PersonalBrain and iPad/iPhone

Hi all,

If you haven't seen the Personal Brain software (for Mac/PC/Linux/Web) then you may want to head over to www.thebrain.com to check out the software. Anyway this post is for those users of the Personal Brain who really want to transport and view their Brains on their iPad or iPhone. If you have been looking for a way to view your brain on your iPad/iPhone without having to be online then please continue reading.

Problem

The Personal Brain is a great visually-oriented mind mapping software that allows one to arrange thoughts as a set of interconnected notes. The Brain allows for distinctive relationships to be formed in ways that increase one's productivity. Unfortunately, as of this date, the Brain application will not run on one's iPad. Also, for those who may be offline, a need exists to see the Brain while not connected to a wifi/phone network.

Solution

One solution to this problem is to select the brain/thoughts one wants to make available offline, export this data to a folder, and copy the information into the iPad/iPhone so that one may view and navigate the particular set of thoughts. One will need to purchase an app called GoodReader (currently $2.99) in the Apple iPad apps store. Using the Good Reader product and the instructions below will allow one to host/view/search a Brain within an iPad/iPhone without being connected to the Internet (sorry not good for edits at this time).

Setting the Home Thought

To begin this process one must select the thoughts that are to be exported. I find that Outline mode is the most useful viewpoint for me. I switch to View\Outline. Next I highlight the thought which will be the base (top/home) node of my exported data. I set the highlighted node as the Home Thought in order to tell the Brain to use this node as my starting point.

Selecting additional Nodes

One must continue selecting nodes so that the Brain understands what you want to export. One can hold the Ctrl key (Cmd on the Mac) and click the circles under the Home Thought (if selecting the first level beneath that node). Continue holding the Ctrl key (Cmd on Mac) to add different thoughts to include in the selection list.

Tip - An interesting tip is that holding the Ctrl key (Cmd on Mac) and clicking a circle next to the thought that is filled-in (rather than a clear circle) will select all of the nodes one level below the existing thought. In this way one can quickly expand the selection set of data to be exported. See the PersonalBrain101 blog for more tips on multiple thought selection (http://personalbrain101.blogspot.com/2007/10/pb-tip-of-day.html)

Important Note - You must also include the Home Thought in the selection set that you've set previously otherwise the export won't work. Hold Ctrl (Cmd) key and select the Home Thought, which will then appear in the selection set.

Exporting

With the selection set finalized you can go to File \ Export and select Simple HTML. You will be prompted to save brain or thoughts to an output folder. You will need to remember this folder later. Change the name to something memorable (I tend to just use initials).

After clicking OK one will see the exported thoughts being generated and when complete can view the exported brains within subfolders of the output folder.

At this point one will have a fully functional website containing the exported thoughts.

One can navigate the thoughts and see associated notes related to the thoughts.

Good Reader

Before proceeding one will need to ensure that the Good Reader application is installed. When I wrote this post, the product cost $2.99 (USD). Once installed you can open the app and just hit the wifi icon (this will instantly make a folder available on your iPad onto which one may copy the files).

See Good Reader Wifi Setup Tips
(http://www.goodreader.net/gr-man-tr-wifi.html)

Copying Files over to the iPad/iPhone

One may use the instructions on the preceding screen to open a connection from one's PC to the iPad at this point. Once you follow the instructions about how to connect to the iPad from your PC/Mac then you will be able to drag and drop the exported Brain sub-folders onto the iPad/iPhone folder as indicated above. If all goes well then one should see a copy operation happening similar to the following:

See Good Reader Wifi File Transfer Tips (Mac)
(http://www.goodreader.net/gr-man-tr-wifi-mac.html)

Important Tip - If you do not have a wifi network or just want to connect to Good Reader from your PC/Mac with a USB cable then you can review the instructions at (http://www.goodreader.net/gr-man-tr-usb.html).

Summary

Using a solution of Good Reader on the iPad/iPhone is one method of viewing either an entire Brain or a subset of thoughts from the Personal Brain product. To successfully migrate the content requires one to select the required thoughts and export them to a set of files. Creating a connection to one's iPad/iPhone and the workstation (PC/Mac) can allow one to simply copy the exported files onto the iPad device take the Brain with you on your device. A simple HTML site is then accessible from within the Good Reader by browsing the folder structure and selecting the index.html file created.

Extra Points

If you're still with me then it means you just may be ready for extra points. One may also select export to Site Brain HTML. This will produce a brain-like interface that can be carried in one's iPad/iPhone.

Following through on the steps to connect one's iPad/iPhone using Good Reader and copying a Site Brain HTML then allows one to see the normal Personal SiteBrain interface within the iPad/iPhone (including search index if selected during export screen).

Important Tip - The notes section is visible by scrolling on the iPad after selecting a thought with notes. One may also use the Red arrow in the upper left hand corner to expand/contract the notes section. Scrolling within a note works using normal iPad/iPhone conventions.

That's it in a nutshell. How to get a PersonalBrain onto an iPad. Please keep in mind that SiteBrain versions require more resources than the Simple HTML export. I hope this provides an interesting start on merging (what I consider) the best mind mapping product with the best mobile devices (all subjective I know). Please drop me a comment on what works, doesn't work, and any new findings using these methods.