| FAQ: Collection authoring with SuperMemo |
Overview articles:
Related FAQs:
Questions:
You can change the position of the question window
Rich text components do not store fonts
There is an important difference between items and topics
You can change the font in a number of items at once
You can quickly change items into topics
You can learn English in your own language (e.g.
Japanese)
You can center texts in text components
You can turn off component focus switching on mouse move
Knowledge tree is like a family tree
Merging collections is bound to be slow
Editing an element with a template may affect the template
Creating occlusion tests is simple
Scaling occlusion tests
You can underline important words
If Add New does not create needed components, you can redefine the template
You can import text files as questions and answers
You can display structural formulas in chemistry
You can add mathematical formulas
You can quickly duplicate elements
Use the editing mode to fill out text fields
Determining the timing of sound playback
You can copy components via the ClipBox
Creating a hyperlink is simple
Keep only one collection!
You can import audio and video files in most popular formats
Copy collection can be used to take your learning material for a vacation
You can change your default editor used with pictures or HTML files
If you have many collections, you can merge them in one
Adding sounds to SuperMemo
You can see how the element will look to the user during learning
To use a category template you need to select the
category
You can add sounds to your items
You can make the sound play at answer time
After choosing a category, last added element is
displayed
Converting remote images to local images
You can establish a "home page" in your collection
Do text replaces on a subset of texts
Categories are not visible in Contents
Script commands
Components are displayed in the same order they
were added to an element
Use Apply Template in the browser to globally replace one template with another
You can delete all occurrences of 'zzzz'
You can import text to SuperMemo
Q&A import can only be used to import plain text
Secondary storage is used to tell SuperMemo where your
CD-ROM is
Use "Import file" to import an EXE file to be run within SuperMemo
You can use speech recognition software to build your collection
You can add new phonetic transcription entries
You can see the number of the current element
You can add sound recorders to your elements
You can recognize the editing and dragging mode by the appearance of components
In question-and-answer import you need to use plain text files
You can replace one image with another
Importing tab-delimited text
The format of text files that can be imported to SuperMemo is very simple
You can use a link to an external site in HTML component
SuperMemo cannot decide when to reset the learning parameters of an element
Inserting pictures from the registry
You can create multiple-choice items
You can use Size : Fill on image components to make them
scale
Occlusion rectangles are part of content
You can "merge" two pictures in the registry
You can add a picture to many elements
Increasing the size of the font
Default font in Options does not work
Template objects are not registered with elements that use
the template
Use Alt+PgDn to go to the next element
The use of spell-pad should be restricted to spelling exercises
Deleting all elements in the browser
You can paste images from the clipboard
Non-HTML texts are not kept in formatted files
Adding predefined templates to the registry
Infinite cycle of template corrections
Strange category names
Inserting a category in the knowledge tree provides more control than adding it
as a child
Use "Replace target" mode to swap two folders in the contents window
Transferring a collection to a new file will renumber elements
Overwriting templates
Setting ordinals en masse
You can import items sent in a text file from a friend
RTF and HTML components stay always on top
Limit on the number of children in contents is imposed for performance reasons
Set category ordinal to zero to choose a sequential
ordinal
Pictures do not show after applying a picture-less
template
You can import questions and answers with a specific font size and color
Let the music play
Sound component may not disable player buttons even if the sound file is missing
You can select more than one elements in the contents window
You can disable scripts and players
OLE controls do not scale
Importing MCT along Q&A
You can change the default font
Infinite recursive text replacement
Swapping question and answer in many elements
You cannot replace HTML tags globally
Scrollbars appear if the content of the element window goes beyond its client area
The purpose of View Source
Using categories
You can undismiss elements in your collection
Templates can affect the displayed texts
Use Esc in Contents to cancel Default Element
What is the meaning of ??? chars in phonetic transcription?
You can create many different testing exercises
SuperMemo does not use "Save As" because it does not keep files in memory
SuperMemo cannot convert WAV files to MP3 format
Ctrl+A has been replaced with Alt+A
Efficient image compression
Drag&Match allows of no more than ten rectangles
You can change the position of the question window
Question:
How can I change the position of the question field on the screen?
Answer:
Alt-click the question twice. It will become draggable. Alternatively, you
can choose Dragging mode on the question component
menu
or on the element menu (in the latter case, all components
will become draggable). If you want to change this position globally (i.e. in
all elements in your collection), you should use
templates. See: Using templates
There is an important difference between items and topics
(Jim Ivy, USA, June 4, 1997)
Question:
What is the difference between a topic and an item?
Answer:
Topics are used to present knowledge or learn by reading (e.g. articles on the
reading list). Items are used to
test knowledge by means of repetitions (very
often they have the
question-and-answer structure). See also: Topics
vs. items
You can quickly change items into topics
(Piotr Wysocki, Poland, May 14,
1997)
Question:
How can I change an item to a topic and
vice versa without using branch operations in the contents
window?
Answer:
Press Ctrl+Shift+P and select the type in Element type
(on Item/Topic tab). See also: Topics vs. items
You can learn English in your own language (e.g. Japanese)
(Tomoki Takahashi, Japan, Feb 6, 1999)
Question:
I would like to learn English with questions asked in Japanese. How can I do it?
Answer:
You have to (1) create your own template with the
Japanese font in the plain-text question field (you can use Text
: New Font to change the question font in the classic template), (2) save
the template with Template : Save as
default. Do not use rich text components in your template as these
do store a font setting!
After this, each time you choose Add new (or
press Alt+A), your questions will be generated in
Japanese and answers will retain standard look (you can also swap English with Japanese by
using Edit : Swap components).
Although you cannot change the writing direction in SuperMemo text components (from yokogaki to
tategaki), you can
include texts via OLE from Japanese Word or Ichi Taro word processors. These programs use
either Microsoft IME or ATOK utilities to input Japanese text. Microsoft IME is part of
Japanese Windows. ATOK is part of the Ichi Taro word processor (Justy System) but can be
installed as a separate unit. With ATOK you can change from the English to the Japanese
input mode. It is fully compatible with SuperMemo: 1) You type the pronunciation of a word
from the keyboard, 2) press Space, and 3) select the appropriate
kanji(s) from
the list showing those matching the input sounds combination. Ganbatte ne
You can center texts in text components
(Jake White, USA, May 14, 1997)
Question:
I learn Romanian vocabulary. How can I center the word in the question component?
Answer:
Knowledge tree is like a family tree
(John Gibney, Australia, Sep 1,
1998)
Question:
What is the difference between children and descendants in the knowledge tree?
Answer:
Children of a given element are those elements that are shown when you click the plus sign
to the left of the element. They are all connected with the parent element and are shifted
one level to the right. The descendants of a given element are all children of all
children of all children, etc. If you take an analogy with a family, the descendants of an
individual include children, grand children, grand grand children and so on. For
more see: Creating the knowledge tree
You can underline important words
(David K.
Harris, Peking University, Oct 23, 1998)
Question:
I would like to underline important words in my elements, but have not yet figured out how
to change the font of individual words within components
Answer:
You should use RTF or HTML components instead of plain text components. In an
RTF or HTML component, select the text to underline and click the underline icon on the Edit toolbar (or Ctrl+U). If you want
all your elements to use HTML or RTF components instead of plain text components, save your
new components as a default template for your currently used category.
Read more: Using templates
You can import text files as questions and answers
(Jeremy Sherman, USA, Oct 12, 1998)
Question:
I am using Filemaker Plus to create a more comprehensive database for quotes, my ideas,
etc. of which only a select number of items are the kind I would want to commit to memory.
I have not found any reference in the help menu to ways to import a number of elements and
test items directly into SuperMemo. Can you suggest a format for importation? I do see the
section on Import Q&A but I don't see how to format the fields
Answer:
For File : Tools : Import : Q&A text,
it is enough you create a text file in the following format:
q: <text of the question>
a: <text of the answer>
q: <text of the question>
a: <text of the answer>, etc. etc.
For example:
q: What is the name of the Polish king dynasty that ended with Casimir III?
a: Piast dynasty
q: Which Polish king dynasty did Casimir the Great belong to?
a: Piast dynasty, etc. etc.
You can display structural formulas in chemistry
(Charles
Maggio, USA, July 7, 1997)
Question:
I use ChemDraw to create structured formulas of organic substances. How can I paste them
to an image component?
Answer:
You can use your ChemDraw formulas and formulas generated with other applications as long
as they support OLE 2.0. Do not use the image component here, use the OLE
component. This will make it easier to edit your formulas once you decide to change
them
You can add mathematical formulas
(Gabor
Schmera, USA, Dec 13, 1997)
Question:
I would like to add mathematical formulas to my items. What is the best way? I have
equations ready with MS Word 97.
Answer:
Use OLE component to display files generated with other
applications (if they support OLE 2.0)
You can quickly duplicate elements
(Ryszard Kosowicz, Krakow, Poland, May 16,
1997)
Question:
How can I quickly copy the text of an item to another item without using clipboard twice
(for question and for answer)?
Answer:
Use Duplicate on the element menu (or
press Ctrl+Alt+D on the copied element)
You can copy components via the ClipBox
(Doug Edmunds,
USA, Nov 4, 1997)
Question:
How do I paste the contents of a Component ClipBox on a new
element?
Answer:
Drag it onto an empty area in the element window
Creating a hyperlink is simple
(David
Mckenzie, New Zealand, Apr 8, 1998)
Question:
How to make a hyperlink?
Answer:
Choose Link : Hyperlink on the component menu and click the element that is to be
hyperlinked in the contents
window
Keep only one collection!
(David
Mckenzie, New Zealand, Apr 8, 1998)
Question:
Is there any point in keeping collections separate?
Answer:
No. Once you master contents categories and templates, there is no point. You gain global search, global registries, global repetitions, global optimization, etc. This would
not be advisable back in SuperMemo 7 as item difficulty measure (E-factor) was dependent
on the average difficulty of items in the collection. Presently,
the item difficulty measure (A-Factor, or absolute difficulty
factor) is absolute and does not depend on the context in which an item is placed (see:
SuperMemo Algorithm). Only the length of the first interval
will significantly be affected by the average difficulty of items in the collection.
However, this shall not bear dramatically on the speed of
learning. Especially that variable forgetting index
for individual items makes it possible to set different first intervals for whole contents
categories or branches of
the knowledge tree
If you have many collections, you can merge them in one
(Peter Rasmussen, Denmark, May 20, 1999)
Question:
I created a couple of collections and would like to put them all into one. How can
I do it?
Answer:
In each collection choose File : Merge collection. Always select the same collection as the target of the transfer. Please
note that unregistered objects do not get transferred (e.g. script images, global
background image, global default font, etc.). You will have to set those manually and
resolve possible conflicts (e.g. you can use only one global background image but you can
set images individually for all elements if necessary)
To use a category template you need to select the category
(Vidar Garlie, Norway, Mar 18, 1999)
Question:
When I go to the contents window, select a category
branch and click Alt+A, the template of this category is not used! Can you help?
Answer:
To use a category template, you have to first choose
the category in the category combo box on the
Tools toolbar.
Selecting branches in the contents window does not affect the current category selection
You can add sounds to your items
(Ron Uebel, Feb 7, 2001)
Question:
I just need to know how to paste a wav or audio file as an item. And
when I paste it into an item at the top, I want to add text as an answer at the
bottom
Answer:
Try the following:
See also: Using templates (there is a predefined Sound template in the template registry)
After choosing a category, last added element is displayed
(Marcin Piekarniak, Poland, Dec 2, 1997)
Question:
Why after choosing a contents category the last item in the
category is displayed; not first?
Answer:
When you add new items you want to know which one was added last. You can easily
navigate to the root by using the parent button on the element
toolbar (or press Ctrl+Up)
Components are displayed in the same order they were added to an element
(Volker Goretzki, Germany,
Feb 22, 1998)
Question:
Which rules does the overlapping of components
follow?
Answer:
Components are displayed in the order in which they were added to the element. To change this order use Component order
on the element menu
You can delete all occurrences of 'zzzz'
(Volker Goretzki, Germany, May
6, 1997)
Question:
I would like to remove all occurrences of a string 'zzzz' from a collection. What is the simplest way?
