a Theme ............................................................................................ 69 Importing and Exporting Themes ................................................................... 70 Dark Mode ............................................................................................................. 71 Setting Other Preferences .................................................................................... 72 Look & Feel Preferences ................................................................................ 73 Behavior Preferences ..................................................................................... 75 Notes Editor .................................................................................................... 77 System Preferences........................................................................................ 79 Keyboard Preferences .................................................................................... 80 Creating Thoughts .......................................................................................................... 89 Creating a Single Thought .................................................................................... 89 Creating Multiple Thoughts at Once ..................................................................... 91 Creating Context-Sensitive Thought Names Using Commas .............................. 91 Creating Orphan Thoughts ................................................................................... 92 Changing the Display Order of Thoughts ............................................................. 93 Copying Thoughts Within and Between Brains .................................................... 94 Undoing and Redoing Actions .............................................................................. 96 Editing Thoughts and Links .......................................................................................... 97 Renaming Thoughts.............................................................................................. 97 Selecting Multiple Thoughts ................................................................................. 97 Other Selection Uses .................................................................................... 100 Deleting and Forgetting Thoughts ...................................................................... 100 Unlinking Thoughts ............................................................................................. 104 Linking Existing Thoughts ................................................................................... 105 Link to Thoughts Visible in the Plex ............................................................. 105 Link by Dragging to a Pin.............................................................................. 105 Link by Dragging to the Past Thought List ................................................... 106 Link by Selecting a Thought in the Existing Thought List ............................ 106 Link Using the Selection Box ........................................................................ 107 Cancel Creation of a Link ............................................................................. 108 Changing Relationships Using Drag and Drop .................................................. 108 Customizing Thought and Link Properties ................................................................ 110 Changing the Properties of a Thought ............................................................... 110 TheBrain 11 User Guide ii Table of Contents Changing the Colors of a Thought ............................................................... 111 Adding a Label to a Thought ........................................................................ 113 Swapping a Thought’s Name with its Label ................................................. 113 Adding a Picture to a Thought ...................................................................... 114 Inherited Properties Will be Displayed in the Thought Properties Dialog .... 118 Clear Inheritable Properties .......................................................................... 118 Making Thoughts Private .............................................................................