Active Inspire allows you to add images, sounds, video files, and website links to your flip chart with a few simple clicks, adding even more engagement and interaction to your lessons and activities.

You can bring in media from the "Insert Media from File" button on your toolbox or go to "Inserting Media," select "Insert," and choose media. You will be prompted to choose the file. If you have items saved under "My Resources" in your personal resource browser, you may choose from there, select "Open," and then you can manipulate the image as you would with any other object.

With regard to images, you may also copy and paste from other sources directly onto your flip chart. If you have media to insert that is not saved under "My Resources," no problem; you can also pull files directly from your device.

Inserting Links: just repeat the process of going to "Insert," select "Media," and locate your file. Select "Open," and you can move and resize this video window.

To add a website link to your flip chart, return to "Insert" and select "Link." You may choose from "File," "Website," or "Embedded HTML." Enter or paste in the URL you wish to insert, then select how you would like for the link to appear and select "OK."

As you saw, there are other options as well. Let's add a link to an existing object: select the three dots, select the object, then click "OK," and select "OK" one more time.

In presentation mode, hovering over the image indicates the link is live, and clicking the image will take you directly to the website.

Active Inspire makes it easy to add videos into your flip charts to maximize student learning.

To link to a video, go to Insert, then Link, and then Website. Enter or paste in the URL you wish to insert. Then decide how you would like the link to appear. First, let's choose to add this link as text. Select OK. This is a great option if you have multiple links to display on a single page.

To link the site to an existing object, follow the same process, only this time select Existing Object. The three dots let you choose which object from your flip chart you'd like to use. Then click OK and select OK once more.

Now in Presentation mode, hovering over the image displays a blue circle with the play sign, indicating the link is live. Clicking this object will open the video in your default browser.

For saved video files you have on your device, you may also go to Insert, then Media. There are no restrictions on what file types you can insert, but we recommend using file types playable by your device's default video player, like MP4s.

After selecting the file from your device, click Open. You can move the video window, resize it, and manipulate it in many of the same ways you can with other objects.

Sound Recorder and ActivInspire is perfect for capturing audio from your lessons.

You can insert these recordings to your flip chart, save them to your device, or both. To access the Sound Recorder, you can use the tools icon from your main toolbox or go to Tools > More Tools > Sound Recorder.

When you are ready to begin recording, click the record button. In this instance, I could say the names of the notes, the mnemonic device, and even sing or play the notes. For example, "Every Good Boy Does Fine" (E, G, B, D, F). You can pause and resume at any time.

To end the recording, click the stop button. The recording is saved as a WAV file, and the sound file icon appears on your flip chart page. You can play the file at any time by clicking on the audio icon, or in design mode, you can manipulate it like any other object by selecting it.

To change your settings and save the recordings to your device or to have the option to do both, go to File > Settings and select Recordings from the drop-down menu. Choose Save to Disk or Both, and click Done to apply changes.

The next time you record something, upon completion, you will be prompted to choose a location to save your sound file. If you modified settings to both, this sound file will still also appear in your flipchart.

The screen recorder in Active Inspire is perfect for capturing the actions on a flip chart, the desktop, or another application.

You could even use your recordings in a flipped classroom model or to upload to YouTube for students to access.

To use the screen recorder, you can use the Tools button on your main toolbox or go to Tools > More Tools > Screen Recorder.

You can choose to capture the full screen or just an area of the screen.

For this example, let's record an area. You can move this window if you wish; drag to select the area you wish to record, then choose Launch Recorder.

A screen recorder window appears. You may move this window if you wish.

Select the drop-down menu to change the audio recording source.

Next, select the blue circle to choose a location to save this recording and give your recording a title.

Screen recordings are saved as MP4s.

Select Save; the recording is now in progress.

Select the red square to stop your recording.

You may now create an additional recording or select the green play button to play the recording you just made.

You can also go to the location you’ve saved the file and double-click to open.

