User Manual
Welcome to the multi-touch book for !
Explain Everything!
It is a detailed guide about the different tools, features, and uses of the app with
a focus on educational and business contexts. Our goal is for this book !
to be a comprehensive handbook for Explain Everything and that also may!
provide some new ideas for using the app in the classroom and with your !
coworkers.
The book has two main sections: tools and use cases. The tools section covers
the features of Explain Everything including navigation, creating projects, !
adjusting settings, sharing, collaborating, and more. The use cases section !
explores several examples of using the app and its services, as well as aims to
give inspiration on what you can do.
We hope this book gives all the learners new and interesting ideas for how to
use our platform!
2
What is Explain Everything
Linear motion
TYPES OF MOTION
Radial motion
Types...Motion
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Explain Everything is an interactive whiteboard platform where people collaborate,
share, and learn without boundaries. Every project starts with an infinite canvas
where you can add new and existing media (including video, images, PDFs, !
and web browsers), annotations, and text to create truly unique visual stories.
Thanks to the real-time, cross-platform collaboration teams can communicate
and develop ideas in a new visual way. Projects can also be shared back and
forth for continuous development. Record everything to capture authentic !
moments of ideation and understanding. Then share what’s most compelling for
your audience.
4
The history behind
Explain Everything
For a number of years, Bart Gonczarek and Piotr Sliwinski had
a hobby of making funny podcasts and wanted to start making
videos. The only plausible way to capture their ideas was to
make simple cartoons. In 2008 Piotr made a proof of concept
for the Mac. In 2009, there were rumors about Apple reinventing
the tablet device. It seemed ideal for an animation app, so Piotr
ported it to iOS. It was submitted as PhotoPuppet. In October
2010, Reshan Richards wrote a blog post about it as a new tool
to use with his math classes. Once it was published and posted
on Twitter, he received an email from Piotr. They engaged in a
dialogue where Reshan provided his educational perspective
while Piotr shared the entertainment perspectives. In January
2011, Reshan started working with Piotr and Bart on building a
new app based on his experiences in PK-12 schools and his !
ongoing doctoral research on screencasting and assessment.
On August 19, 2011, Explain Everything made its debut on the
App Store.
Explain Everything co-founders: Dr. Bartosz Gonczarek (COO), !
Dr. Reshan Richards (Chief Learning Officer & CEO), Piotr Śliwinski
(CIO)
5
Home
On the Home Screen you can access the core functions of !
Explain Everything in a simple way. You can immediately create a new project, invite others and set up a real-time collaborative session. You can also join a sessions initiated by somebody else and manage or share an existing project.
The New Project button lets you start by creating a new blank
project in landscape or portrait mode. You can also begin a
project from a template or import various files from the#cloud
and use your own pictures or documents. Collaboration and
Sharing will be described in separate chapters. On the Home
Screen you can access your recent projects. You can also access the Learn section that will walk you through crucial ar-
From the Home Screen you can also access your Profile and
Settings. Tap on the three dots in the upper right corner to access them. There you will also find the About section that allows you to check which version of the app you have, as well
as to rate Explain Everything, send us your feedback, visit
our website, or check our Twitter account.
eas of using the app. Make sure to check them out!
7
Library
Learn
Go to the Library tab to see all of the projects you've created.
You can access projects saved on your device as well as projects you store on your Explain Drive. If you’re looking for a
simple way to have your projects organized, you can create
folders. In order to create one, tap and hold your project’s
thumbnail and move it on the top of another. This will allow
you to merge projects or create a new folder.
Watch several tutorials and tips to master Explain Everything.
Check out news, updates and ideas from our blog. Still looking for more? Go to the Knowledge Base section and take a
look at our Help document and enroll in the Explain Everything Academy. You will learn how to use Explain Everything
to innovate getting a message across - from your mind to the
eyes and ears of your audience.
8
Invite & Collaborate
Choose the Collaboration tab to see projects broadcasted on
your local network that you can join. If you want to join a collaborative session using a join CODE, enter it in the upper
right corner.
Access My Drive to see all the projects uploaded by you to
the portal. You can organize projects by creating folders,
which can be also shared with others.
Open Explain Drive to browse, watch, and download projects
created worldwide. All projects uploaded to the portal remain
editable project files, which if shared publicly anyone can
download and remix. Find a project by searching by name or
using a project’s unique CODE.
9
Profile
Log in and out of your Explain Everything account and manage
it. Set a profile picture to customize your thumbnail. Find information about your account and its validity as well as how much
Explain Drive storage space you've used. Remember, that using
the same credentials will let you log in to Explain Everything on
different devices, even if they using different operating systems.
For advanced account management and statistics visit
drive.explaineverything.com.
11
General
Display
Height will fit the stage to the height of the external screen. !
Toolbar alignment: Set whether the Toolbar should appear on
the left or right side of the screen.
