Below are a list of some of the most commonly asked questions that users have about Mental Case. If you don’t find what you are looking for here, please email your question to us.

iPhone/iPod touch

Can I sync my Mac and iPhone via USB?

No. Apple does not allow third party developers access to the USB connection at this stage. Mental Case syncs via a wifi (airport) network.

My Mac and iPhone can’t find each other. Why not?

In order for the iPhone and Mac to talk, they need to be connected to the same network. If you have a wifi network at home, usually you will be able to connect to it with your iPhone/iPod touch, and everything will work fine. If it doesn’t, you can try creating a computer-to-computer network on your Mac, and connecting to that with your iPod. To find out how to create a computer-to-computer network, open Help on your Mac, and search for ‘creating a computer-to-computer network’.

How do I delete notes and/or cases from my iPhone?

Just swipe your finger left-to-right or right-to-left over any case or note listed, and then press the Delete button that appears. This is the same gesture that is used to delete emails in the Mail app.

Import/Export

Can I import flash cards from web sites like flashcardexchange.com?

Yes. Mental Case can import comma-separated values (CSV) files, which you can generate with other flash card applications and on most flash card web sites.

Can I share my flash cards with people that don’t own Mental Case, or even use a Mac?

Yes. Mental Case allows you to export your flash cards in a variety of formats. You can use CSV format to export text notes for use in other applications (eg spreadsheets). You can also export your flash cards as images (eg JPEG, PNG), or use the print-to-file functionality of Mac OS X to generate a PDF document.

Lessons

What is the Lesson?

The lesson is a collection of all the mental notes that are currently scheduled to be studied.

Why can’t I add my notes to the Lesson?

The lesson is prepared automatically for you, based on the lesson schedule you have selected in the preferences (and in your cases and notes). When a note passes its due date, it is added to the lesson automatically. So you don’t add notes to the lesson yourself — Mental Case does it automatically for you. All you have to do is choose the lesson schedule that you want to be used for your notes.

Can I study my notes outside the Lesson?

Yes. Simply select the notes or cases that you want to study, and choose one of the slide show viewing options from the Slide Show menu (eg View Notes in Case). Using this approach, you can study any notes you like at any time, independently of the Lesson.

Can I turn off the Lesson?

Yes. Go to the preferences (Mental Case > Preferences…), and in the Notes tab, choose None as the Lesson schedule.

Slide Shows

Can I navigate a slide show manually, rather than have Mental Case change the slides automatically?

Kinda. There are two ways you can get behavior something like this. The first is simply to pause the slide show as soon as it starts, and leave it paused for the whole show. The second is to set the slide viewing times in the preferences to maximum. Provided you don’t have slides that need more time than the maximum to view, you will effectively be able to navigate manually.

Can I change the existing slide themes, or make my own?

Kinda. There is no official support for this yet, but if you know some HTML/CSS/Javascript, and are brave, you can do it.All you need to do is copy a theme (with extension .mctheme) from inside the Mental Case application bundle (right click on Mental Case, and choose ‘Show Package Contents’, and navigate to Contents/PlugIns) in the following directory~/Library/Application Support/Mental Case/PlugIns

You need to make this directory yourself in Finder.

Then change the name of the theme, and edit the HTML/CSS files etc inside to make your theme. When you relaunch MC, you should have the new theme available.

If anyone does make a cool theme, and wants to have it included in Mental Case, send it along and we will take a look.