Light Sync Attachments and Brain Archive Backups #101294

https://thebrain.zendesk.com/agent/tickets/101294

Hello Jan,

Thank you for reaching out.

“Light synced” means that some attachments may be shown in your local Brain, but the full attachment files are stored in the cloud and downloaded locally only when needed and in demand. (Useful on devices that have limited storage).

The warning in the delete dialog is saying that if you delete the online/remote Brain while a local copy still has light-synced attachments, those remote attachments will no longer be downloadable from the cloud.

For your .brz Brain Archive question: before TheBrain creates a Brain Archive, Light Sync Attachments needs to be turned off and the attachments need to be downloaded locally. Once the Brain Archive is successfully created, the archive should include the Brain content and attachments that were downloaded into that local Brain.

So if you create the .brz archive successfully first, and then later delete the online version of the Brain, you should be able to restore the Brain from that .brz archive, including the attachments contained in the archive.

The safest sequence is:

Step 1: Turn off Light Sync Attachments

• Open the Brain in TheBrain 15.
• Go to:
• Main Menu > Settings > Brain > Sync
• Uncheck:
• Light Sync Attachments

Step 2: Let the attachments download

• Keep TheBrain open and allow the attachments to finish downloading locally.
• If TheBrain asks to download attachments before creating the archive, allow that process to complete.

Step 3: Create the Brain Archive

• Create the .brz Brain Archive after the attachments have been downloaded.
• Keep that .brz file somewhere safe.

Step 4: Delete the remote Brain only after the archive is created

• Once you have successfully created the .brz archive, you can use that archive later to restore the Brain and the attachments included in it.
• Please do not delete the remote Brain until the archive has been created successfully.

Best regards,

John