Control Bar alignment: Set whether the Control Bar should !
appear on the top or bottom of the screen.
External screen mode: Set the display mode for an external
screen when it is present. Mirror will mirror the iPad screen
maintaining its proportions with the visible User Interface. 2nd
screen will display the canvas without User Interface elements and with the ability to select how the canvas will fit the
external screen.
With a 16x9 external screen, black strips will appear on the
sides. Width will fit the stage to the width of the external
screen. If width is selected on a 16x9 external screen, the top
and bottom parts of the screen will be cropped to retain the
proportions of the stage.
Display on-screen taps and gestures: When ON, Explain !
Everything will display touch indicators on the screen !
whenever it is tapped or a gesture is performed. This allows
you to guide the audience through Explain Everything when
using the External screen mode's 2nd screen.
Fit inside external screen: Set the format in which Explain
Everything will be displayed on an external screen when the
2nd screen option is selected.
12
Interface
Display the Save/Discard dialog when leaving a project: When
ON, Explain Everything will ask whether to Save changes or
Discard them when leaving a project. When OFF, changes will
be saved automatically when leaving.
Simple interface: Simplified version of Explain Everythingʼs UI
for beginning users of any age.
Devices
Adonit Jot: Slide to ON to pair with your Adonit Jot Bluetooth
stylus. Wacom Stylus: Slide to ON to pair with your Wacom Bluetooth stylus.
Require browser password: This option controls access to the
in-app web browser via the New Browser option in the Insert
Object menu. To restrict access to the web from within Explain
Everything, enable the switch and create a 4-digit passcode to
lock the option. This passcode is needed to unlock access to
the in-app web browser.
Insert image from web: Turn ON to enable the Image From
Web option in the Add Media menu. Image From Web allows
you to search for and insert images and photos from
OpenClipart.org, an open community driven web collection of
free clipart.
Parental Control
Parental Gate: This is an option for restricting children under 13
access to external sources (eg. cloud services). When this is
set to ON, a user will have to confirm his/her age before logging into external sources and solve a small puzzle.!
!
13
Editing
Editing projects
Hide video/audio object controls after a while: When ON,
Landscape project ratio: Set the ratio for newly created landscape projects. 4:3 is a default iPad ratio and projects created
with this ratio will look best when viewed on the iPad screen.
The 16:9 project ratio will look best when viewed on a desktop computer or HDTV.
Offset laser pointer: Set to ON to make the Laser Pointer appear slightly above your finger.
Display on-screen guides: Turns ON/OFF a red frame that indicates the part of the screen that will be exported when exporting to non-project formats. The frame will be visible only
when your iPad is in a different orientation than the project set-
audio and video object controls will be hidden after a brief period of not using them. Tap on the object with the Hand Tool to
bring them back up.
Wrist guard: When you are writing and need to rest your hand
on the screen, this will prevent accidental drawing on the area
covered with the Wrist guard layer.
ting and only during editing and recording.
14
Default behavior for new objects
Auto-group drawings: Set to ON to make drawings automatically group with the object below them. This will make your annotations stick to documents, images, and other objects. !
!
Snap rotation: When ON, objects will be inserted with an activated Snap Rotation option. Use the Inspector ⟩ Lock ⟩ Snap
Rotation to toggle the setting manually for selected objects. !
!
Add shadow to new objects: When ON, a shadow will be
added to newly inserted objects. !
!
Switch to Hand Tool after shape creation: Set to ON to automatically switch to the Hand Tool after inserting a shape with
the Shape Tool. This way you will be able to edit and move the
inserted shape without having to switch tools manually.
Websites in desktop mode: When ON, the inserted browser
will try to load desktop version of the website you're opening.
15
Export
Video
Resolution: This allows you to change the dimensions of of
your exported movies (the default is 1024 x 768).
Quality: This setting allows you to decrease the quality of the
exported movie which will speed up compression and reduce
the file size.
File format: Choose whether to save exported movies in the
MOV or MP4 format.
Include Audio: When set to OFF, the app will export a silent
movie.
PDF documents
Quality: Set the quality of an exported PDF when using the
Document option in the Share > Export menu.
GIF
Resolution: Set the resolution of an exported GIF when using
the Export as GIF option in the Timeline editing menu.
Show audio objects in the exported file: When ON, exported
movies will not display audio objects inserted to the canvas
with the Add Media > Audio option.
Include slides without recordings: In Explain Everything you
can export slides without recording. This option adds 5, 10, or
15 seconds of empty recording time while exporting, so slides
without a recording will be present in your video. You can also
disable it by setting the added time to 0 seconds.
16
Record
Front and Rear camera resolution: Sets the resolution of
video recorded by the iPad camera. Lower resolutions will result in a lower quality video, but projects will compress much
faster during exporting.