ActiveInspire's desktop annotate tool provides you seamless interaction with existing resources, websites, and more.

The option to access desktop annotate appears on your dashboard upon opening ActiveInspire. You can also access desktop annotate from your toolbox.

When in desktop annotate mode, ActiveInspire automatically minimizes, leaving you with your main toolbox and trash can.

Let's say you want to walk your students through the process of registering for a free ClassFlow account.

Note that this is not a static image and you are able to interact with this website. You might use the pen tool to indicate where students should click.

Changing back to the select tool allows you to select that "Sign up as a student" button.

Note that your annotations stay in place. You may use the eraser tool to erase them or use the clear tool to clear annotations.

From here, you might use the highlighter tool to indicate specific fields or even indicate fields students do not need to complete.

Exit desktop annotate mode at any time by clicking the button on your main toolbox.

ActiveInspire automatically creates a new flip chart titled "Desktop Flip Chart," allowing you to easily access those annotations.

You may wish to save this new flip chart.

The color picker and ActivInspire allows you to fully customize every page of your flip chart with any color you wish.

To access the color picker, begin with the color palette in your main toolbox.

Right-click on any of the default colors within the palette and select the eyedropper, also known as the color picker.

Notice that your cursor changes and a small window appears.

Whatever you hover over with your cursor will be reflected as close-up pixels within the color picker window.

When the square at the center of the window shows the desired color, click to add it to the color palette.

It will replace the color that previously held that position and the cursor will revert to the Select tool.

You may then use the new color with the fill tool, the pen tool for shapes, and more.

You may always go to settings to reset your toolbox.

The color picker works with the text tool in use as well; use it for either the text color or the text background color.

The annotation tools an act of inspire consist of the pen highlighter and eraser and are quite possibly the most utilized tools of the whole program.

In addition to residing in your main toolbox, you can also access any of these tools under the tools tab.

Use the pen tool just as you typically would to mark, indicate, or draw on a regular surface.

Choose from the color palette and easily change the pen width by using these circles or the slider.

The same features apply to the highlighter.

Finally, erase annotations with the eraser; again, you may change the eraser width.

Note that you may use the selector tool to isolate and manipulate annotations just as with any other object.

Active Inspire makes it easy to add shapes to your flip charts using the shape tool. You can access this from your toolbox or go to Insert Shapes.

Once you select the shape tool, another menu appears.

Select the shape you wish to draw, use the color palettes to adjust the shape's line and fill.

The colors within your main toolbox are for the shape's outer line, and the colors at the top of the shapes menu are for the shape's fill.

The cursor changes to indicate your selected shape. From here, just click or press down to draw your shape.

Active Inspire will remember your preference and continue producing that shape until you change to another shape or switch to the select tool.

To move your shape, select it and either drag within the body of the shape or use the X on the marquee handles to freely move the object.

To rotate the shape, use the arc on the marquee handles.

To change your shape size, use the increase object size or decrease object size buttons on the marquee handles to increase or decrease by 10 percent with each click.

Alternatively, you can use the sizing handles. Maintain your shape's ratio by using the bottom right sizing handle.

Another way to modify your shape is by selecting Edit Shape Points from the marquee handles. Click and drag any of the shape points to alter the overall shape. Click outside the shape to apply your changes.

ActivInspire allows you to align objects within your flip chart, perfect for creating activities for your students or even just for overall flip chart design.

Let's say we wanted to align this caption center. Instead of trying to approximate it, use the selector tool and drag to select both objects. Once they've both been selected, choose Object Edit Menu, the third option on your marquee handle.

From here, select Align.

There are several options to choose from; let's choose Align Center X.

Next, we can align these separate text boxes by following the same process.

Select all of the objects and choose Object Edit Menu, go to Align, and select Align Left. Note that for each of these actions, the alignment criteria for the whole group are always based on the first object created in the group.

