Synchonization / update during import
There should be a way of importing (synchronizing) the same thoughts repeatedly, either through additional options when the same thought is imported more than once, or via a separate "synchronize" high-level feature.
Currently, when thoughts are imported from a PersonalBrain XML file (this concept may apply to other export / import choices as well), the only options available are "skip" or "replace", not "update" or "merge" (NOTE: the word "merge" is used elsewhere to mean “complete brain merge”; here I mean using data from both an inbound thought and the existing thought).
At the very least the "skip" and "replace" options should summarize and/or display thought differences rather than ask the user to make each choice "in the blind".
Cornan
shared this idea
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Cornan
commented
My first use case involves two brains of mine which share some information but are different in other areas. I use PersonalBrain XML exports from each brain to synchronize with the other brain periodically, but I am losing some information, especially in those cases where I update the same thought in both brains (perhaps notes in one, attachments in the other) and have to make the "blind" choice of whether to replace or skip on import.
It’s also not clear if when I choose “replace” if I’m replacing the “thought object” and all aspects of the thought (type, tags, attachments and Notes), or only some.
Beyond this request, another major step for PersonalBrain should be to support various types of synchronization / data import, for example data base and/or code schemas and dependency trees, and I'm sure, other types of structured data from outside PersonalBrain itself. Many of these types of imports would naturally benefit from intelligent, “merge” style synchronization versus “(delete and) replace”.