Recording quality: Frames per second: Set your project recording frame rate to 30 or 60 frames per second (FPS). 30
FPS is set as default. 60 FPS causes animation and transitions in your project to be smoother during recording.
Browser capture frequency
Seconds: Set how frequently an inserted website object will
be captured during recording. When set to OFF only auto-
Mirror front camera video: Flips the video recording horizontally.
Timer display: Select whether the Timer should display the recording duration of the current slide or of the whole project.
Automatic smooth zooming in recording: Set to ON to enable
automatic Zoom smoothing during recording.
matic captures will be visible during recording. Automatic captures are performed when a link is clicked and while scrolling.
17
Integrations
Microphone: Mute mic while playing inserted video: When recording while an inserted video is playing, the iPad microphone picks up the sound from the video creating an echo effect. This option, when set to ON, mutes the iPad microphone
while a video is playing, though it also means that audio narration can't be done at the same time. When this setting is OFF,
you can reduce the echo effect by using headphones while
recording - or turn down the volume of the iPad speakers (or
use the volume control on the video itself to turn down the
sound from the video).
Audio Fade In for external mics: When set to ON this option
will mute the very beginning of each audio recording so that
This panel lets you log in and out of services that can be integrated with Explain Everything. !
Note: If using a shared iPad, you might want to log out of the
cloud services before letting someone else use the device.
any 'pops' caused by some external microphones are edited
out.
18
Hand Tool
Choose the Draw Tool to draw and annotate on the screen.
Tap and hold the icon to change pen thickness. The drawing
color is chosen in the color picker. You can determine both
stroke and fill colors.
Switch between drawing styles to give your projects a unique
touch. Toggle the moveable Ruler and use it to draw precise
lines. Tap on the Ruler symbol again to hide it.
!
Draw Fill: Connects drawn lines and fills the drawing with a
color selected in the Color Picker under the Fill tab. Once
filled, the drawing becomes an object. !
!
Hand Tool Gestures
Complete Drawing: Turns the current drawing into an object
and allows you to continue drawing or writing. After an object
is created, a blue frame appears around it. Drawings also become objects automatically when a different tool is selected,
except when selecting Highlighter.
Tap an object to select and edit it (change the properties of a shape
or edit a text box).
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Add Media
Insert various types of media from your iPad and other
sources.
New Picture: Opens the Camera to take a new photo
that is then added to the canvas. The Image Editor will appear after taking the picture that will let you scale, rotate, and
crop the image or remove its background with the Instant Alpha before inserting it onto the canvas.
New Video: Will insert an empty video to the canvas. If
you are already recording, you have to press the record button at the bottom of the video object to start recording. If you
New Browser: Insert a fully functioning web browser
onto the canvas. Tap the browser to activate it. Press the
eraser icon in the top right-hand corner to clear annotations.
Note: Inserted browsers have limited recording capabilities
(e.g. Explain Everything will not record a YouTube video
within a web page). If you see that there are some problems
on specific websites, please use the Quicksnap button in the
upper right corner, to capture the moment you want to be
shown during playback.
are in pause mode, pressing the global record at the bottom
of the screen will simultaneously start recording the video!
object.
21
New Equation: Insert a new text object with a special
math keyboard that allows you to create math formulas.
New Audio: Adds a new audio object to the canvas in
the same way you would create a new video. Press the record button under the object to start recording the sound. This
sound file will behave independently from the global project
recording button in the control bar on the bottom.
Existing Image/Video: Inserts an existing image(s) or
videos onto the canvas. Multiple images can be imported at
once. When importing a single image from one of the
sources, the Image Editor will appear.
You can start playing the video while recording globally - and
all your actions will be recorded. You can change the audio
volume, scrub the video backwards and forwards or pause it all while recording.
File: Insert any file types onto the canvas. Choose the
source of the file from the sources panel.
22
Clipart: Insert high quality images from the Explain Everything
clipart library. Tap a clipart to add it to the canvas. You can also add
a custom clipart to your library with the Inspector Tool.
Image From Web: Search for and insert images and photos
from OpenClipart.org, an open community driven collection of free
clipart.
Existing Sound: Will open the iTunes menu from which you
can choose a sound file from your iTunes library. The inserted sound
file can be controlled just like an inserted video.
Placeholder: Insert a multimedia placeholder object. Tapping
on a placeholder that has been inserted to the canvas will open an
import menu with the corresponding media.
23
Draw Tool
Choose the Draw Tool to draw and annotate on the screen.
Tap and hold the icon to change pen thickness. The drawing
color is chosen in the color picker. You can determine both
stroke and fill colors.
Switch between drawing styles to give your projects a
unique touch.
Toggle the moveable Ruler and use it to draw precise
lines. Tap on the Ruler symbol again to hide it.
!
% Complete Drawing: Turns the current drawing into an !
object and allows you to continue drawing or writing. After an
object is created, a blue frame appears around it. Drawings
also become objects automatically. when a different tool is !
selected, except when selecting Highlighter.
