Drag a copy is one of Active Inspire's most versatile features. Use it for labeling, categorizing, practicing numbers, letters, and more. It's a quick way to create engaging activities for students. You can use it to replicate any objects within your flip chart.

To apply drag a copy, select an object and right-click, then choose "drag a copy" from the menu. You can be in presentation mode or design mode to apply drag a copy, but to verify the effect has been applied in design mode, hover over the object; a tiny hand with a green plus sign indicates drag a copy is in effect.

Give it a try. To remove drag a copy, right-click the object once more and deselect "drag a copy" from the menu.

One of Active Inspire users' favorite tricks is what we call rub and reveal. Rub and reveal quickly allows you to add an extra level of engagement to your lesson, turning what was once a regular fill-in-the-blank worksheet into something interactive.

At the Active panel, students can use Active Inspire's pen tool to add annotations, then use the eraser tool to reveal the correct answer underneath. Rub and reveal is an easy illusion to create. The eraser tool cannot erase an image; you will use the pen tool to create an annotation over the image, then the eraser tool to remove it.

Ensure the color of your pen tool matches the background of your flip chart page; change the pen width if necessary. Cover the image with your annotation. For multiple instances, lift the pen and create each concealing annotation separately.

In class, students can select the eraser tool and see if their thinking was correct. To keep your rub and reveal activities intact, you may wish to use the reset page button and/or not save changes to your flip chart upon exiting Active Inspire.

When you select any object in Active Inspire, the marquee handles appear. These present sizing handles in addition to several options. Click and drag to modify an object with the sizing handles. The bottom right sizing handle allows you to resize objects while maintaining their aspect ratio.

Use "freely move object" to move objects around the flip chart page by clicking and dragging the X. Rotate an object by clicking and dragging the arc with arrows. The object edit menu expands to offer a range of options. The translucency slider lets you modify an object's translucency.

If objects are grouped, you may manipulate and edit them as a single object. Grouped objects appear as orange on the marquee handles. Toggle this button to ungroup them. Use "bring forward" and "send backward" buttons to reposition overlapping objects.

Use "duplicate" to replicate the selected object. Increase object size and decrease object size modify the size of an object by 10 with each click. Finally, use "edit shape points" to drag and change the shape of an object.

One of the options on the marquee handles is the translucency slider. You will see this option once you select any object; an object may be an image, shape, or text. The translucency slider is located fourth from the left and you can use it in design mode or presentation mode.

One of the wonders of the translucency slider could be to hide labels. Perhaps after my students review parts of a wave, I can reveal the answers. I had this text grouped and I turn the translucency slider all the way down to keep the labels hidden.

Another use of translucency could be for before-and-after images. Here I have two images stacked on top of one another; the before image is on top. After my students discuss and make predictions about melting glaciers, I can use the translucency slider to reveal the after image.

Objects and ActivInspire is a handy way to design your flip charts as well as apply actions and tools on more than one object at the same time. Here are two ways to group objects.

The first way is to use the Select tool to drag over the objects you wish to group. Once you've selected that area, you'll use the group icon on the marquee handles—it's the fifth one from the left and it looks like two little green squares. That icon then turns yellow, letting me know the objects are grouped. Now I can move them all at once. Just as easily, I can click that grouped icon again to ungroup them.

Another way to group objects is to use the control key if using Windows or the command key if using a Mac. Here I have some text, and I'd like to group it with this image of a dime. I select the first object, then before selecting the next object I want to group it with, I hold down either the control key for Windows or the command key for Mac. Now I select the next object. You'll notice they are now both selected, and I use that same group icon to apply grouping.

In estimates by our flip charts all objects like images, shapes, texts, and annotations are placed on layers. You can move objects from one layer to another, allowing you to create interactive lessons and activities.

The best way to visualize layering is to view your object browser. If your browsers are not already visible, you can go to view and select browsers, choosing your object browser third from the left. This shows every object on your flipchart page and allows you to edit those layers.

The top layer contains objects made by the connector pen, highlighter, and magic ink tools. As I highlight the group leader’s names, watch what happens: new objects begin to appear. The middle layer consists of text, images, and shapes. You can drag and reposition objects within the same layer or to a different layer. I will select this shape and drag it on top of this text box. Notice now the shape is on top of the text, concealing it.

The bottom layer is initially empty, but you can move objects to it. The background layer consists of the background page color, background image, or grid. Objects placed on this background layer will become locked on the background and will appear below all other objects and layers. For instance, maybe I'd like to select one of the shapes that represents the tables in my classroom, and then I can drag that shape to the background layer. This would allow me to create a seating chart template I could use multiple times.

You can also rename objects by double-clicking them. You can also change the position of objects within the same layer by selecting an object, like this text, and using the bring forward or send backward buttons on the marquee handle.

Applicants fire flipcharts are arranged in layers allowing you to reorder objects to best suit your needs. The easiest way to visualize these layers is through the object browser located third from the left within your browsers. If your browsers are not visible, go to view and select browsers. The object browser allows you to view all four layers as well as the objects within those layers at once.