Answer:
(1) Choose Search : Text, (2) choose Find
and replace on the menu, e.g. by pressing Ctrl+R,
(3) type in 'zzzz' in Find what field, (4) leave Replace with
empty, and (5) choose Replace All
Secondary storage is used to tell SuperMemo where your CD-ROM is
(Artur Osadowski, Poland, Sep 5,
1998)
Question:
Does the setting of Access Mode in Tools
: Options : Data access
affect the accessibility of sounds on CD-ROM?
Answer:
No. To make sure SuperMemo correctly reads sounds
from CD-ROM, you only have to provide the correct path in Tools : Options : Data
access : Secondary storage
You can add new phonetic transcription entries
(Dusko Ivanisevic, New Zealand, Oct 1,
1998)
Question:
How can I add phonetic transcription to some words?
Answer:
Press Ctrl+Alt+P and type in the word and its transcription. If the transcription
dialog does not appear, you have not chosen phonetic transcription in Options. In such a case do the following:
Note that SuperMemo Library includes IPA phonetic transcription of English (including the IPA font) with 72,000 transcriptions
You can see the number of the current element
(Doug
Edmunds, USA, Nov 4, 1997)
Question:
What is the fastest way of checking the number of the currently displayed element?
Answer:
press Ctrl+G (or look at the caption of the element
data window)
In question-and-answer import you need to use plain text files
(C. Martin, Germany, May 23, 2001)
Question:
I create an RTF file with multiple choice text items. When I import
this with File : Tools : Import : Q&A Text nothing gets imported
Answer:
You need to use a plain text file format (i.e. not an RTF
or HTML file). For example, save your file via a NotePad rather than via MS Word
Rich text components do not store fonts
(Christoph Lichtenberger,
Germany, Tue, Apr 24, 2001 0:18)
Question:
It seems that applying or even imposing a template never changes the fonts of an element's text fields
Answer:
This is true for rich text
or HTML text templates. These texts have the font encoded in the text file. If you want to impose a font on your elements, use a template in which plain text components are used instead (e.g.
Classic template). Plain text components keep a fixed font association. The font you use in the template will then be visible in your elements
You can turn off component focus switching on mouse move
(Adam, Australia, Tue, May 01, 2001 3:06)
Question:
My Sound component kept disappearing under the question field.
I had to move the latter to be able to relocate the former. When I tried to remove the Sound component by using a menu, it kept losing
focus and some other element was being selected for deletion
Answer:
You can turn off focus switching with the mouse by unchecking
Activate edited components on mouse move in Tools :
Options : Mouse
If Add New does not create needed components, you can redefine the template
(noam-at, Israel, Aug 04, 2001)
Question:
When I click
Add New, I get a new item, but SuperMemo doesn't create two editing fields for the question and answer. Instead, I see the gray screen of SuperMemo without any fields
Answer:
Add New uses the
default template to create new items. If you delete all
components (e.g. question and answer fields) from the default template, Add New will add
new elements that look empty. If you want to restore your question and answer components, you need to redefine the template. If you are not very fluent with
templates, locate an element in your collection that looks ok and choose
Template : Save as template on the element
menu. This will save the look of the selected element in the default template.
Add New will then replicate this look
SuperMemo cannot decide when to reset the learning parameters of an element
(Eric Chen, Japan, Fri, Jun 22, 2001 3:06)
Question:
If I use
Ctrl+Shift+S to swap components without making a duplicate, what would happen to the historical data of the element (assuming that I have done drills on that element for a while)? Does it get reset as well?
Answer:
No. If you decide to swap components, you should reset the learning process manually (e.g. with
Ctrl+R or Ctrl+M). SuperMemo never attempts at guessing if you have done enough editing to justify
relearning the element. Consequently, all learning decisions (e.g. Forget, Remember,
Postpone, etc.) are up to you
You can change the font in a number of items at once
(Walter G. Mayfield, Jr., Friday, July 06, 2001 4:23 PM)
Question:
Is there a way to apply a font to large batches of items at once?
Answer:
This is possible in the following circumstances:
In such cases you can:
Copy collection can be used to take your learning material for a vacation
(Terje A.
