TheBrain Tutorials

TheBrain Tutorials

The tutorials below apply to TheBrain for Windows and macOS.

For other platforms, see iOS tutorials or Android tutorials.

Prefer to watch a single all-in-one video? TheBrain 101 covers all the basics in a live session. Watch a pre-recorded video or join live every week.


The Basics.

Find how-to videos explaining the very basics of TheBrain to get started creating now!

Take a quick how-to tour of the most important features of TheBrain. A must-watch for beginners and a nice introduction to TheBrain 12 for veterans.

Thoughts and links are the fundamental building blocks of your Brain. Learn about the parent, child, and jump relationships.

A brief overview of the notes editor followed by examples of how to work with web and file attachments.

Covers a variety of ways to get around in your Brain quickly using search, pins, and other navigation shortcuts.

Syncing (3:25)

Sync keeps your Brain up to date on all your devices. All the details are covered here.

Generate lists of new thoughts or complex thought structures on any possible topic of interest with TheBrain's AI integration.

Use AI to generate new notes, or modify and improve existing content.


The Intermediate Concepts.

Ready to take the next steps? Continue your journey here.

Brain Themes (1:11)

Customize the look of your Brain with wallpaper, custom colors, and more.

Drag and Drop (3:15)

Drag and drop is the fastest way to integrate information from the web and your local file system into your Brain. Review the basics and learn more advanced options.

See how forgotten thoughts help keep your Brain relevant while keeping old information available at a moment's notice.

Layouts (3:09)

Explore the different view options including the outline and mind map layouts.

Use checkboxes to keep track of progress directly within notes.

It's easy to embed images and videos in notes.

Reference Thoughts directly from notes to navigate without leaving the notes editor. You can even use Thought links from external applications.

Notes: Tables (2:32)

This video tutorial will show you how to use Tables in TheBrain Notes.

Thought Tags (4:19)

Tags add another layer of flexibility to your Brain and their icons serve as quick visual reminders.

Undo and Redo (3:04)

Undo makes it easy to change your mind for nearly anything you do in your Brain.

Mapped Links, Backlinks and Unlinked Mentions are a powerful new way understand, navigate and take control of your digital brain.


The Advanced Concepts.

For those looking to truly unlock TheBrain's potential, look no further.

Use templates to create files inside your Brain instantly when you need them.

Open multiple brains and adjust the layout of TheBrain windows to suit your working style.

Thought Types (3:16)

Thought types provide another level of classification to help you keep your information consistent in your Brain.

The timeline lets you add dates, times and even reminders to Thoughts in your Brain.

Keyboard shortcuts make common actions faster and more convenient. TheBrain lets you add customizable shortcuts for virtually every command.

Using the keyboard to create and assign types and tags is fast and efficient.

Link Types in TheBrain allow you to make the meaning of the relationships between Thoughts more explicit.

If you are syncing your Brain to TheBrain Cloud and making your Brain public so others can access it, it's often necessary to mark some Thoughts as Private.

It's often important to review data and edits in a digital Brain. TheBrain makes it easy to perform these types of content reviews with History and Reports.

A quick way to populate a Brain with existing data is to use one of the many different import options. TheBrain also offers simple outline export options as well as export to JSON.

There are many different ways to share a Brain you have created with others.

As your digital Brain continues to grow, it's often necessary to copy or edit multiple Thoughts at one time with TheBrain's selection box.


The Special Occasions.

Use TheBrain to simplify your life during those special, but hectic times.

Use TheBrain to help you make your goals for the year a reality.

Have a productive Thanksgiving using TheBrain.

Learn how to organize all your holiday tasks and events in TheBrain.


Expand your knowledge.

Explore the full Version 14 User Guide below to learn more: