If you have Personal Brain 3

Please refer to Topicscape's Help system or this page in the online Help.

If you have Personal Brain 4

Assumptions:
1. That you have the latest version of 3D Topicscape Pro - 1.5 and above is required to import from Personal Brain 4.
2. That, if you have PB3 files that you want to import into Topicscape, you have already converted them to PB4. If not please use the above method.
3. That you have the full version of Personal Brain 4, which is the only one that provides the necessary export function. Open PB4 and check the File | Export menu. If the "XML for BrainEKP" is active, then select this to export the Brain file currently open. If that menu item is grayed out, you do not have a full version and cannot export. Topicscape imports .pba files that the export process produces. Also you must use the latest version of PB4. For a time, the Beta versions exported incomplete data in the pba file, but our testing shows the live version of PB4 to export the previously-missing data now.

Actions:
Step 1. Open Personal Brain 4. Choose menu items as follows: File | Export | XML for BrainEKP export the .pba file to a suitable location - for the description below, we assume you save it in a new folder on the desktop called "Topicscape import". You should wait a few minutes after the export appears to have finished before closing Personal Brain: We have noticed that some work to put all of the results into one .pba file continues after the progress message in the top right of the window suggests that the export has finished.

Step 2. Close Personal Brain 4.

Step 3. Open 3D Topicscape Pro.

Step 4. Be sure that you are in Mode: User's (or Expert) - there is a drop down near the left-hand end of the toolbar that controls this. If in User's Mode, make sure that Enhance Main Menu functions is on as follows: Tools | Options | User Preferences tab | Enhanced Menus heading | Enhance Main Menu functions checkbox is checked.

Step 5. Then start the import. Choose menu items as follows: File | Import. . .

Step 6. On the Import panel, select the 'Other products' radio button and choose PersonalBrain (.xml, .pba) from the drop-down beside it.

Step 7. Leave the radio button "New Topicscape" selected. (For the other option, Floating topic in this Topicscape, please see * Note below.)

Step 8. In the "File name" text box, please navigate to the "Topicscape import" folder on your desktop and choose the .pba file just exported from PB4 and press Open. For this example, we will assume the Brain you are importing is called "Reference". Press OK in the Import panel.

Step 9. Choose a name for the Topicscape - it will default to the name passed by Personal Brain: In this example "Reference".

Step 10. Choose a destination for the Topicscape (My Topicscapes is the recommended location). Topicscape will make a folder there with the same name as the one you chose for the Topicscape - in this example "Reference".

Step 11. Press OK.

Step 12. Topicscape will unpack the .pba file (this takes a minute or so with a large Brain), make the folder called "Reference" at the specified destination and build your new Topicscape from the exported data.

Step 13. It may be that files referred to in Personal Brain have been moved since they were stored in PB. Topicscape will show a report of such files, if so. In this case, you will have the option to write a list of these files to a .csv file that can be opened with a spreadsheet program. Then you can either specify the folder that files are in now, or "Use this Topicscape's folder". If you select the latter button, you can later drop the files into the new Topicscape's folder ("Reference") and the links will be restored.

Step 14. Topicscape will then physically copy the files to the folder "Reference".

Step 15. Once Topicscape starts to build the 3D structure from the Brain data, you will see progress bars for four stages. This will usually take less time than the file unpacking and copying.

Step 16. When the Topicscape appears, the original first Thought of your Personal Brain will be the Topicscape's Home topic. To center that (i.e. make it into the Current Topic), please use the Favorites menu - Topics> and choose the Home: entry.

* Note: Importing as a floating topic
You can also choose to import an entire Brain into the present Topicscape instead of making a new one if you wish. In that case, in the import panel, please select the radio button captioned "Floating topic in this Topicscape", select the pba file as above, and press OK. Then you will see the Create New Topic dialog. Choose a name for the topic and press Add. This will be the top of the topic hierarchy that represents the Brain being imported. Drop the red cone on the topic to be the parent of the new hierarchy that you are importing.