Tonsberg, Tue, Aug 28, 2001 20:10)
Question:
I have tried to copy my collection using
File : Copy collection and Quick backup. In both cases I was unable to use the copied collection and got the following message when trying to open the collection:
SuperMemo has just displayed the following error: "Cannot find optimization file
E:\ABC (2001-08-04 06-07-07)\info\sm8opt.dat"
Answer:
You are using correct options. This error should not typically occur. Some of
possible causes for such a message, all rather unlikely, could be:
Please see why you are opening default ABC collection instead of your own collection (e.g. German.kno). Restart your computer and try to copy to different locations or under different collection names. Try to run File : Repair collection on the collection you are trying to copy. If this problem persists, please try to provide as much details about this situation as possible. Note also that the said backup was made on Aug 4 (i.e. 24 days before sending your inquiry)
Use Apply Template in the browser to globally replace one template with another
(Nick
Jones, Sep 02, 2001)
Question:
I created a temporary template with the map of Mesopotamia to apply it to all my items related to this subject. How can I now delete this template without affecting these items. I will not need the template in the future
Answer:
You would need to impose and detach this template in all items that use it. However, if you have a similar template that could be used instead (e.g.
question + answer + picture template without the map), you could do the following:
You can add sound recorders to your elements
(Gabor
Schmera, USA, Dec 13, 1997)
Question:
How do I add a recorder component to my items (as it is done in Advanced
English)?
Answer:
Add a sound component and check Sound : Panel : Recorder on
the component menu
You can use speech recognition software to build your
collection
(Michael
Doren, USA, Sep 7, 1998)
Question:
I am writing a collection
for learning Windows NT 4.0 for my certification test. I am toying with the idea of using
Dragon Naturally Speaking (a speech recognition program) to create my questions and
answers in MS Word. Any suggestions on that?
Answer:
Probably the simplest approach is as follows:
1. Use the following text file format:
Q: <text of the first question>
A: <text of the first answer>
Q: <text of the second question>
A: <text of the second answer>, etc.
2. Replace Q: and A: with some easily spelled phrase that you would later replace globally. For example:
elephant Which tool can be used to manage security for domains?
giraffe User Manager for Domains
3. Convert the above text to:
Q: Which tool can be used to manage security for domains?
A: User Manager for Domains
4. Save the file in plain text format
5. Use File : Tools : Import : Q&A text in SuperMemo to import the text file to your collection
Scaling occlusion tests
(Mike Condron, USA,
Jan 19, 2001)
Question:
In occlusion tests, when I resize the element
window, the occlusion rectangle moves relative to the picture. How to
prevent it?
Answer:
This will happen if there is a mismatch between resizing attributes of the
picture and the element window. Do one of the following:
Categories are not visible in Contents
(Dustin J. D., USA Educational, Monday, May 06, 2002 2:27 AM)
Question:
I click an element in the contents window, hit
Ctrl+K, have SuperMemo ask for the name for the category, and then have the category created, but not visible from the contents window
Answer:
You cannot see categories in the
contents window (except by seeing individual branches grow when you add category elements). Once you create a category, you can inspect its parameters with
Search : Categories. The contents window makes it only possible to view the structure of the knowledge tree. If you want to know where the category is rooted in the tree, click
Root in the category registry. The basic role of categories is to simplify adding elements to separate branches of the tree. Categories are not supposed to give you more control over the tree. Just the
opposite; categories delegate the job of building the tree to SuperMemo
Use "Import file" to import an EXE file to be run within SuperMemo
(Makoto
Miyagishi, Japan, Wednesday, May 08, 2002 10:05 PM)
Question:
I want to use the program component to run an exe file. How can this be done?
Answer:
Follow these steps:
Now, each time you click the program component button, your EXE file will execute
Let the music play
(Piotr, Feb 06, 2002)
Question:
I imported some MP3 files with music to test my knowledge of my favorite bands.
How can I keep the music play after I move on to next repetitions
Answer:
Music will be cut off as soon as you move on to your next repetition.
However, you can go around this if you choose Edit : View file (or press
F9) on
the sound component. This will open your default MP3 player with your currently
playing MP3 file. You can continue repetitions while the music stays on
You can disable scripts and players
(Mark P., Feb 06, 2002)
Question:
When I used Advanced English 97 with SuperMemo 2000 on a computer without a
sound board, I was not able to get rid of those pestering message about the
missing sound system. Is it solved in SM2002?
