Understanding your Brain in Hand export

When you export your information from Brain in Hand, you'll download a ZIP file containing a copy of your data. 

 
This article explains what's included in your export and how to open the files. 
 
If you haven't requested an export yet, see 'Export your information'.[add link] 

What's included? 

Your export contains three files: 
 
• custom_solutions.csv – Solutions you've created that aren't part of a Solution Pack. 
• custom_solution_packs.csv – Your Solution Packs and the Solutions they contain. 
• eaps.csv – Your Activities, Problems and event-related content, including Calendar Events, Unplanned Events and your Activity Library. 
 
The files are provided in CSV format and can be opened in applications such as Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets or LibreOffice Calc. 

Opening your export 

Your export is downloaded as a ZIP file. Before you can view the files, you'll need to extract them. 

Windows 

Find the ZIP file. 

• Right-click it. 

• Select Extract All... 

• Choose where you'd like to save the files. 

• Select Extract. 

macOS 

• Find the ZIP file. 

• Double-click it. 

• A new folder containing your files will be created automatically. 

Tip: The original ZIP file isn't deleted when you extract it. You can keep it as a backup or delete it once you no longer need it. 

Understanding the files 

Custom Solutions 

This file shows custom Solutions you’ve created that aren’t part of a Solution Pack. 

It includes all your custom Solutions. If you’ve deleted a Solution, it will still appear in the export and will be marked as deleted. 

A Solution may appear on more than one row because it can contain different elements, including: 

• Heading 

• Text 

• URL 

• Checkable (the next column shots the order the checklist items appear in) 

• All rows with the same Solution Title belong to the same Solution. 

Custom Solution Packs 

This file contains your Solution Packs and the Solutions within them. 
 
Each Solution Pack may appear on more than one row because every Solution within the pack is listed separately. Deleted Solution Packs and Solutions are also included and are marked as deleted. 

Activities, Problems and Events (eaps.csv) 

This file contains information about your Calendar Events, Unplanned Events, Activities, Problems and Solutions. It also includes items you've deleted. 
 
Unlike the other export files, these items can be connected together in different ways. For example: 
 
• Event (Calendar or Unplanned) → Problem → Solution 
• Event (Calendar or Unplanned) → Activity → Problem → Solution 
 
Because of this, the same Event, Activity or Problem may appear on more than one row in the file. This is expected and helps show how your content is connected. 
 

How are the items connected? 

Each Event, Activity, Problem and Solution has its own unique ID. 
 
These IDs help you see the relationships between items in the export by showing which items belong together 

It's normal for some information to appear more than once in the export. 
 
For example: 
• an Event may contain several Problems 
• an Activity may contain several Problems 
• a Problem may contain several Solutions 
• the same Activity may be used in more than one Event 
 
Each relationship is shown on its own row, so you may see the same Event, Activity or Problem repeated throughout the file. 
 
This doesn't mean you've created duplicate content—it simply shows how your information is organised. 

Activity Type and Source 

The Activity Type and Where shown/source columns tell you where each item came from, such as your Activity Library, a Calendar Event or an Unplanned Event. Some Activities may only exist in your Activity Library and may never have been added to an Event. 

If you’ve linked Activities or Problems to events from an external calendar (such as Google Calendar, Apple Calendar or Outlook), those events will also appear in the export. Because the event itself isn’t stored in Brain in Hand, these rows will show “Event without matching event record” in the Where shown/source column. 

Deleted items 

Your export includes both current and deleted content. The status columns show whether an item is still active or has been deleted. 

Special characters and emojis 

Some spreadsheet applications don't automatically display emojis and special characters correctly. If this happens, reopen the CSV file using UTF-8 (Unicode) encoding, using the instructions below. 

Microsoft Excel 

• Open Excel. 

• Select Data then From Text/CSV or From text depending on your version of Excel 

• Choose your CSV file. 

• Excel will open an Import Wizard 

• In the  File Origin drop-down, select65001: Unicode (UTF-8). 

• Click Load or Import, 

• Save the converted file under a new file name 

LibreOffice Calc 

• Open LibreOffice Calc. 

• Select File > Open. 

• Choose your CSV file. 

• You will see the Text Import dialog 

• Select Unicode (UTF-8) as the Character Set. 

• Open the file. 

Google Sheets 

Google Sheets automatically opens CSV files using UTF-8, so no additional steps are normally required.