Transitioning to ActivInspire

With Notes for Advanced Users and Trainers

July 2009

  1. The New Dashboard
  1. The dashboard looks different but can still serve as a starting point for creating a flipchart.

  1. Note that you can tick/ untick the box at the bottom stating whether or not

you would like show the dashboard upon startup.

  1. Click on “Create a new flipchart.”

***For Advanced Users…***

  • Import from Powerpoint is only available on PC side. It is a Microsoft Mac issue. A SDK is not available for Mac
  • Activprimary and Activstudio are now in one application.

(Main Menu< View< Dashboard< Configure< Tick box in lower right corner)

  • Import from .PDF will be returning in the next version of the software
  • Check for software updates by clicking on “Training and Support”

***For Advanced Users…***

Menubar

  1. The New Toolbar
  1. You can now decide where you would like to dock your toolbar! Decide between docking it on the left, right, bottom, or top of your flipchart.
  1. You can decide if you want to pin your toolbar to the side of your flipchart or you can choose to unpin and the toolbar will float to the right side of your screen and will appear “hidden.”
  1. Previous Page and Next Page are now located on your toolbar.
  1. Most recently used tools will appear in the third column of your toolbar.

Try It!

  1. Select the toolbar menu (A.) and practice docking in each of the different areas.
  2. Record when you might want to dock your toolbar in the following places:

Dock Right: ______

Dock Left: ______

Dock Top: ______

Dock Bottom: ______

  1. Edit Profiles- Adding tools to your toolbar. No more ToolStore!
  1. In ActivInspire you will add tools to your toolbar by:
  1. Click on Edit< Profiles from main menu in toolbar or Edit< Profiles from the menubar along the top of the screen.
  2. Be sure you are in the commands tab, and scroll through tool choices in the left column.

  1. From the left column, highlight a tool that you would like to add.
  2. Select add.
  3. You can then move where that tool will appear by clicking on "move up" or "move down."
  4. When you are finished, click “done.”

Try It!

  1. Following steps above, add “Magic Ink” to your toolbar. We will look at this tool in more detail later.
  2. Add two more tools of your choice. These may be your favorite Activstudio tools or maybe they are two tools that are new to you! Record the two tools you added.

______and ______

***For Advanced Users…***

Editing Profiles Continued

Feel free to take notes on these as I discuss each of them.

Choose/ Save Profiles- Authoring, At the Board, or create your own!

Layout- Change layout of toolbars

* “Roll In” needs to be ‘unticked’ in order to see User Defined buttons.

Commands- Customize toolbars including Main Toolbar and Marquee Handle Toolbar.

User Defined Buttons- Add/ Remove shortcuts, objects, etc. to your toolbar.

Settings- Access to Studio Settings/ Preferences.

  1. New and Improved Tools
  1. Eraser

The eraser tool now completely erases anything created with the pen, highlighter, or magic ink.

Try It!

  1. Select the Pen Tool and draw a shape.
  2. Select the Eraser Tool and erase over the object you created.
  3. The original object is now gone completely. In Activstudio, the eraser would have “hidden” the object with eraser marks like see through ink.
  1. Magic Ink

The Magic Ink tool acts as “see-through” ink, exactly like the eraser tool worked in Activstudio. Magic Ink can be placed over any object on the top layer and see through to the middle layer.

Try It!

  1. Select the text tool and type your name.
  2. Select the pen tool and completely cover your name with ink.
  3. Select the magic ink tool and now place magic over the pen. You should have revealed your name that was typed with the text tool!
  1. Shape Tool

The shape tool allows you to quickly draw a number of predefined shapes.

Try It!

  1. Click on the Shape Tool to display the Shape Toolbox.
  2. From the Shape toolbox, click on the specific shape you wish to add to the page.
  3. Select the fill color for your shape from the Shape toolbox.
  4. Select the outline color from the Main Toolbar.
  5. Move the cursor onto the page at the place you wish to draw the shape.
  6. Click and drag the cursor across the flipchart to add your new shape object at the required size on the page.

  1. Connector Tool

Connect two objects with a line that adapts when objects are moved.

Try It!

  1. Select the Shape tool and then draw two shapes.
  2. Choose the Connector tool and hover over the first shape you drew.
  3. Click on a black/red square and drag to a black/red square on the second shape.
  4. Select the marquee select tool and try moving the first shape. Shapes should stay connected! You can also use the Connector tool to connect two objects from the resource library!

