Another question for External attachments in desktop and mobile #99314

https://thebrain.zendesk.com/agent/tickets/99314

Hello David,

That’s a fair question, and I understand why the difference feels limiting, especially if you rely on mobile more heavily.

The short answer is that it’s a combination of platform constraints and design tradeoffs, rather than a lack of interest in supporting mobile workflows.

On desktop, TheBrain has full control over how internal attachments are stored, opened, and saved back into the Brain database. On mobile operating systems, however, apps are much more restricted in how they can modify internally managed files. Editing a file safely requires handing it off to another app, tracking changes, and then reliably writing those changes back into the Brain. Doing that without risking file corruption, sync conflicts, or data loss is significantly more complex on mobile than on desktop.

Because of that, the current mobile app intentionally treats internal attachments as view-only, while still allowing full editing for files that live externally (such as OneDrive or local storage), where the operating system and the file provider handle saving and versioning.

That said, your point is well taken. Mobile usage has grown a lot, and workflows like this are exactly the kind of thing we’re actively revisiting. As TheBrain 15 continues to roll out across platforms, mobile capabilities are evolving alongside it, and this is an area we expect to improve over time.

For now, the safest workflows remain:

• Editing internal attachments on desktop, or
• Storing editable files externally and linking them into the Brain for mobile access

Thanks for raising this. Feedback like yours directly helps shape where we focus next.

Best regards,

John