Using Inspiration

Add a subtopic

Adding ideas in the Outline view is as simple as adding an idea symbol in Diagram view.

1. Select the topic Mom by clicking to the left of the topic prefix.

   

2. On the Outline toolbar, click the Add Sub button.

   A new subtopic is created below Mom. It's indented one level in your outline.

   

3. Type Swim.

Add a topic

Now we're going to add Snorkeling.

1. Select the topic Sarah by clicking to the left of the topic prefix.
2. On the Outline toolbar, click the Add Topic button.

   

   Inspiration inserts a new topic and the cursor moves to the next line so you're ready to type.

   

3. Type Snorkeling.

Change the level of a topic

In Outline view, you can move a topic to the right or to the left, changing its level of importance. Snorkeling is something Sarah really wants to do, so let's change the Snorkeling topic to a subtopic under Sarah.

1. On the Outline toolbar, click the Right button.

   

   The topic, Snorkeling, moves to the right, so that it's now a subtopic to Sarah.

   

Add notes text to a topic

Adding notes text is a good way to elaborate upon your ideas. As you add more notes, you develop your outline into a complete written document.

Let's add a note to the topic Snorkeling.

1. With Snorkeling selected, press Return (Enter).

   The cursor moves to a new line so you can type in your notes.

   

2. Type Sarah would like to go out in a boat to do this.

Each topic can have notes that extend from one line to many paragraphs of information. If you add notes to your topics, you will end up with a written report when you finish.

Whenever you add notes text to a topic, Inspiration puts an outline around the + or - in front of the prefix. It looks like this:

Tip
You can also add notes text by selecting a topic and clicking the Add Note button on the Outline toolbar.

Hiding subtopics

When you're working with a complex outline, you'll want to hide and show subtopics. Hiding the detail in your outline makes it easier to see its overall structure. We'll hide the subtopics for the Dad topic.

1. Click to the left of Dad to select the topic.
2. On the Outline toolbar, click the Show/Hide Sub button.

   

   Inspiration hides the subtopics for the selected topic, so there's less detail showing on your outline.

3. On the Outline toolbar, click the Show/Hide Sub button again or double-click to the left of the topic prefix to show the subtopics.

Note:
Just as you can hide and show subtopics, you can hide and show notes text. Just click on the Show/Hide Note button or double-click the outlined + or - next to the topic.

Moving topics around

Inspiration has lots of ways to organize your topics. One of the easiest is to drag topics and place them where you want them. Here, you will move Sarah so that it appears above Mom.

1. Select the topic Sarah by clicking to the left of the topic prefix.
2. Hold the mouse button down and drag the topic, Sarah, up in your outline until it covers the topic Mom.

   

3. When the dotted rectangle covers the topic above which you want to insert Sarah, release the mouse button.

Sarah and its subtopic and notes appear above Mom and below What we want to do on the outline.

Previous    |    Next