Answer:
You can use disable players on the Action toolbar (the same button that was
used in the past only to disable scripts)
OLE controls do not scale
(R.K., Feb 06, 2002)
Question:
Why do not OLE controls resize along the scaled element window?
Answer:
OLE servers may affect element window scrollbars. As scrollbars are the
coordinate reference for scaled forms, OLE container never scales. This change
will make it possible to use most compliant OLE servers with the Scaled
attribute on
What is the meaning of ??? chars in phonetic transcription?
(S.
Stankiewicz, Tuesday, March 26, 2002 8:31 AM)
Question:
I installed English Phonetic Transcription (including the font
SuperMemo IPA). However, all I get is strings of question marks ????
Answer:
Question marks are displayed if there is no phonetic transcription of that given word in the phonetic transcription registry. Either your registry is empty or you are using the transcription on non-English texts.
See Search : Other registries : Pronunciation by word to view the contents of the transcription registry. If the registry is empty, you might have typed a wrong name at
Tools : Options : Language : Phonetic transcription. It is also possible you did not copy all registry files to their target location. In such cases, SuperMemo would recreate the registry files (the missing ones would become empty)
Use Esc in Contents to cancel Default Element
(Jiri
Pik, Germany, Thu, May 02, 2002 17:06)
Question:
In
Options : Data Access : Default Element, if I change the default "Last
used" into a particular element, then I cannot change this back
Answer:
After
using Default Element in Options, press Esc in the
contents window instead of choosing Accept
You can replace one image with another
(Robert
Drozd, Poland, Fri, May 24, 2002 21:31)
Question:
How to globally change one image into another?
Answer:
Select the image in image registry and choose
Edit : Overwrite file
Script commands
(Daniel, USA Military, Wed, May 29, 2002 15:01)
Question:
Is there a reference on the command set and arguments for SuperMemo scripts (e.g. START 3, HITTEST ,
WAITGRADE, GOTO 2), etc.
Answer:
Yes. See:
Script commands
Ctrl+A has been replaced with Alt+A
Question:
What happened to Ctrl+A shortcut? I have used it for years to add my items!
Answer:
Use Alt+A for the same purpose. Many customers complained that the
old Ctrl+A shortcut was in conflict with the Select All standard for word processing
in rich texts and HTML components
Inserting pictures from the registry
(Beta, Feb 14, 2002)
Question:
What is the fastest way to put a registry picture in an element?
Answer:
Select the picture in the image registry, click Insert, and answer no
to "Create new element?"
Do text replaces on a subset of texts
(Jens, February 2002)
Question:
When I do text replace on a large collection it goes awfully slow!
Answer:
Do not do replace on the whole text registry. Search for the words to
replace first with Ctrl+S and then run the replace on the registry subset with
Ctrl+R. While the search procedure goes via plain text and is lightning fast,
replace examines each registry member one by one
You can use Size : Fill on image components to make them scale
(Beta, Feb 06, 2002)
Question:
When I use Scaled, my anatomy occlusions get messed up. The rectangle moves in
reference to the picture
Answer:
Pictures are not rescaled with Scaled, only their bounding size changes. You
need to choose Size : Fill option if you want pictures to be scaled along
with the image component
Occlusion rectangles are part of content
(Beta, Feb 07, 2002)
Question:
Why do my occlusion rectangles move when I resize the element in the browser?