Draw Fill: Connects drawn lines and fills the drawing
with a color selected in the Color Picker under the Fill tab.
Once filled, the drawing becomes an object. !
24
Highlighter
Bucket Fill
Highlighter behaves just like the Draw Tool but has automatic
transparency.
Eraser
Eraser has three different modes:
Erase Only Active Drawings: In this mode you will
erase only lines part of the active drawing.
Erase All Drawings: Erase all layers of the drawings,
Fill in objects with selected colors. Use the Color Picker to !
select color and opacity.
Shape Tool
Shape Tool: Tap to select the current shapes and lines. Tap
on the icon again to choose other shapes and lines, shadow
and border width, or switch to Freeform Shapes mode.
Choose colors and transparency via the Color Pickers. Tap
and drag on the canvas to draw the initial shape or line !
object. !
!
this includes not only active drawings but drawing !
objects as well.
Erase With Images: Erase all layers of drawings and
images.
Freeform Shapes: With Freeform Shapes selected!
you can draw on the canvas and the drawings will !
convert to the shape object that most closely matches.
25
Text
Delete
Tap on the canvas to insert a text box. Adjust the settings in
the menu to change color, font, size and formatting.
Cutout Tool
Creates a new, separate flattened object from a selected part
of the stage. With the Cutout Tool selected, drag your finger
across the stage to make your rectangular selection.
Change into Lasso Cutout to select and copy freeform
areas of the stage.
Select the Delete tool and tap on the object on the stage that
you want to remove. Tap the red X to remove the selected object. If you want to remove a group of objects, double tap on
the object that is grouped with the other objects. The whole
group will be marked with a red border and you will be able to
remove them by pressing the red X in the middle of the
group.
Laser Pointer
This tool will display a laser pointer under your finger. Tap on
the icon again to reveal the Laser Pointer styles. You can en-
Precise Cutout: selects and copies freeform areas with
a special extension that allows precise selection.
able offset of the laser pointer in Settings under General tab
so it appears slightly above your finger.
26
Inspector
Set properties of objects on the canvas. Arrange objects forwards and backwards,lock and edit them by copying, duplicating, flipping, enabling automatic rotation and more.
Arrange
Bring to Front will move the chosen object to the very
top of the canvas.
!
Bring Forward will move the chosen object one layer
up.
!
Send Backward will move the chosen object one layer
Align Left will align selected objects vertically to the
left.
Align Center will align selected objects to the vertical
center.
Align Right will align selected objects vertically to the
right.
Align Top will align selected objects horizontally to the
top.
Align Middle will align selected objects to the horizontal
down.
!
Send to Back will move the chosen object to the back of
the canvas.
center.
Align Bottom will align selected objects horizontally to
the bottom.
27
Edit
Group will group the selected objects together so they
can act as one object.
Ungroup separates grouped objects.
Duplicate button creates a clone of the selected object(s) and
places it on the canvas next to the original object.
Copy the selected object(s) to the clipboard. !
Paste button adds copied objects to the canvas. You can copy
and paste supported images and videos from outside of Explain
Everything as well. Deselect All will deselect all selected objects.
!
Set auto rotation turns on the control circle overlay - set
the automatic rotation by placing your finger anywhere on the
circle and spinning it slow or fast. To stop rotation, tap anywhere on the circle. You can also move the rotation center
point using the control element on the bottom of the control !
circle.
Set as Background will lock the object as a background
element meaning that drawings will not stick to it and when
you use the Zoom and Pan tool, the background image will
not change its size, scale or position. !
Flip Up/Down will flip selected objects on the vertical axis.
!
Flip Left/Right will flip selected objects on the horizontal
axis.
28
Add as clipart will add selected objects as a flattened
clipart image that will be saved in Insert Object ⟩ Clipart ⟩ !
Custom menu.
!
Infinite Scroll enables infinite scrolling animation for a
selected object. Swipe on scrolling controllers to make the object infinitely scroll in the direction of your swipe. Tap the blue
dot in the center of the controller to stop the animation.
Lock
Lock button will lock the object and keep it in place until it
is unlocked with the Unlock option.
Lock Rotation will prevent the rotation of an object when
using the Hand tool. Useful for documents.
Lock Scale will prevent the object from resizing.
Lock Horizontal allows the object to move only up or
down. Great for scrolling documents in slides when you % want
them to keep them steady.
Lock Vertical allows the object to move only left and right.
Snap Rotation will make the object snap to the closest
right angle when manually rotating using the Hand Tool.
29
Undo
Stealth Mode: In this mode, Zoom and Pan actions will
not be registered on the Timeline while recording. Also, if you
Undoes the last action. Redo: Redoes the last undone action.
This button only appears after you Undo an action.
