The Shapes, Text, Picture, and Cursors tools in the Home tab insert additional elements in the selected slide. See General Editing for details on how to edit the elements you insert.

Select a slide in the Slides list on the left first, then you can add elements to it.

Text:

Select the Text tool then drag a rectangle inside the slide to insert it. Text is text only, without a background. When the text is selected you can format it with the text options in the Home tab. You can resize the text box at any time.

Shapes:

Select the Shapes tool, select the shape you want to insert and then click the slide to insert it. You can resize it later.

Pictures – from files, the clipboards and screenshots:

The Picture tool menu enables you to insert a picture in the current slide from a file, from the Windows Clipboard or by making a screenshot.

Screenshot:

The Screenshot option in the Picture tool menu inserts a screenshot in the current slide.

Screencast:

The additional Screencast option in the Picture tool menu adds a multi-slide screencast in the current location. This is generally used for adding to an existing screencast. See Make a HowTo Screencast for instructions.

Cursors:

This special tool adds mouse cursor icons that are larger than standard mouse cursors for better visibility. They have a special function in animated screencasts and infographics, where HelpXplain animates them for a video effect. If you are making an animated infographic or screencast you should generally only have one cursor per slide.

Stacking elements:

When you add elements to your picture you will want to control whether objects are on top of or below other objects. There are a number of ways to do this:

•With the Arrange menu in the Home tab.

•With the context menu that appears when you right-click on a selected element or multiple elements.

•With the context menu that appears when you right-click an element in the Objects list on the left.

•By dragging the name of an element in the Objects list and dropping it BETWEEN elements (blue line) in another position in the list. (Dropping ONTO another element nests the object inside that element – see further below for details.)

Select one or more elements (SHIFT + Click) then select the Arrange menu to change their position in relation to one the other elements in the slide. Alternatively, drag and drop in the Objects list.

Aligning elements:

The Arrange menu also has functions for aligning multiple elements in relation to each other. To use it, first select multiple elements with SHIFT+Click (this also works in the Objects list). Then select how you want to align them with the align options in the Arrange menu.

Grouping elements:

Once you have arranged elements as you want to have them you can group them with the Group tool in the Home tab. They can then be manipulated together in the same way as single elements. They can always be ungrouped and edited separately, however.

•Drag a selection box around the elements (this also selects elements hidden by other elements) to select them. Then click on Group to combine them to a single element. If Slippy Canvas is on you need to hold down SHIFT to drag a selection.

•You can also use SHIFT+Click to select multiple elements for grouping.

•You can ungroup elements with the Ungroup tool, that is available both in the right-click context menu and in the Home tab.

•To edit grouped elements without ungrouping: just select the element in the Objects list on the left. Then you can edit it normally without removing it from the group. Click anywhere else to deselect after editing.

Locking elements:

Once you have finished working on an element or group you can lock it to prevent accidental changes. Just select the element or group, then select the Lock tool (padlock in the Home tab) or with Lock in the right-click context menu.

The audio tool in the Home tab inserts audio objects in the current slide, either from an MP3 audio file or recorded from your computer's microphone.

These audio objects support two modes: They can play automatically as part of the normal animation sequence, or they can be displayed as a player control where the user can click to start or stop the audio.

See Background Audio and Narration for full details.

When an element is covered by other elements you can hide the other elements. This allows you to edit covered elements without moving the elements on top of them or changing their stacking order.

Select the elements you want to hide in the Objects list on the left. Then click on their visibility icon (eye) in the column on the right to hide them. Clicking in the column again restores visibility.

Sometimes you may want to copy or move an element from one slide to another. To do this, copy or cut the element to the clipboard in one slide, then select the other slide and paste it there.

1.Select a slide in the Slides list and click on the element you want to copy or move.

2.Press CTRL+C to copy or CTRL+X to cut.

3.In the Slides list, select the slide where you want to insert the element and click in the slide in the editor window to activate editing.

4.Press CTRL+V to insert.

Putting elements inside other elements (nesting) is different from grouping or stacking (see above).

•Grouped elements are simply linked on the same level so that they can be manipulated together.

•Stacked elements are arranged on top of each other on different levels but do not have any special relationship.

•When you nest elements you put one element inside another element, creating a parent/child relationship. The outer element becomes the container of the element inside it, in the same way that elements in a slide are contained by the slide.

Nesting an element inside another element

1.In the Slides list, select the slides containing the elements you want to nest.

2.In the Objects list, select the name of the element you want to put inside the other element.

Here Ellipse2 has been dragged onto Callout2, making it a "child" of Callout2.

3.Drag the element ONTO the the name of the other element (target is highlighted) in the list and let go of it when its name is highlighted. (Dragging BETWEEN elements, indicated by a blue line, only changes the stacking order of an element.)

The name of the nested element will be shown indented below its new parent, indicating the parent/child relationship.

Un-nesting a nested element

To reverse the nesting of a nested element drag it to another position in the Objects list, BETWEEN two other elements. This is indicated by a blue line between the elements.

Dragging into another slide in the Objects list

You can nest an element inside another slide or an element in another slide by dragging it into another slide in the Objects list. This will change the element's parent/child relationship but not its position. You will then need to zoom out and drag the element to a position in the other slide.