***For Advanced Users…***

New and Improved Tools Continued

Edit Shape Points- Manipulate points of a shape.

Extracting Text- Quickly duplicate text from a part of a passage. 2 ways in ActivInspire!

1.Double-click on text and highlight portion you would like to duplicate. Click and drag. Word will duplicate.

2.Double-click on text and highlight portion you would like to duplicate. Click and drag. Word will duplicate.

Desktop Tools- Collection of commonly used ActivInspire tools which you may find useful when working in other applications.

Express Poll-This feature allows you to quickly create an ad-hoc question for your audience to answer using their ActiVote or Activexpression devices.

There are other tools that have been slightly modified. Take some time to play with them!

Spotlight- Solid Spotlights available!

Ruler- Multiple Rulers!

Protractor-Multiple Protractors!

Compass- Multiple Compasses!

Handwriting Recognition- Improved, no longer have to be at the board!!

Shape Recognition

Spell check

  1. Browsers

A flipchart can have many pages and elements, each with a range of characteristics and properties. ActivInspire has 7 browsers available to make working with these characteristics and properties easy to use.

  1. The Browsers are located on the left side of your flipchart. If the browser window is not currently open, you can open it by going to:

View<Browsers

  1. You can switch the browser you are in by clicking on one of the 7 different icon tabs

located at the top of the browser window.

  1. You can pin and dock the Browser window in the same manner that you can with your toolbar.

A. Page Browser

Open the page browser by clicking on the first icon in the Browser Window. This browser takes the place of the page sorter and the page organizer in Activstudio. This browser will allow you to see all of the pages in your flipchart.

This is a sliding bar that lets you scroll through the pages of the flipchart.

This is also a sliding bar. When the slider is in the lower position, the browser will take the look of the page sorter. If you slide this bar to the upper position, the thumbnails will get smaller and all pages will be visible in the browser at one time, similar to the page organizer.

***For Advanced users…***

  • You can edit, copy, and paste pages from within the Page Browser.
  • Click on the page in the browser.
  • Select menu icon, and choose from menu.
  • You can also copy pages into other flipcharts.
  1. Click once on the page you would like to copy from within the browser.
  2. Once highlighted, drag and drop it into the document tab of the flipchart you want to add the page to
  1. Resource Browser

Open the Resource Browser by clicking on the second icon in the Window browser. This browser takes the place of the Resource Library.

This browser behaves in a very similar way as the Resource Library.

This is where all of the resource folders can now be found.

When ActivInspire is installed, new resource folder will also install. Be sure to take some time to look at your new resources!

This is where the thumbnails of the resources can be found. The sliding bar will allow you to see additional resources in the folder.

***For Advanced Users…***

  • ActivInspire will look to you V3 folders for resources already installed
  • The search feature will be returning with the next version of the software.
  • To install resource packs you simply go to File< Import. There is no more Resource Manager.

C. Object Browser

Open the Object Browser by clicking on the third icon in the window browser. The Object Browser is a new feature in ActivInspire. Within this browser you can:

1. View the layer of all objects on a flipchart.

2. Drag and drop changing the stacking and layers of the object.

3. Under the hidden tab you can see if an object is hidden.

4. You can also change a hidden object to unhidden from here.

5. The same is true for locking and unlocking objects.

6. You can quickly lock all objects on a page by selecting "Locked" at the top of the column.

D. Notes Browser

Open the Notes Browser by clicking on the fourth icon in the window browser. The Notes Browser takes the place of "Page Notes."

You can modify text in this browser by clicking on the text tool, and using the text edit toolbox to modify text within the browser.

E. Property Browser

Open the Property Browser by clicking on the fifth icon in the window browser. This browser takes the place of both “Page Properties” and “Object Properties.”

In this browser you can modify the flipchart page you are currently working on

Or

You can use this browser to modify a specific object on the page by clicking on the object once to get the handles to appear around the object.

***For Advanced Users…***

***For Advanced Users…***

Property Browser Continued

F. Action Browser

Open the Action Browser by clicking on the sixth icon in the window browser. This Browser is how you will associate an action with an object in ActivInspire.

***For Advanced Users…***

  1. Open the Action Browser.
  2. Click once on the object that you want to assign the action to.
  3. In the browser window, select the desired action.
  4. Click on “Apply Changes.”

Select drag and drop tab.

