Inspiration® 8 Help Center
System Requirements
Upgrade Information
Inspiration 8.0 b Updater - US Edition
Quick Tour
Quick Start Tutorial
Frequently Asked Questions
Inspired Tips
Contact Technical Support
Inspiration for Palm OS Help Center
Inspiration for Pocket PC Help Center
Version 8.0b (released December 2006)
Inspiration® 8.0b runs in native mode on the new Intel Macs. Also, Inspiration 8.0b works well with only minor problems under Leopard, Apple's new OS, and is supported.
System Requirements
Windows®
Pentium 75 MHz or higher
Windows 95, 98, 2000, NT 4.0, ME, XP (including Tablet PC Edition) or Vista
8 MB RAM
15 MB available hard drive
50 MB for full install
Recommended:
- Internet connection*
- QuickTime®
Optional:
- Interactive electronic whiteboard
- Microphone
Macintosh®
System 8.6, 9.x or OS X (10.1.5 or higher), Leopard compatible
5 MB available RAM
10 MB available hard drive (8.6 and 9.x)
65 MB for full install
QuickTime
Recommended:
Optional:
- Interactive electronic whiteboard
- Microphone
* For downloaded products, the computer on which the downloaded product is installed must be connected to the Internet for the product to be activated.
Upgrade Information
Learn what's new in Inspiration!
If you are an Inspiration user, you will still be able to read your files and use your previously created templates and symbol libraries with Inspiration 8. One of the many great features of Inspriation 8 is that you can save your Inspiration 8 files as Inspiration 7 files, for exchanging with others who haven't yet upgraded.
Single license upgrade
Click here to purchase a single upgrade license for Inspiration 8. Serial number is required.
Volume license upgrades
For multiple license upgrades, please call 800-877-4292, ext. 2, email upgrades@inspiration.com or contact an Inspiration Certified Dealer.
Inspiration 8.0b Updater
Download the Inspiration 8.0b updater
Note: This updater is for the US edition only.
Windows
Macintosh OS X
This free update adds:
- A Universal update: The ability to run natively on Intel-based Macintosh computers. Click here for more information.
- Operational enhancements optimizing performance on Windows and Mac OS X.
Users currently running Inspiration 8.0 will be updated to version 8.0b.
Quick Tour
See first hand how Inspiration helps students grade 6 to adult develop strong thinking skills!
View the Inspiration Quick Tour, a comprehensive tutorial illustrating the key features of Inspiration 8. You'll see how easy it is for students to brainstorm, plan, organize, outline, diagram and write. Plus learn how Inspiration's integrated diagramming and outlining environments work together to help students comprehend concepts and information across the curriculum.
In addition to the system requirements listed below, you will need a QuickTime® player to view the Quick Tours. To get QuickTime, click here.
Quick Tour System Requirements
Macintosh Classic
Power Macintosh G3
Mac OS 9.2 or later
300 MHz or faster
64 MB installed RAM
Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.1
Macintosh OS X
Power Macintosh G3
Mac OS X 10.1.5, 10.2.6, 10.3, 10.4
300 MHz or faster
128 MB installed RAM
Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.2 or later
Netscape 7.1
Safari
Windows
Win98
Pentium II
300 MHz or faster
64 MB installed RAM
Win 2K
Pentium III
300 MHz or faster
128 MB installed RAM
Win XP
Pentium III
300 MHz or faster
128 MB installed RAM
Microsoft Internet Explorer 6sp1, 5.5sp2, 5.01sp2
Netscape 7.1
Quick Start Tutorial
Download the Inspiration Quick Start tutorial
To view this file you may need to install Adobe® Reader®.
This tutorial is a great starting point for learning how to use Inspiration. You'll learn how Inspiration's integrated diagramming and outlining environments work together to help students comprehend concepts and information. The tutorial walks you through creating a common brainstorming and planning task. The small, manageable mini-lessons make it easy to learn the basics quickly. Before you know it, you'll be using Inspiration to develop your own great ideas!
Use this tutorial when you download your trial version and when you begin using your own copy of Inspiration.
Contact Technical Support
If you don't find what you need here, please feel free to contact technical support.

Frequently Asked Questions
Installation/Startup A:When you run the trial installer, choose a destination directory other than the one that contains your existing version. For instance, if you previously installed Inspiration 8 to the folder "C:\Program Files\Inspiration 8"--the default location--then install the trial version someplace else. If you forget and overwrite your existing version, just reinstall your full version of Inspiration 8.0 to a different location.
A:The problem is caused by a shortcut to explorer.exe (Windows file explorer) on the desktop. So, either delete that shortcut or create another folder on the desktop, move the Insp8trial.exe file inside that folder and then double-click to extract.
