Using Inspiration 7 Inspiration is a graphic organizer application for grades 6 through adult providing visual thinking tools used to brainstorm, plan, organize, outline, diagram, and write. I. How Inspiration Looks - When Inspiration 7 opens, the main idea bubble or symbol will automatically appear as in the diagram below. You should also be able to view the SYMBOL PALETTE on the left side of the screen. If the symbol palette is not showing, you can go to View and click on Symbol Palette simply click the F8 key on the top row of the keyboard.
The Diagram toolbar should be visible at the top of the screen. The Formatting toolbar should be visible at the bottom of the screen. II. The Main Idea Bubble Notice that the words Main Idea are highlighted in black. To replace those words you begin typing without clicking anywhere. The words will be changed to reflect your main idea. If we are going to organize facts and ideas about the state of Georgia, we will type Georgia as our main idea. III. Editing Text in a Bubble - If I happen to click off of the Main Idea bubble before typing my idea, it will accept the name of Main Idea and the words are no longer highlighted in black. If you wish to change the words in a bubble, click on the bubble once to highlight it. A highlighted bubble means that the bubble has squares and diamonds surrounding it. Then click on the bubble a second time to see the blinking cursor inside the bubble. You can then highlight the words in black (clicking, holding the mouse button down, and dragging over the words) and type over them delete them and retype the text. IV. The Symbol Palette The Symbol Palette in Inspiration is composed of 17 categories and even more subcategories with over 1300 symbols. When viewing the Symbol Palette, the category name is at the top of the palette. Clicking on the left and right arrows under the category name allows you to scroll between categories.
Clicking on the down arrow below the category name allows you to view categories of symbols. If you choose a category with a right arrow, you can also view subcategories. Choosing the category of Fun and the sub category Characters shows the symbol palette on the right. V. Creating Unlinked Bubbles a. Click anywhere on the page to see a thin, light gray plus sign. Click on any bubble or graphic in the Symbol Palette and that bubble or graphic will replace the plus sign. The bubble is highlighted. Start typing to enter text. b. Drag the symbol from the symbol palette to anywhere on the page. The bubble is highlighted. Start typing to enter text. c. Making sure that NO bubble is highlighted click on the Create button on the Diagram toolbar. The bubble that is already selected in the Symbol Palette is the bubble that will appear. The bubble is highlighted. Start typing to enter text. d. Making sure that no bubble is highlighted hold the Control button and click anywhere on the page. The bubble that is already selected in the Symbol Palette is the bubble that will appear. The bubble is highlighted. Start typing to enter text. VI. Entering Text in a Bubble Other than the Main Idea bubble, text is not automatically entered in a bubble. When you create a bubble it is highlighted with squares on the corners and
diamonds on the sides. A highlighted bubble will accept text when you begin typing. No double clicking is necessary. VII. Creating Linked Bubbles a. Rapid Fire The Rapid Fire tool is found on the Diagram toolbar at the top of the page. You can use the Rapid Fire tool when you want to add a series of connected ideas to a bubble. The advantage of using the Rapid Fire tool is that you can concentrate on adding the ideas, rather than creating symbols one at a time. Begin in Rapid Fire by highlighting a bubble from which you want to link other bubbles. Click on the Rapid Fire button. A red lightning bolt will appear inside the bubble. Type your text. Press ENTER on the keyboard. A bubble will be created from the original bubble. Each symbol you add is automatically linked to the symbol you start with. b. Using the Create button If you highlight a bubble and click on the Create button on the Diagram toolbar, a bubble will be created in the direction you choose. Choose the direction of the bubble by placing your pointer on a small bubble in the Create button. When the small bubble turns green, click and you have a bubble. In this example, the bubble will be created to the right of the highlighted bubble. c. Using Control, Click If you highlight a bubble, hold the Control key on the keyboard and click on the page, a bubble will be created at the clicked location.
VIII. Moving, Resizing, Deleting Bubbles To move one bubble, click on a bubble, hold the mouse button down and drag the bubble to the location you desire. To move more than one bubble, click on one bubble. Hold down the SHIFT key on the keyboard and click on the other bubbles you wish to move. Holding SHIFT allows you to select multiple bubbles. Click and drag on any SELECTED bubble to move the entire set of selected bubbles. To resize a bubble, click on the bubble to select it. Place the mouse pointer in the middle of a square found on the corners of the bubble. Click, hold, and drag in or out to make the bubble smaller or larger. A rectangle will appear showing the new size of the bubble. Release the mouse when you reach the desired size. To delete a bubble, highlight the bubble and click the Delete key on the keyboard. IX. Linking Unlinked Bubbles a. Highlight the bubble where you want the link to begin. Place your pointer in the middle of a diamond on one side of the bubble. Click and hold the mouse button and drag the mouse toward the bubble you wish to link to. When you arrive at the bubble, you will notice that light gray squares appear around the bubble (connection points) (see the Famous People bubble). When you see these squares appear, release the mouse button and the bubbles will link. b. Highlight the bubble where you want the link to begin. Click the Link button on the Diagram toolbar. A link line will appear at the end of your pointer. Move the mouse to the bubble where you wish to link. When you arrive at the bubble,
