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Inspiration^®'s integrated diagramming and outlining views work together to help students comprehend concepts and information. Below you'll see a general product overview. For Version 8.x specific features, click here.

Inspiration Integrated Diagram & Outline Views

Visualize thoughts in Diagram View

In the Diagram View, students easily create and use concept maps, webs and other graphic organizers. The result is clearer thinking, more creative projects, better organized writing and improved student performance.

In the Diagram View you can:

	Capture ideas as quickly as you think with the RapidFire^® tool.
	Add as little or as much text as you want — symbols grow automatically to record your thoughts.
	Illustrate ideas and convey meanings by inserting symbols from the web or other applications using the insert graphic, drag & drop, or copy & paste functions.
	Show relationships between ideas with the Link tool.
	Explain relationships between ideas by adding text directly on the links.
	Rearrange symbols by dragging without breaking links.
	Differentiate among ideas with colors, shapes, patterns, shadows, fonts and styles.
	Bring writing power with visually integrated notes.
	Explore multiple main ideas simultaneously.

Transform a diagram into an outline instantly!

With the simple click of your mouse, you can transform an Inspiration diagram into a traditional hierarchical outline. In the powerful Outline View, students can quickly prioritize and rearrange ideas, helping them create clear, concise essays, reports and more.

Use the Outline View to:
	Organize topics by dragging — subtopics move automatically.
	Plan projects and track ideas using the Checklist feature. Simply mark off completed items in either the Diagram or Outline View.
	Develop topics into a written report using notes text.
	Export your outline to popular word processing or presentation programs.

Toolbars make using Inspiration intuitive!

Diagram Toolbar

Outline Toolbar

Formatting Toolbar

Major Inspiration functions are at your fingertips with our smart toolbars. No need to memorize keyboard shortcuts or search through menu items to find features — just click on the toolbar and keep working! If you do have a question or problem, our fully indexed and searchable help system provides answers to all your Inspiration questions.

One click to word processing

Inspiration's NEW one-click transfer instantly moves students' work to their favorite word processor. After working in Inspiration to brainstorm, organize and outline, students then use Microsoft^® Word^® or AppleWorks^® to finish the writing process and prepare their paper for publication.

Simplified template integration
Inspiration sparks teacher creativity with inspiring new ways to design and use templates . . . the fastest way to introduce visual learning and Inspiration to students in all subjects, including language arts, science and social studies.

	Template Wizard - Create customized visual learning activities! The Template Wizard gives teachers step-by-step help for designing templates to support any curriculum area.
	Flexible template access - Use and share templates with ease! Templates can be stored and launched from any location, making them readily available for students and teachers.
	60+ templates - Quickly integrate visual learning into your classroom! A wealth of ideas from across the curriculum inspires students and teachers to plan, organize and create.

Symbols at your fingertips

Inspiration contains over 1,300 colorful, high-resolution symbols, including several hundred photographic quality images and animated symbols. Students just scroll through the floating symbol palette to find exactly the right shape to express their thoughts. And, if you want to customize your work, you can recolorize an existing symbol or import images from other applications and the Internet.

Click here to download a PDF of the Inspiration symbol guide. To view this file you may need to install Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Audio supports multiple learning styles
Students can hear work read aloud or record their own words, adding a new dimension to their projects. A talking interface increases accessibility for all learners.

Direct connection to the Internet
You can set up live hyperlinks in Inspiration and tie the immense resources of the Internet into your diagrams and outlines. Just type in a web address and Inspiration automatically creates a hyperlink. You can also create web pages with URL hyperlinks through the HTML export function and drag & drop JEPG and GIF images into Inspiration diagrams straight from the web!

Gather and present information from multiple sources, including documents created in Inspiration or any other application, by hyperlinking to any file.

Compatibility with Inspiration^® for Palm OS^®
Sync to and from Inspiration for Palm OS, the handheld tool to develop ideas and organize thinking. Expand and enhance diagrams created on the handheld, or transfer projects to the handheld for on-the-go visual thinking and learning!

Web site planning made easy
Build the bones of a new web site with the Site Skeleton^® export. Each symbol becomes a separate web page, complete with appropriate hyperlinks. Inspiration even creates a site map for you.

For background on visual learning, including advice on how to use Inspiration in the classroom, see "Classroom Ideas book"