  • From this tab you can drag and drop premade action objects.
  • You do not need to go to “design mode” to move an action object.

-Click and drag action objects to new location!

G. Voting Browser

Open the Voting Browser by clicking on the seventh icon in the window browser. This browser allows you to use Activotes and Activexpressions.

With this browser you can:

1. Register devices

2. View all registered devices

3. View results from voting session.

***For Advanced Users…***

Toggle between devices-

User Database-

Results Browser-

Question Wizard-

Exporting to Excel-

Self-Paced is coming!!

  1. Marquee Handles (Object Edit Tool Box)
  1. Some of the icons and the way in which they behave have changed slightly in AcitvInspire.
  2. To access the marquee handle toolbox, click on the object once.

The following tools behave a bit differently:

  • Freely move
  • Rotate
  • Translucency Slider
  • “Grouped” toggles on and off

*You can now group already grouped objects. You can then ungroup these groups and they objects will retain original grouping.

Think of the icons as “buttons.” You need to click and hold the button down while manipulating the object.

Try It!

  1. Open your Resource Browser, locate an image, and drag it to your flipchart page.
  2. Click on the image once to get the Marquee Handles toolbox.
  3. Click and hold over the “freely move” icon. From here you can now move your image.
  4. Repeat with the “rotate” icon. Click and hold over the “repeat” icon. From this button you can rotate this image.
  5. Select the “translucency slider” icon. Click and hold the button down and a gray bar will appear. This gray bar now acts as a slider. Slide the bar back and forth to change the translucency of your image.
  1. Viewing and Modifying Layers and in ActivInspire

To view the layer of an object:

  1. Open the Property Browser.
  2. Click on the image
  3. Under “Appearance,” and next to “Layer,” you will see the layer of the object.

You can also change the layer of an object from here :

  1. Selecting the arrow in the pulldown menu next to the current layer.
  2. Select a new layer for the object.

You can also change layers by right-clicking (control-clicking for Mac users):

  1. Right-click (control-click) on object
  2. Click on Reorder
  3. Select the layer to send the object to.

Try It!

  1. Open the Resource Browser, locate an image of a cat, and place on the page.
  1. Type the word “cat” using the Text tool.
  1. Place the image of the cat over the typed word, “hiding” the text.

** We are going to use the Magic Ink tool to see through the image, to reveal the text that we have hidden. Remember, in order for the Magic Ink tool to work, the image that we want it to see through must be on the Top Layer. By default, ActivInspire puts objects on the Middle Layer so we must change the layer of the object for the Magic Ink to work.

  1. Select the image of the cat, and use one of the above methods to change the layer (it is currently on the middle layer) to the top layer.
  1. Select the Magic Ink tool and click and drag over the image, revealing the text.
  1. Viewing and Modifying Stacks in ActivInspire

There are 3 ways to change the ordering or stacking of objects placed on a page. Stacking refers to the order of objects within a single layer.

1. Right-click (control-click) on the object that you would like to change. Scroll down to reorder and:

You can either move the object all the way to the front or back of the layer by selecting:

“Bring to Front” or “Send to Back”

(Useful when you are working with more than two objects on a page)

or

Move the object forward or backward one object at a time by selecting

“Send Backward” or “Bring Forward.”

2. Click once on the object you want to move and use the following icons:

“Send Backward”

“Bring Forward”

  1. Open the Object Browser to change the stacking.

Select the object from within the browser. Notice that the handles will highlight around the object you selected.

Drag and drop the object to where you would like to drop the object.

**You can also modify layers in the same manner.

  1. Locking and Unlocking Objects in ActivInspire

Lock an object by:

Right-clicking (control-clicking) on an object and selecting “Locked.”

Unlock an object by:

Opening the Object Browser and double click on the “lock” next to the locked image.

In the pull down menu, select “Unlock.”

Try It!

  1. Open the Resource Library
  2. Select two different objects and bring them on to the page.
  3. Position the two objects so that they overlap.
  4. Practice stacking by sending the forward object to the back.
  5. Select the object that is now forward and lock it by right-clicking (control-clicking).
  6. Open the Object Browser and locate the object that has been locked by locating the image of a lock.
  7. Double-click on the lock, and scroll down the drop down menu to unlock object.

***For Advanced Users…***

Inserting Placeholders

  • Take snapshots of video!!

Containers in ActivInspire

  • To contain specific objects
  • To contain keywords

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