Zoom and pan:
Zoom and Pan: Zoom in and out on the entire canvas using
two finger pinch and reverse pinch gestures. Use one finger
to move the canvas around. Double tap to return to 100%
zoom of objects framed in the view. Every action performed
will be registered on the Timeline while recording. As a host of
a Collaboration session, using Zoom & Pan will take over
Zoom control on all participants' devices and they will be di-
zoom out a red frame will appear indicating the current area
that is being recorded or displayed on 2nd screen. Reset:
Brings Zoom level to the position before the Zoom & Pan tool
was selected. In the Stealth mode Reset will return the view
to the original level and position marked by the red frame.
There are 5 color pickers that can be individually set to
any color. Each tool that uses the Color Picker will retain
Color Picker settings made in other tools.
rected to the view. you're currently in.
30
Presentation and Navigation
slide.
Slide sorter: Displays the slide sorter menu, which allows you to sort, delete, duplicate and change the color templates for individual slides.
Previous slide: Go to the previous slide.
Next slide: Advance to the next slide.
Add slide: Adds a new slide after the currently selected
Navigation Bar
With the Navigation bar on the top of the screen you can Rename, Save, Duplicate, Undo all unsaved changes, and close
Collaborate: Session-based: Lets you host a collaboration on
your device and invite others to join you to work on the project in real-time. !
!
Note: Session-based collaboration is hosted on your device
and session participants will be disconnected if you close !
Explain Everything or keep it in the background for too long.
You will be notified if it happens.
Explain Drive: Uploads the project to Explain Drive and allows
you to customize all privacy and visibility options. !
!
the active project. It is also where you Share your project,
start Collaboration, and access the Main Menu. !
!
Sharing options:
Web Video Link: Uploads the project to Explain Drive and generates a web link so you can immediately share it as a video
or slideshow. Tap on the generated link to share it.
Export: Saves the project in a custom location in one of the
available formats: Video, Document, Image, Project.
31
Recording
Mix: selecting this option will cause new recordings to
All the interactions on the screen can be recorded. Tap the Record #button on the bottom of the screen to begin recording
audio and actions on the screen.
Record: Begin recording from the current time. Press while recording to pause/stop. If any video inserts are used, you can
separately set their preferences in the Record tab on the Settings menu. For newly recorded videos, it's possible to change
the video resolution and quality and whether the front camera
should be mirrored. Press the recording button to choose the
recording mode: Overwrite or Mix.
Overwrite: when selected, a new recording will replace all
cre-ate new clips along already existing clips in the video
track and overwrite the part of recording in the audio track. !
A '+' symbol will be present on the record button when this
mode is selected.
existing clips in unlocked tracks after the current time. You'll
be shown a confirmation popup each time you start recording
in this mode.
33
Play: Playback the recording on the current slide. While
Timer: Displays the current time within a slide. Tapping it will
recording, this becomes a pause button.
Play fullscreen: Tap and hold the Play button to reveal it. It
plays back the entire project from the first slide to the last in
full screen.
Rewind: Go to the beginning of the recording on the cur-
rent slide.!
!
Fast Forward: Go to the end of the recording on the current slide. Additional recordings can be added to the end of a
slide.
!
display the timeline, which can be scrolled backwards and forwards. The timeline consists of two parts - the video track and
the audio track. The video track displays the movement of objects, drawings and other actions that were recorded. !
The audio track displays the corresponding audio wave file
for reference.
Mic Mute: Mutes the microphone. It's invisible by default.
It can be switched on in the Record tab on the Settings
menu: Show MIC MUTE button.
34
Timeline Editing
You can refine and adjust your Explain Everything recordings
with the Timeline Editing menu. To do that open the Timeline
and touch and hold on a clip or the playhead.
Start selection: Lets you select a part of the timeline starting
from the playhead's position. Scroll the timeline to modify the
selection. A set editing options will appear after a selection is
made.
Delete: Clears the selected part of the recording.
Delete and compact: Removes the selected part of the recording and joins the two remaining parts together.
Smooth: Makes the object and zoom movements more fluid
on the selected part of the recording.
Tip: To remove a single clip from the Timeline,
touch and hold on it and choose Delete.
35
Speed up: Increases the playback speed on selected part of
the recording. You can set the playback speed to 2x, 4x, 8x,
or 16x of the original speed. If you want to change back to the
original speed, select the sped up part of the Timeline,
choose Speed up and tap 1x. Note: Please keep in mind that
the Speed up changes both the video and the audio tracks
playback speed.
Export as video: Shares the selected part of the recording as
a video file. !
!
Export as GIF: Shares the selected part of the recording as
an animated GIF file. !
!
Delete all clips from now on: Removes the recording starting
from the playhead to the end.
!
Split: Divides a clip into two separate clips at the point of the
playhead. !
!
Fade in audio: Adds one second of silence that fades into
sound at the beginning of selected audio clip.
