Using Inspiration

Drag and drop to add symbols

Inspiration has hundreds of symbols you can use in your diagram. Here, we'll add one of the six basic symbols, the rounded rectangle, to the diagram using drag and drop.

1. On the Symbol palette, locate the rounded rectangle symbol.

   

2. Click and drag the symbol until it's positioned below the Fish symbol and slightly to the left, then release the mouse button.
3. When you add a symbol using drag and drop, the symbol is not connected to any other symbols. You can link it later using the Link tool on the Diagram toolbar.

Adding unconnected ideas

Sometimes when you're working you want to add an idea, but you're not sure right away where it fits. You can easily add an unconnected idea anywhere on the diagram with Inspiration's point and type method. For now, let's add an idea symbol on the diagram to represent Sarah, another member of the family.

1. Click in the open area on your diagram under the Scuba symbol, then type Sarah.

   A symbol pops up to hold the Sarah text. The symbol isn't linked to any other symbol.

2. Click away from the Sarah symbol to deselect it.

   

Link the unconnected symbols to show how they relate to other ideas

We'll link the What we want to do symbol to the Sarah symbol so that we can include Sarah's ideas in our planning. To show that Fish and Marlin are related, we're also going to draw a link that connects those two idea symbols.

1. On the Diagram toolbar, click the Link button.   

   The cursor becomes a two-headed arrow.

2. Click the What we want to do symbol to tell Inspiration where you want to draw the link from (the primary symbol).
3. Click the Sarah symbol to indicate where you want to draw the link to (the secondary symbol)
4. The link appears, connecting the primary to the secondary symbol. The arrow head points to Sarah to show that it's an offshoot of the What we want to do idea symbol.

   Now let's link the other unconnected symbol, Marlin, with the idea symbol, Fish.

5. Click the Fish symbol to tell Inspiration from where you want to draw the link (the primary symbol).
6. Click the Marlin symbol to indicate to where you want to draw the link (the secondary symbol).
7. The link appears, connecting the primary to the secondary symbol.
8. Click the Link button again to turn it off.

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