1. Using Inspiration 8
A Helpful Tool for
Concept Mapping and
Outlines
By Emily Mross

2. Launch Inspiration 8
If you can’t find the
logo on your desktop,
click Start and look in
the program list.

3. Choose What You Want To Make
You can choose from diagram or outline. Or
you can open a previously saved project.
There are templates to choose from if you do
not want to design your own, or need help
getting started.

4. Diagrams
Let’s try a diagram first.

5. Main Idea
Inspiration gets you started by creating a main
idea bubble. Type your main topic in the
bubble.

6. Using RapidFire
To add new topics quickly, select RapidFire
from the top tool bar.

7. Using RapidFire
A lightning bolt will appear in the selected
bubble when using RapidFire. Start typing your
new topic, and then press enter. A new bubble
will appear and automatically fill with your new
topic.

8. Using RapidFire
Use RapidFire to create several new topics and
subtopics. This looks a little disorganized,
though. How can we clean it up?

9. Manually
Select each individual bubble and move it
where you want to on the page. You can even
use the link tool in the top bar to add new
connections.

10. Automatically
You can also select “Arrange” from the toolbar.
It will give you options for creating a uniform
arrangement. I am selecting a tree
arrangement.

11. Using new shapes
Inspiration has a shape and picture library available. You
can search through these to find fun shapes or pictures
related to your topic. This is helpful if your web will be
displayed somewhere.

12. Shapes and Pictures
Simply select the bubble you wish to change, and then select a picture
from the library. It will change automatically. Based on my topic, I
chose a sailing ship and a “Don’t Tread On Me” flag. You can make all
of your bubbles the same, or choose different pictures for each.

13. Outlines
If you need an outline of the diagram you just created,
Inspiration can do it for you. Select the outline button
from the toolbar, and it will automatically create a new
outline.

14. Outline
Here is the outline automatically created from my
concept map. But what if you want to create your
own outline?

15. Creating an outline
On the main screen, select the outline button.

16. Main Idea
Remember how the first bubble helped us set up our main
idea in our diagram? The first line in the outline is for your
main idea too.

17. Adding topics
Add a new topic using the button from the tool bar. An I.
will appear where you can type your first topic related to
your main idea.

18. Adding Subtopics
Next to the topic button is the subtopic button.
Select it and an A will appear your new topic.
You can add ideas related to the topic.

19. Subtopics
Each time you press the subtopic button, a new capital
letter will appear. You can use the topic button to add
new topics within your subtopics.

20. Saving
When you are finished with your projects, go to file, and a drop down
menu will appear. If you save your Inspiration project, you will ONLY
be able to open it again in Inspiration. You can’t open it on a
computer that does not have the program. But there is another
option if you do not have the software available to you outside of the
library.

21. Exporting
Exporting your Inspiration project will allow you to open it in
other programs, depending on how you save it. There are a
few options to choose from. Go to File and then Export to start
the process.

22. Exporting to Word
Exporting to Word is very helpful for outline projects, because you
can edit the file later. For diagram projects, you can edit an
associated outline that Inspiration creates for your in the export, but
you CAN’T edit your diagram outside of inspiration.

23. PowerPoint
Exporting to PowerPoint is good for sharing your outline or diagram
with your class or a large group, because it is in a presentation
format. Again, you can edit an outline, but not a diagram.

24. Image
You can also export as one of several image or graphics files. You will
NOT be able to edit either an outline or a diagram in this format.
JPEG is the most common format for pictures.

25. Finishing Up
To finish your export, save it as you would a normal file to your
drive, the desktop, or a flash drive.