36
Sharing is caring so share
Explain Drive
your message with others.
Web Video Link
Sharing a project as a video link is the quickest way of providing others with an access to your project. While the project is
still compressing in the cloud, you can already send others
the link where it will be found after a few minutes. The project
is automatically uploaded to Explain Drive, where you can
change your project’s accessibility at any time.
Explain Drive is a content portal for sharing, publishing, and
downloading editable project files. It provides users an additional destination to publish projects easily, discover the work
of others, and download, edit, and remix projects from the
global community.
The portal can be accessed from the app’s Home Screen or
by visiting drive.explaineverything.com.
All projects uploaded to the portal, if shared publicly, can be
downloaded and edited by others. This way you can download
a project, copy graphics you like, and reuse them in your project. You can also delete all recordings and make your own.
Your project’s privacy settings can be changed any time.
When you tap a project thumbnail, a player will open with options to view the recording, share, like, and download a local
copy of the project.
38
My Drive
My Drive is your local space on the portal. You will find all of
Export
your projects that have been uploaded to Explain Drive as
well as saved links to projects made by others. You can manage, organize them in folders, and set their visibility in the portal. You can access My Drive from your iPad, iPhone, the website, plus also Android, Windows, and Chromebook device if
you sign in with the same credentials. (Doesn’t apply to Explain Everything Whiteboard on iOS). This way you can start
creating a project on one platform, and continue on another
one. It can be also very useful if you share a device with
someone else.
Collaborate session-based
Once your project is ready, you can save it to your local projects or export it to one of numerous locations. You can export
your creations as a video (MP4 or MOV file), PDF, image
(JPG), or .explain file so it will remain an editable project file.
Start real-time collaboration and bring everyone on the same
infinite canvas. Once you finish the work, everyone can save
a local copy of the project on their devices.
39
Team up to explore a challenging question or build meaningful
content. With Explain Everything, a group can brainstorm collaboratively, annotate documents and images, and capture
conversations in real-time.
A group can build a storyboard or presentation together, with
each member working on a different part of a slide, or on different slides.
A collaborative session can be broadcasted on local network
and anyone can join it. It’s also possible to create a private
session and only people with an access CODE will be able to
join. The host can determinate participants privileges such as
editing or storing the project at the end of the session.
41
Collaboration options:
Voice Chat: Enable to allow collaboration participants use
voice communication. This setting can't be changed during
the session.!
!
Allow editing: Disable to prevent session participants from editing the project. This is a default setting for participants and
can be changed during the session. !
!
Allow storing project: Disable to prevent session participants
from being able to save the project on their devices after the
collaboration ends. This setting can't be changed during the
session. !
!
Visible on local network: Enable to make your session visible
in the Nearby Collaborations list in the ... menu for users on
the same WiFi. This setting can't be changed during the session. !
!
Note: Some WiFi networks might not allow Visible !
on local network option to work properly.
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Interactive learning
Capture Understanding
One of the key features of Explain Everything is the ability to !
record visuals, motion, and audio, all which are impactful when
presenting and sharing ideas. When students capture understanding, their teachers not only see the responses to a problem but
also the entire thinking process behind it. Gaps in understanding
emerge as do areas of strengths, both providing opportunities to
focus in on them. Not every student likes to speak to a group - !
recording an explanation gives another way for those types of !
students to have a voice. They can reflect upon their understanding, listen to themselves and add what they might have missed at
first. Explain Everything allows for splitting the recording process
into parts so you can record audio and video separately. !
By taking advantage of Mix Recording it’s easier to stay crystal
clear during explanations.
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Create and use just-in-time activity templates
Species Name
Quick FactsIndigenous to.. .
Complete the activity
and record your explanation
add photos if you like!
100%
Projects Gorillas
Share
Explain Everything lets you create templates to speed up your
processes and make sharing ideas and information with your
students easier. One simple way of creating activity templates
is by using placeholders. Placeholders are objects in Explain
Everything that you can insert into a project and then later tap
to add desired content (images, files, video, audio, and clipart).
Placeholders allow you to maintain consistency in your !
projects. They can be found within the Insert tool. Once you
tap on a Placeholder, choose the type of media you want it to
add in the future. You can resize the text box placeholder in the
bottom right corner and adjust its size on the canvas. Once
your template is created, save your project and share it with
your class. Everyone will be able to work on individual copies
of the project, using the placeholders to add content within the
template. Of course, not all activity templates need to be built
from placeholders. You can insert any image, picture or #text
and have your students to work with them!
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Instruction
Instruct in Real-Time
Create presentations that move at the modern speed of learning. Use video, notation, and audio recording to bring your instruction to life. Insert existing photos, videos or documents that
are always at your fingertips. Take a picture directly in the app
and use your surroundings to build a better bond with the audience. Use Infinite Zoom to focus on the tiny details on your canvas and zoom out to present larger context. Make sure to draw
attention to your key ideas. Want to show information found on
web? No need to leave the app! You can insert a web browser
and scroll through a page. You can even crop parts of it and
continue working on them offline.