Images, text, and shapes typically reside within the middle layer. You can use the object browser to reorder objects by dragging and dropping. For instance, maybe I would like to add this caption to the map; however, when I try to drag it onto the map, the image conceals it. I can reorder this by dragging the text on top of the image in the object browser.

Annotations typically reside in a flipchart’s top layer, but just as you can drag to reorder objects within the same layer, you can easily move objects from one layer to another. Here's another way to reorder objects: you can always select an object and then use the bring forward or send backward buttons on the marquee handle. For even more options, click the object edit menu located third from the left and then go to reorder for a full menu.

Locking objects in place like images, shapes, text, and annotations allows you to create interactive flip charts for your students while also isolating objects you do not wish to be moved.

For example, let's say we want to be able to pull the directions up from the bottom of the page, but we've locked the map so that it does not move while students annotate.

You may lock objects from either design or presentation mode, but you may only unlock them in design mode. To lock objects, simply select the object and choose "Object" from the Edit menu. From the marquee handles, it is the third option from the left. Next, select "Locked."

Your object browser allows you to see all locked objects at a glance. You may also unlock objects directly from the object browser by selecting the object and clicking the small menu icon.

Do you have Active Inspire software? You will also want the shared resources that accompany it. These include valuable lesson-building resources for a variety of subject areas.

To download and install the resource pack, begin by visiting support.prometheanworld.com. Search for Active Inspire resource pack or even just the number 105/2, which will bring you to the corresponding support article. Select the article titled "How to Download and Install Active Inspire and Import the Resource Pack."

Scroll down to the link titled "Download Your Free Active Inspire Resource Pack." Click the link to begin the download. Once your resource pack has downloaded, go to Active Inspire, go to File, then Import, select Resource Pack to Shared Resources.

Locate the newly downloaded resource pack file and click Open. The resources will be imported and then indexed. Once complete, the resources can be found in the Resource Browser under Shared Resources, then Subjects. If your browsers are not visible, go to View, then Browsers.

If you still need technical support, please return to the support website and contact us.

ActivInspire makes it easy to manage resources you frequently use within the my resources area of the resource browser.

Begin in your resource browser. If your browsers are not visible, go to view, then browsers, select my resources. Add a new folder by selecting the my resources menu and choosing create new folder. Give your folder a name and click OK. The new folder now appears within my resources.

Select the folder, then the folder menu to make additional changes. To add resources to your folder, click and drag an object from your flip chart page to the folder in which you wish to insert it. Look for the plus sign to see it will be added and then release it. The newly added resource now appears.

To rename a resource, select it, then its menu, and choose rename resource file. Enter a new name and click OK. Now that these files live within your resources, you may quickly and easily add them to any flipchart, saving you valuable time.

Active Inspire software comes complete with a variety of resources to help you quickly create dynamic lessons and activities.

These resources can be located within your resource browser, located second from the left within your browsers. If your browsers are not visible, go to View, then Browsers. To access the built-in resources, select the Shared Resources button designated by multiple people. Expand or collapse folders within the Shared Resources to view and access options.

Use backgrounds to provide workspaces for students; for example, choose from papers to help students organize their thoughts on the Active Panel. To add any of these resources to your flip chart, simply press down on the selected resource and drag it to your flip chart page.

Explore the Grids folder for math-related resources, as well as lesson building tools, sounds, and subject-specific resources. For help or for more information about Active Inspire's Shared Resources, visit Support and search for Resource Pack.

Another repository for existing resources can be found by selecting the orange Search Resources on Resource Library button. This takes you to the Resource Library within the My Promethean portal, where you can search for thousands of ready-made flip charts created by educators and publishers.

Preview a flip chart, download it, share it with colleagues, save it to organize your content, or open it directly into Active Inspire. You may be prompted to sign in to My Promethean. Creating an account is free and easy. The ability to use and modify existing flip charts will save you valuable time.

Classflow is another Promethean software and is free to use.

You may visit classflow.com to create your free account. The Classflow marketplace is home to millions of free and paid resources, including ActivInspire flip charts to peruse and download. Flip charts and the marketplace can be accessed once you have logged into Classflow.

Click the marketplace tab; you may filter content with the parameters on the left side and also search for keywords. Isolate the file type to flip charts. To preview a resource, simply click the thumbnail, scroll down for more details, and flip through the flip chart.

To download, begin by clicking "Add to My Resources." Return to the resources tab and select the arrow to the right of the marketplace folder to find your flip chart. Select the download icon to download the file onto your device for use in ActivInspire. If the download icon does not appear, check within the cog to publish your own flip charts in the Classflow marketplace.

Start on the resources tab, select the blue "New" button, then "File Upload." Locate the flip chart you wish to publish and click open. Deselect the conversion option as you wish to bring this into your Classflow account as a flip chart and not a Classflow lesson. Click continue.

A file progress box appears as the flip chart uploads; you may close this at any time. Select the publish button to fill in all fields. Once you have completed all required fields, click publish.