A:You may certainly install Inspiration 8 to Vista, however, you'll need to bypass Vista's new security environment to do so.
To do this, right-click the Install.exe on our CD
Choose Properties
Now, click the Compatibility tab
Here, select XP Compatibility Mode
Now, select Run this program as an administrator, toward the bottom
Click OK
A:Create an empty text file called "nosound.txt" and save it to the folder in which Inspiration is installed. If you do this, you won't be able to play sounds in Inspiration, but it will resolve this rare conflict.
A:Turn on handwriting in the ACTIVboard floating palette. Right-click on the symbol palette search field to position the cursor, then begin entering text.
A:In the empty workspace, enter or select the text you want, then copy it. Open the Edit Symbol Libraries dialog, select the search or label field, right click and choose paste from the menu that displays.
A:QuickTime® must be installed and enabled for Inspiration to run on a Mac. Please check QuickTime status and enable it if required.
A:Please run Inspiration 8 using Apple's Rosetta technology. If you're not familiar with how to configure this, below is one way of configuring this.
First, open the Macintosh HD icon
Now, double-click the Applications folder
Next, double-click the Inspiration 8 folder
In the Inspiration 8 folder, single click the Inspiration 8 icon and
choose Get Info from the File menu at the top
Place a checkmark next to Open using Rosetta option
Click the red x to close the window
Lastly, double-click the Inspiration 8 icon to open Inspiration.
Miscellaneous A:In Inspiration 9, insert the image as TIF, PNG, JPG or GIF and
save it back as an Inspiration 8 file.
A:Open a new or existing Inspiration document before activating Expose.
A:Use the keyboard shortcuts instead of the menu items. In Windows, Control + V is the shortcut for paste; on the Mac, it's Command + V.
A:Navigate using the index, then click on the link for a specific topic.
A:Re-install Inspiration for Palm and sync your handheld to the computer in question.
A:Use Edit/ Insert Graphic to insert files in the wmf format into the outline
Drag-and-Drop A:To fix this, install QuickTime; to work around it, use the Edit/Insert Graphic menu command instead of drag-and-drop.
A:Click and drag the link into Inspiration as opposed to highlighting it first, then dragging it.
A:For technical reasons, Inspiration doesn't support drag-and-drop of text from Inspiration to another Inspiration document or separate application. Use copy-and-paste instead.
A:An object cannot be dragged and dropped outside its source document. A graphic in a note cannot be dragged and dropped outside the note.
Curriculum Packets A:One possible explanation is that the file the link is pointing to, or the folder that contains it, has been moved or renamed. Either restore the original name and location, or edit the hyperlink so that it points to the correct filename and location. To edit a hyperlink, right click on the symbol or topic and choose Edit Hyperlink from the menu that displays. In the dialog that displays, re-select the file with the new name or location.
Convertible Trial A:If your computer lacks a network card, or if you've previously installed the 8.0 trial (the version released right before 8.0a), then we request that you purchase a single boxed unit instead.
A:Please call or email Inspiration tech support for assistance.
Audio/Video A:In the QuickTime player, a separate application, check the preference settings and make sure streaming transport is set to HTTP.
A:Reattach the sound file.
A:This can result from how the video was encoded, i.e., the codec used. To choose a different poster image, as it's called, play the video in question, then pause it when the frame you'd like to use as the symbol graphic is displayed. Then click the Use This Frame for Graphic menu item on the Tools menu.
A:Due to limitations with Windows 9x operating systems, this menu item is disabled.
A:If the QuickTime version on your computer does not meet the minimum requirement for use with Inspiration, these items will be unavailable. The minimum QuickTime requirements are:
5.0.2 for Win95
6.5.2 for all other versions of Windows
6.3.1 for OS 10.1.5
6.5.2 for OS 10.2-10.3.8
7 for OS 10.3.9 or later

Inspired Tips
Edit or Create Libraries in a LabInspiration allows users to create personal templates and libraries, as distinct from the standard templates and libraries that are found in the Inspiration application folder. User-created Inspiration templates can be saved to any location to which the users have write access. Note: this generally excludes the "Inspiration Templates" folder in the Inspiration folder on the server.
Users can also create their own symbol libraries even when Inspiration is installed on a server. In this case, though, the user-created libraries will be personal libraries. They will be stored in the Inspiration Data folder, which is typically found in the Documents folder (Macintosh) or the My Documents folder (Windows) on the workstation of the person who created them. Either of these types of files can be added to the centralised templates and libraries on the server by copying them from their original location to the Templates or Libraries folder on that server. If Inspiration is installed on multiple workstations instead of a server, simply copy the custom templates or libraries to the other workstations.