you will notice that light gray squares (connection points) appear around the bubble. Click on the bubble and the bubbles will be linked. X. Working with Links Moving a link to another part of a bubble to a different bubble A link attaches itself to a light gray square (connection point) on a bubble. Click once on a link to highlight and you can see the white square where it attaches to the bubble. Place your mouse pointer on the square (the point where it attaches to a bubble). Click, hold, and drag the mouse to another gray square to change the link location on that bubble to a gray square on a DIFFERENT bubble. Deleting a link Highlight a link line by clicking on it and pressing the DELETE key on the keyboard. Adding text to a link Highlight a link line. A rectangle will appear. Begin typing your text. Click off the link to accept the text. Other Link Options Highlight a link line by clicking on it. Find Link in the menu words at the top of the page to work with other link options. Arrow Direction changes the type of arrow (No Arrow, In Arrow, Out Arrow, Both Arrows) Arrowheads changes the type of arrowhead Standard Auto-90 Curved Link (3 points) Curved Link (4 points) Straighten Link These 5 options refer to the look of the link. Freeze Link Position - Whenever you move a symbol on your diagram, Inspiration automatically moves the link with it, adjusting where the link
attaches to the symbol, if necessary. If you don't want Inspiration to reposition the link, that is, you want to keep the link attached to an exact connecting point, you can freeze it in place. Reverse Link Reverses the link arrowhead direction and changes the relationship between the bubbles Hide Link Makes a link invisible but the relationship is not deleted Draw Links Under Symbols - When you add new links, they may overlap existing symbols. You can prevent this by clicking on draw links under symbols. 32 Link Connection Points Inspiration shows 8 light gray squares (connection points) with which to connect to. Checking this option will show 32 link connection points instead of 8. XI. The Outline View On the left side of the Diagram toolbar, you see an Outline button. Click it once. Your diagram will turn into outline form like the one seen here. If you highlight a line of text, you can add another topic or subtopic by clicking on the Topic or Subtopic button and typing text. Any added topic or subtopic in outline view will add the appropriate bubble in the diagram view. The topics can be compressed or expanded by clicking on the down arrows seen to the left of the topic. Notes attached to topics or subtopics can be viewed by clicking on the small note icon to the left of the topics or subtopic. To return to the diagram, click on the Diagram button at the top left.
XII. Formatting/Customizing Bubbles You must FIRST select the bubble or group of bubbles you wish to format. Formatting Text Find the word Text in the menu words to change the font, size, style, justification, color, and other options. Use the formatting toolbar at the bottom of the page to change the font, size, style (bold, italics, underline), color, and other options. Formatting Bubbles Find Effect in the menu words to change the line thickness (border around the bubble, not link lines), fill color of the bubble, fill pattern, line color, and other options. Use the formatting toolbar at the bottom of the page to change the fill color and line color. XIII. Arranging Click on the Arrange button on the Diagram toolbar. Choose the look you desire in your diagram by selecting a Link type in the drop down, a Diagram Type, and the Lowest Level Stacking Model look. Click OK.
XIV. Notes Highlight a bubble to select it. Click on the Note button on the Diagram toolbar. A yellow note pad will appear. Type your note. Click on the square in the upper left corner of the note to hide it. You will see a small note icon on the upper right corner of a bubble with a hidden note. XV. Hyperlinks Highlight a bubble. Click on the Hyperlink button on the Diagram toolbar. The Hyperlink dialog box will appear. Choose whether you wish to hyperlink this bubble to a web page, email, a file, or a new Inspiration document. This example shows the creation of a hyperlink to the Carter Center in Atlanta. The text of the bubble will reflect a hyperlink by turning into blue underlined text. XVI. Spell Check Click on Spell to check the text in the bubbles.
XVII. Draw Tool The draw tool the bottom of the page. is located on the Formatting toolbar at When you click on the arrow, you have choices of drawing a text box, rectangle, rounded rectangle, oval, polygon, freeform line, or line. Your pointer will turn into a plus sign +. You can now click, hold, and drag out the shape you have chosen. For some objects you will need to click, release, move, click, release, move, etc. Release the mouse when finished. For some objects, you will need to double click to release the mouse. After a text box is drawn, you can type text into the box. The box will disappear but the text will remain. XVIII. Positioning The positioning button can be found at the right end of the formatting toolbar (bottom of the page). Click on the hand to push it in. Move your mouse pointer (which has turned into a hand) into the diagram. Click, hold, and drag the entire diagram around on the page. Click back on the hand to release the pointer. XIX. Inserting a Graphic from a File Click in the Inspiration document to mark the location of the graphic with a. Click on Edit, Insert Graphic. The Insert Graphic dialog box will open. Browse for the graphic you have saved by clicking on the down arrow to the right of the Look in: box at the top. Click on Open. The graphic will appear where the was located.
XX. Zooming At the bottom left corner of the Inspiration diagram, you will see the Zoom buttons (mountains) as well as the percent. Click on the small mountains to Zoom Out and make the diagram smaller. Click on the large mountains to Zoom In and make the diagram larger. Zoom can also be found under View in the menu words. XXI. Saving When you save an Inspiration 7 document, you have the option to save it as an Inspiration 6 document an Inspiration 7 document. If you are returning to a computer that does not have Inspiration 7 loaded, you MUST save it as an Inspiration 6 document. ** Inspiration 6 will NOT open up an Inspiration 7 document. Inspiration 7 will open either type of document. Go to File, Save As. Browse to the location where you wish to save. At the bottom of the box, notice that the File Name is the same as the main idea in this document. Below the name, the Save As Type drop down must be changed to Inspiration 6 Document (*.ins) if you do not have Inspiration 7 on the destination computer.
If you do have Inspiration 7 on all computers, you can save it as an Inspiration 7 document. TO BE SAFE, SAVE THE DOCUMENT AS BOTH AN INSPIRATION 6 DOCUMENT AND AS AN INSPIRATION 7 DOCUMENT. XXII. Printing Go to File, Print Preview to view the document in print. Click on Page Setup in the bottom right corner. The Page Setup dialog box will open with three tabs, Layout, Margins, and Header/Footer. Choose your print options here. Return to Print Preview Print or OK the Page Setup by clicking on the appropriate button.