Learn the interface

The SMART Notebook software interface consists of the these components:

  • Menu

  • Toolbar

  • Tabs (Page Sorter, Gallery, and so on)

  • Page area

The menu contains the commands for managing files, objects, and your SMART Account.

A screenshot displays the menu commands: File, Edit, View, Insert, Format, Math, Tools, Add-ons, Account, Help

From the toolbar, you can select and use a variety of commands. The toolbar buttons are organized in panels.

Panel

Description

Actions

The Actions panel includes buttons for browsing and making changes to .notebook files:

A screenshot displays Action panel controls. From left to right: the next page and previous page arrows, the undo and redo commands above the add and remove page buttons, the open file command above the save command, an X above the show/hide screen shade command, the insert table command above the insert measurement tool, the view screens button, the add response 2 assessment button, and last, the add SMART lab activity button.

Add-ons

If you install SMART Notebook add-ons, an add-on panel appears to the right of the Actions panel:

The add-on panel icon is a puzzle piece

Note 

Some add-ons are SMART Notebook Plus features only. Learn more.

Tools

The Tools panel includes buttons for creating and working with basic objects on pages:

A screenshot displays the Tool panel commands. Top row of panel from left to righ contains the Cursor, Shapes, Regular Polygons, Fill. Bottom row from left to right contains Pens, Text, Lines, and Eraser.

Contextual

When you select a button in the Tools panel, additional buttons appear. For example, if you select Pens , the following additional buttons appear:

A screenshot of the Pens menu shows Pen commands from left to right: The Pen Types button, The Line types buttons, and the property selectors (properties include colour, line style, and transparency).

Select the Pen Types button to choose a pen type and then select one of the line type buttons to write or draw digital ink in that line type. You can customize a selected line type using the options in the Properties tab and then save your customizations for future use.

Use the three property selectors beside the line type buttons to set the color, thickness, style and transparency of digital ink.

If you click other buttons in the Tools panel, similar sets of additional buttons appear.

Note 

Many of these options are also available in Notebook’s menu.

You can add, remove, and change the position of buttons on the toolbar by tapping Customize the toolbar .

By default, the toolbar appears at the top of the SMART Notebook software window. You can move it to the bottom by tapping Move toolbar to top/bottom of window . This is useful in situations where you or your students can’t reach the toolbar when it’s at the top of the window.

The Page Sorter displays all the pages in the open file as thumbnails and automatically updates these thumbnails as you change the contents of the pages.

Using the Page Sorter, you can:

To learn more about how to use the Page Sorter to add, manage, and edit lesson pages, see Working with pages.

Use the Gallery tab in the SMART Notebook software user interface to browse or search for lesson activities and content to add to your lessons. Some of the content you can find in the Gallery tab includes:

  • Interactive media

  • Images

  • 3D models

  • Activities

  • Online resources

You can also upload your own and other teachers’ content to the Gallery tab for use in your lessons.

To learn more about how to use the Gallery tab to add content to your lesson pages, see Inserting content from the Gallery.

The Attachments tab displays the files and web pages attached to the current file.

For more information about attachments, see Using attachments.

The Properties tab enables you to format objects on a page, including digital ink, shapes, lines, text and tables. Depending on the object you select, you can change:

  • The color, thickness and style of lines

  • The transparency and fill effects of objects

  • The font type, size and style of text

  • The animation of objects

The Properties tab displays only the options available for the object you select. For more information about displaying and setting object properties in the Properties tab, see Editing object properties.

The Add-ons tab enables you to work with SMART Notebook software add-ons.

For more information about SMART Notebook’s add-ons, see Managing and using add-ons.

The page area displays the contents of a selected page in a file. This is the area of the page where you create and work with objects.

The SMART Notebook software toolbar enables you to select and use a variety of commands and tools. You can customize the toolbar so that it includes the tools you use most frequently.

After adding or removing toolbar buttons, you can restore the default set of toolbar buttons. You can also restore the tools' default settings if you customized and saved the settings using the Properties tab.

To add or remove toolbar buttons

  1. Click Customize the toolbar.

    OR

    Right-click the toolbar.

    The Customize Toolbar dialog box appears.

  2. Click Actions or Tools.

  3. Do the following:

    • To add a button to the toolbar, click its icon in the dialog box, and then drag it to the toolbar.

    • To remove a button from the toolbar, click its icon in the toolbar, and then drag it away from the toolbar.

    • To rearrange the buttons, click an icon in the toolbar, and then drag it to a new position in the toolbar.

    Notes 

    • You can only add, remove and rearrange buttons in the panel of the toolbar you selected in step 2. For example, if you clicked Actions in step 2, you can only add, remove and rearrange buttons in the Actions panel.

    • To span a button across rows, drag and hold it between two columns of buttons.

      If you're using a smaller screen resolution, only span one or two buttons across rows to prevent issues when the toolbar is wider than the SMART Notebook software window.

  4. Click Done.

To restore the default set of toolbar buttons

  1. Click Customize the toolbar.

    OR

    Right-click the toolbar.

    A dialog appears.

  2. Click Restore Default Toolbar.

To restore the tools’ default settings

  1. Click Customize the toolbar.

    OR

    Right-click the toolbar.

    A dialog appears.

  2. Click Restore Default Tool Properties.