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Create instructional videos
Video instruction: Helps learners acquire new skills by viewing
a video. Record all your interactions and explain step by step
Using video in the classroom has a lot of benefits. It can !
produce authentic learning opportunities for students and !
encourage them to research. Videos humanizes the online !
experience by letting students get to know their instructor as
a real person, not an abstraction. A significant benefit of
video is giving students an opportunity to view complex procedures as many times as they need. Instructional videos
can be used not only in online classes, but also in face-toface environments to introduce new skills, knowledge or activities to be learned or reinforced. Below are just a few types
of instructional videos that might be helpful: welcome video,
video modeling, lecturette and tutorial.
how to complete a task. At the end, give your audience a similar task to complete imitating your steps.
Mini-lessons: Mini-lessons are condensed versions of lectures.
They can be introduced to present new ideas followed by
content-based exercises in the classroom. They can be a good
way to recap knowledge and give your students a short summary of recently introduced material.
Tutorial: Tutorials are step-by step “how to” instructional videos
that teach a specific skill or technique. They are detailed demonstrations offering specialized knowledge on a certain topic,
often recorded in sequences.
Welcome video: Can be used to introduce students to you
and your course. They may be published online to be viewed
prior to class or shown in the classroom. It’s a great opportunity to let your students get to know you better. You can ask
your students to prepare welcome videos too, and get to
know them as well!
Tip: In order to give more personal look of your !
instructional videos, make sure to add a video of yourself
speaking to your audience. Insert a new video in Explain
Everything and switch to the front-facing camera.
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Demonstrating!
Furthermore, once an explanation of concept is recorded, we
can play it back and come back to the most significant parts of
Understanding
Students as Teachers
Strengthen leadership and collaboration skills by giving students the tools to create and share their own tutorials, animated
stories, and presentations. Technology has deepened the ability
for us to teach one another, and animation has played a significant part of it. Explain Everything is a perfect platform for any
student to become a teacher! From teaching peers in class to
helping learners across the globe, animating learning through
Explain Everything is a perfect way to empower that inner !
educator found in all of us. Explain Everything can be used
the explanation. Explain Everything gives is simple and intuitive
and is used by students of different ages. In order to adjust to
the youngest users, there is an option of the Simple Interface
which limits the numbers of tools.
Anyone can become a creator!
across all subjects allowing learning to be animated, exported,
and ready to share with the world. Since most people are visual
learners, animation becomes a more accessible form of having
a problem presented.
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Document and Reflect
Explain Everything provides teachers and students with an
easy way to document learning and reflect upon it. Explain
Everything integrates with all of the most frequently used
cloud destination, so students and teachers can seamlessly
import any kind of files. These can be papers, presentations,
videos, or just photos taken around the learning environment.
Even if a document is not available digitally, #simply take a !
picture of it and bring it into Explain Everything! Once work is
on the canvas, a teacher or student can reflect upon it. One
way to give feedback is to create a video. Once the recording
is started, use the Zoom tool to get closer to a specific section, analyze, and comment on it. Highlight parts of text, !
annotate the document and of course, speak to the author of
the content (which sometimes can be yourself!).
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Communicate Visually
with Your Clients
Need a live internet browser? Import one into Explain Every-
thing and leave it just off screen for when you’re ready. Time to
It’s undeniable that there are advantages to getting visual while
communicating, especially considering that 65% of people are
visual learners. With the advent of the smartphone and tablet,
faster internet connections, and more refined pieces of software, visual communication has been pushed to the forefront,
and with good reason. Not only does it increase understanding,
but it also increases retention rates of information. If you think
you have no time to create a visible explanation, think about all
the time you save by making your ideas clearer. You won’t need
to repeat anymore “No, like this…” while drawing a quick diagram for your frustrated audience to clarify your point. Innovations in technology and connectivity have produced so many
platforms and solutions that make assembling complete visual
deliver your graph or chart? Just scroll over to where you stored
it. Ready to show that clincher of a video? It’s waiting on stage
right, but only you know it’s there. The best storytelling makes
use of visual aids, tools, and most importantly – good timing.
#Let your clients see your point and have that ‘wow moment’.
content easier and faster. Explain Everything’s infinite canvas
makes this not only possible, but easy and intuitive. What do we
mean by infinite canvas? Imagine a piece of paper that never
ends – no matter how much you scroll or zoom, it just keeps going. What does this mean for storytellers and presenters? It
means you can have everything you need on one page so you
don’t need to change slides or switch windows/programs/apps.#
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Turn Ideas !
Into Understanding
Explain Everything’s interactive whiteboard is the ideal platform
for creating and sharing powerful, visual stories. Starting with !
a blank infinite canvas or importing existing slides and media.
