If you’ve got here, then you’re probably wondering what just happened to your copy of iThoughts - it looks ‘different’ - probably similar to the image below…

The first point to make is that you can (currently) revert to using the previous interface. To do that, tap on the small gear toolbar button then ‘System Settings’ then uncheck the ‘Use Files Interface’ option. You will need to kill/restart the app for the changes to take place.

But you don’t want to do that! The new interface has some significant advantages (and a few small disadvantages) - so read on:

Advantages (of the new Files Interface):

  • You can open maps stored in places like Dropbox, OneDrive and iCloud (and any other cloud provider that has chosen to integrate with the iOS system Files app.) NB: At the time of writing GDrive doesn’t work - you’ll need to harass Google about this - only they can fix it. See ‘Top Tip’ below.

  • No need to manually configure ‘syncing’ anymore - just open the map directly (as above)

  • Configure ‘Favourite’ folders.

  • Tag maps (which will then sync between Mac/iOS devices)

  • Use the exact same interface as the iWork apps, the Files app and countless others.

But there are some downsides…

  • If you use WebDAV then you’ll need to find an app that integrates WebDAV into the iOS File system. See ‘Top Tip’ below.

  • Syncing with Dropbox will no longer sync multiple file formats (only ITMZ files are supported.)

  • Searching across ‘all maps’ will not search maps in the cloud (outside of iCloud) unless they’ve been opened on the iOS device recently.

Top Tip

There is an app call FileBrowser which enables the iOS Files Interface to access files on all sorts of servers (WebDAV, Amazon etc.) I have no connection with the company behind FileBrowser, but it appears to work pretty well. I’ve been testing with the FileBrowser for Business version.

NB: Eventually, the original interface will be phased out and this new Files interface will be the only option.