Here's another alignment option: perhaps we've been using playing cards for a math lesson or to randomize some element within the classroom. Again, select the objects you wish to align and go to Object Edit Menu, and this time we'll choose Align Complete.

One of Active Inspire users' favorite features is a tool called Magic Ink. Magic Ink allows you to reveal images hidden beneath the top visible image and adds an extra level of excitement and engagement to your lesson. Magic Ink works because Active Inspire flip charts are created in layers.

The Magic Ink tool simply works as an eraser on the very topmost layer where you typically find annotations.

In this example, let's use images of coins with an image of a bill on top.

Next, go to your Object Browser. Your Object Browser shows you all of the layers of your flip chart and it also allows you to modify them.

Images typically exist in the middle layer, but let's take this image of the bill and drag it to be in the top layer.

Now you can use the Magic Ink select tools, then Magic Ink.

To convert annotations made by the pen tool into text, start by using the select tool to isolate your annotation. Then select the object edit menu button. 

From the marquee handles, select convert to text. If a word has not been converted correctly, click on the alternatives drop-down for more options. Note that this new object will take on the most recent text settings, but you may always adjust them using the text toolbar.

The pen modifier is an Active Inspire offer a quick and easy way to create activities, graphic organizers, and more. With the pen tool, you can change the color and width at any time. However, pen modifiers give you even more options.

To access pen modifiers, go to Tools and then select Pen Modifiers. A new menu will appear next to your main toolbox and offer you a variety of lines and shapes.

Select any of them to begin to create your annotation. For instance, perhaps we need a quick T-chart to brainstorm strengths and weaknesses, or we can use pen modifiers to indicate some areas for students to label.

Pen modifiers are easy for you and your students to use. Let's try a shape. Notice that the fill of the shapes is translucent. You may also use the selector tool to select and manipulate any of these annotations.

Active Inspire’s math tools can help you create robust lessons and facilitate authentic math experiences in the classroom. To access math tools, you can use the tools button within your toolbox or set square. Go to tools and select math tools. Let's start with Set Square. 

The Set Square is perfect for creating right angles, perpendicular and parallel lines. When hovering over the Set Square, look for the X icon. When this is visible, you may move the Set Square around the page. Look for the arc to rotate the Set Square. Resize the Set Square by dragging the sizing handles on either end. Use the Pen tool to quickly create lines and angles. To remove the Set Square, select the vertical dots, then select close.

Another favorite math tool is the Compass. To access the Compass, follow the same steps. Move and rotate the Compass just as you do the Set Square. To resize, drag the Compass handle. Simply drag the edge of the Compass in or out to adjust the radius.

 Here, for example, we want to adjust the radius to 100 kilometers using the map’s scale. Now let's reposition the Compass. Select the Pen tool, hold down the pencil part of the Compass to draw a circle in either direction. To remove the Compass, select the vertical dots to access the menu, then select close.

Using Active Inspire's XY Origin tool is a quick and easy way to help rotations come alive in your math lessons about objects orbiting in space and more. You can rotate any object by selecting it and using the rotate object marquee handle to spin it around its center point. However, you may not wish to rotate the object around its center point. 

To access the XY Origin Tool, either use the tools icon on your main toolbar or go to Tools > Maths Tools and select XY Origin. Add the origin point anywhere on the page and now the object will spin around the origin point when you click and move the rotate object marquee handle. To remove the XY Origin Tool, follow the same process or use the icon on your main toolbar.

Active Inspire's Dice Roller tool has a range of uses, including randomizing elements in your classroom and creating engaging games and math activities. To access the Dice Roller, use the Tools button on your toolbox or go to Tools, Math Tools, and select Dice Roller. 

When the Dice Roller window appears, you can drag it to reposition and select how many dice you'd like to roll; choose up to five. Use the slider to adjust the speed and click Roll. In this activity, the Dice Roller could help students practice note duration in a music class. It's also great for math lessons. The Output to Flip Chart button adds the dice total to your current Flip Chart page. To close the Dice Roller, click the X.