Write, annotate, and add emphasis to anything on the screen.
Interactive capabilities enable all participants to add their own
illustrative points and be an integral part of the conversation.
You can also capture, edit, and share all or part of your sessions for continuous learning. This is especially helpful for people who were not at the live meeting or who need to see how
an idea was developed. Explain Everything is the pictureperfect catalyst for the two-way visual communication that is so
important in today’s world. From describing complex concepts
to connecting salespeople with prospects to onboarding new
employees, you can collaborate, share, and learn without
boundaries. Empower your teams to become visual communicators and start turning ideas into understanding.
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Connect Your Teams
Many managers are looking to bypass expensive options and
create authentic communications for clients, investors, and
partners. #Large and small teams benefit from collaboration
tools that keep entire projects in a commonplace where the
whole team can access and edit simply by downloading them
from the cloud. Content teams can have strategists, creators,
and editors all working on the same document simultaneously.
When teams use tools that can synchronously share notes and
ideas on an infinite canvas without ever needing to switch
documents or open a handful of programs, a real-time collaborative environment is achieved. Far-flung workers and home
base employees need to be able to share ideas and create together in real-time, whether they are cross-office or cross-
Remote workers can watch and contribute their design and
copy ideas as the team works to complete stages. As dispersed teams become the norm, tools that allow open collaboration will cut down on send-backs and help remote stakeholders develop clear ideas of what’s expected.
Changing structures and finding the best mix of new and existing technologies in your organization doesn’t have to spell
doom and gloom #for professionals. In fact, those digital disruptions are more likely to spell opportunity as businesses find the
right set of collaboration solutions that help nimbler teams
bring more projects to life in less time, and communicate
across teams for better results. The trick will lie in keeping
country or across oceans. For example, a social media team
can pull slide decks or live browsers into an interactive, !
collaborative whiteboard session, and draw, write, and outline
strategies.
teams connected, collaborative, and innovative as they go.
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Have better meetings
with customers
When you are a salesman, you spend a lot of hours in transport. Your customers and meetings can be spread out a long
distance, and you need to adjust to always be on time.
Wouldn’t it be better to save this time and instead, use it for
actual conversations to understand your clients and understand what keeps them up at night? In most talks, a good
speaker tries to affect explicit memory of the audience. !
Explicit memory involves the aspects of presentations that
can be recalled later. However, many times you will aim to
change the explicit memory of your listeners. There are cer-
Connect elements and draw connections. Making connections among the key areas of your presentation will help the
audience to better memorize your message. You can make
simple annotations, drawings, highlight parts of text or zoom
in to make people focus on the same things you do rather
that read the whole descriptions that are on your slide.
When you lead 1:1 meetings, take some time to learn about
your listener. You may offer a solution very similar to your
competitors but having customers involved gives you an advantage. Hold attention and show that you listen. Draw a
model based on what you hear, put your listeners name on
canvas, sketch. You don’t need to be an artist to make visual
tain areas you can focus on to improve what people remember from your presentation. Many of us remember the first
thing presented. Because of that, it’s important to discuss
what you will speak about during your presentation and make
sure people will hear what you really want them to learn.
When running a presentation, don’t start with blank canvas.
Insert at least a sentence or a picture which will be your starting point.
notes. Once you finish the meeting, send your customer a
video or a link to the project and keep the discussion going!
Give your presentations a unique style. Have your brand ele-
ments always at your fingertips. Add your company’s logo to-
gether with other assets that you often come back to into your
clipart library. Find the right colors using the hex system to let
your brand speak with you.
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First, a big “Thank You!” from all of us at Explain Everything!
for exploring our book!
Our aim was to create something that provided an in depth explanation of the app's tools and some fresh ideas on
how to use them that also appealed to individual users, educators and entrepreneurs alike. We hope that the gath-
ered material enriches your knowledge of our app and enhances your work! While all of the images are taken from
the iOS version of Explain Everything, nearly all of the features can be found in every version. We're working hard
to bring every great feature to all platforms!
We can't wait to see more and more of your wonderful projects shared!
Stay up-to-date on the latest features on our blog!
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Explain Everything™
are proprietary marks
of Explain Everything.
Explain Everything' trademarks may not be used in connection with any
product or service that is not provided by Explain Everything, in any manner
that is likely to cause confusion among customers, or in any manner that disparages or discredits Explain Everything.
All other trademarks displayed on Explain Everything's website or Service
are the trademarks of their respective owners, and constitute neither an endorsement nor a recommendation of those Vendors. In addition, such use
of trademarks or links to the websites of Vendors is not intended to imply,
directly or indirectly, that those Vendors endorse or have any affiliation with
Explain Everything.
Apple, the Apple logo, and iPad are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in
the U.S. and other countries. App Store is a service mark of Apple Inc.
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