"How to" Guideline series is coordinated by Helen Mongan-Rallis of the Education Department at the University of Minnesota Duluth. If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions to improve these guidelines please me at e-mail hrallis@d.umn.edu.

Inspiration - Beyond the Basics

Developed by Helen Mongan-Rallis, February 2003. Adapted from Inspiration 7 Getting Started Guide

1. Arranging diagram
2. Changing view scale and positioning diagram in the window
3. Change symbol defaults
4. Change note colors
5. Add hyperlinks
6. Recording sounds
7. Printing diagram
8. Exporting diagram

Arranging diagram

The Arrange Diagram button enables you to change the layout and way in which the diagram is displayed.

1. On the Format Toolbar, click on the Arrange button --> this displays the Arrange box from which you can make a variety of different selections.
2. Links: select from auto-90, standard, or no change.
3. Click on appropriate boxes to apply your selection to the entire diagram, clean up by arrange, and size by level.
4. Select diagram type.
5. Select lowest level stacking model.
6. Once you have completed your selections, click on the OK button.

Changing view scale and positioning the diagram in the window

In order to be able to view different parts of the diagram on a larger scale or to enable you to see the whole diagram, you can change the view scale:

1. To make the diagram appear larger, click on the zoom in button (the big "mountains") on the Scroll bar.
   
2. To make the diagram appear smaller so you can see all parts, click on the zoom out button (the small "mountains") on the Scroll bar.
3. To work with a particular part of the diagram or to move the position of the diagram in the window, click on the Position Button on the Formatting Toolbar --> then click and drag the diagram to the desired position --> then click on the Position Button to turn of the Positioning tool.

Change symbol defaults

When you install Inspiration, it comes with pre-set defaults for symbols. To change the defaults:

1. In the Diagram view, click on one of the basic symbols.
2. On the Formatting Toolbar, click on the Fill Color button --> select the desired color (that will become the default fill color).
   
   
   
3. With the same symbol still selected, on the Formatting Toolbar, click on the Line Color button --> select the desired color (that will become the default line color).
   
4. On the Formatting Toolbar, click on the Defaults button -->choose Set Default.
   
5. To apply this new default to another symbol, select the symbol --> on the Formatting Toolbar, click on the Defaults button -->choose Apply Default.

Change note colors

Note colors also come with default settings, but as with symbols, these defaults can be changed.

1. Click on one of the symbols that has a note attached to it.
2. Click the Note Quick Control --> this opens the note.
   
3. On the Formatting Toolbar, click on the Fill Color button --> select the desired color (that will become the default fill color for the note).
4. On the Formatting Toolbar, click on the Line Color button --> select the desired color (that will become the default line color for the note).
5. On the Formatting Toolbar, click on the Defaults button -->choose Set Default.
6. To apply this new default to another note, select the note --> on the Formatting Toolbar, click on the Defaults button -->choose Apply Default.

Add hyperlinks

To create hyperlinks from your document to the Internet, to other files on your computer, to send an email, or to a new Inspiration document.

1. Highlight the word or words that you want to make into hyperlinks (you can choose one or more words of the text within symbols/topics or within the body of a note).
2. On the Diagramming Toolbar, select the Hyperlink button.
3. From the Hyperlink Box that appears select the type of hyperlink:
   • To link to the Internet, select Web Page --> in the box under Link to, type or paste the URL of the desired web site (it is better to copy the URL from your browser first and paste it here so as to avoid typing errors).
   • To create a mailto hyperlink, select Email --> in the box under Link to, type in the email address.
   • To link to another file, select File -->then click on the Select File button and navigate to where the file is located --> click the Open button.
   • To create a new Inspiration file and link to it from the original Inspiration file, select New Inspiration Document --> click OK --> this creates a new file and opens a box asking you to name the file and to select a location for this file --> complete these tasks and then click on the Save button --> you can then begin building a new Inspiration file.
4. Click off the symbol to deselect it --> the word(s) that you selected turn into a hyperlink (shown as blue underlined text).
5. Click on the hyperlink to link to desired location.

Recording sounds

Sounds can be recorded and embedded into the Inspiration Document as annotations for different symbols or words.

1. Select the word or symbol to which you want to add a recorded sound.
2. From the Tools menu bar select Sound --> then select Record --> this opens the sound record box.
3. Click on the record button, speak/sing/play music (whatever you want to do to make the sound!) --> click on the save button to save the recording.
4. Once you have attached a sound file to a symbol, the Audio Quick Control Icon appears next to it both in the diagram and Outline views. The play the sound, click on this icon.

Printing diagram

If you print from the Diagram View, your file will automatically print on one page. If you have a lot of detail on your diagram you may wish to change print option so as to print the diagram full size on multiple pages (and then paste them together once they have been printed). To do this:

1. In Diagram View, from File menu select Page Setup.
2. Make your selections within the Layout, Margins, and Header/Footer tab sections.
3. Choose Print Preview before printing to ensure that the options that you have selected are the ones you want.
4. Click Print to print the document.

Exporting diagram

Once you have created a document, you can export it either from Diagram or Outline View to use within other programs. Examples: the option of saving the file as Microsoft Word or PowerPoint RTF if very useful if you use Inspiration to plan an outline for a paper or for a presentation. You can also save the diagram or outline and convert it into a web page (save as HTML). To do this, from File menu:

Export option:

1. From the File menu choose Export.
2. If you export from Diagram view, the options you will get are to export the diagram as a pict, gif, or jpg with or without a transparent background--> make your selection --> click the Save button.
3. If you export from Outline view, you will have different text format an options --> make your selection --> click the Save button.

Export at HTML option:

1. From the File menu choose Export as HTML.
2. Unless you have a very extensive outline, it is best to choose Outline from the selections (so that the whole outline appears on one web page).
3. Click the Save button.
4. Upload the file to the web and link to it from appropriate file.

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