Answer:
Shapes (including rectangles) are the only components whose location and
size are interpreted as content; i.e. not style. Only style is part of
objectless template. Shapes are content as they play an essential part in
occlusion learning and cannot be moved by changes to the template. However, this
may produce rectangle misplacement if you size the element area in an element
that uses a scaled template. This is why you have to turn Scaled off if you want
to size occlusion template. Important! You also need to turn scaled off in the
source (accessible with Shift+Ctrl+U). Otherwise, the source will be scaled
behind the template's back and propagate scaled coordinates through the template
(which is transparent to content -- including occlusion rectangles). For
simplicity, you could simply impose the occlusion template on source (Ctrl+Shift+F2), turn the scaled off, and only then place the rectangle in the
desired location
You can "merge" two pictures in the registry
(Beta, Piotr, Feb 07, 2002)
Question:
I have two pictures of a sea horse in image registry. I want one to replace the
other in all places in my collection
Answer:
Use rename to give one member the same name as the other. SuperMemo will ask
you which one should remain in the registry. If you use SuperMemo in the debug
mode, you may see redirection warnings when using the new sea horse. Registry
redirections will be eliminated at first File : Repair collection with Rebuild
registries on
You can add a picture to many elements
(Beta, Feb 06, 2002)
Question:
How can I add a picture to a subset of elements
Answer:
Increasing the size of the font
(Beta, Poland, 02-03-08 17:37:43)
Question:
I tried to enlarge font in the answer part, but when I click the icon in the
toolbar, the cursor jump at the end of the question part and nothing happens
Answer:
To enlarge a font using the Format toolbar, you need to select the
text that is to be modified. You do not need to select the text if you use Ctrl+]
and Ctrl+[ in presentation mode, but in such circumstances, all text
components will be affected
Question font in Options does not work
(Piotr, Beta, Mar 08, 2002)
Question:
I changed Question font in Options, however, my text components
still display the old font
Answer:
Question font
will only be used in components that do not define their own font. For
example, if you format text in HTML components, the formatting will not be
overridden by Question font. If a plain text in HTML components uses a
registry font (via Link font), Question font will not be used
either. See: Font options
Template objects are not registered with elements that use the template
(Beta, Feb 06, 2002)
Question:
Why aren't template objects registered with all elements that use them?
Answer:
Template change would require up to thousands of registration changes
(depending on the frequency of template use). This is not possible for
performance reasons with present data structures
Use Alt+PgDn to go to the next element
(JP, Beta, Feb 05, 2002)
Question:
One thing that drives me mad about read-points is that I cannot use PgDn to go
to the next element and I need to use the mouse. The same refers to spell-pads
but I do not use them often
Answer:
If you use Alt+PgDn instead of PgDn, it will ignore read-points and get you
to the next element
Deleting all elements in the browser
(Beta, Apr 10, 2002)
Question:
Why isn't there an option to delete all elements in the browser?
Answer:
This option would be quite dangerous as you cannot delete an element without
deleting all its children. To delete all elements stored in the browser, move
them first to any branch and then delete this branch. Be sure to verify that you
do not delete more than you intend to
You can paste images from the clipboard
(Beta, Romania, Fri, Feb 22, 2002 17:10)
Question:
What is the fastest way to insert an image component?
Answer:
You can paste images from the clipboard with Shift+Ins or Ctrl+V
Adding predefined templates to the registry
(Max, Beta, Sun, Feb 17, 2002 14:37)
Question:
It would be nice if, after an upgrade from earlier versions, SuperMemo
added default templates to the template registry
Answer:
You can add these templates by choosing Tools : Add predefined templates in
the template registry
Infinite cycle of template corrections
(Beta, Apr 08, 2002)
Question:
I go into an infinite cycle of corrections. My question sometimes covers the
answer. When I shrink the question, my topics also shrink. If I extend them, my
question starts covering the answer. What is worse, it happens only from time to
time so that I cannot diagnose it
Answer:
You need to consistently differentiate between your topic template used in
reading articles, and your item template used for questions and answers. If you
happen to use the topic template on an item with an answer, it will naturally
cover the answer. Once you resize it, all topics using this template will
resize. The solution: use one template for one kind of element layout/function
Strange category names
(Beta, 3/6/2002 5:01:58 PM)
Question:
Category names have appeared that are similar to mine except with a weird ASCII
character at the end
Answer:
This happens if you create more categories with the same name. As registry
names must be unique, SuperMemo adds unique character to the end of duplicated
names (in the category registry). For example: Geography#, Geography@,
Geography~
Inserting a category in the knowledge tree provides more control than
adding it as a child
(Beta, Poland, 02-03-11 16:18:18)
Question:
When adding a category in the contents window, the category gets inserted as a
sibling not as a child of the selection
Answer:
Adding a child does not make it possible to select the location where the
child should be placed among other children. This is why inserting the category
in the place of the selection seems to be a better default. This makes it easy
for the user to decide the exact location of the category without following it
with drag&drop
Use "Replace target" mode to swap two folders in the contents window
(Julian R, Tuesday, November 21, 2000 11:00 PM)
Question:
Is there a way of swapping the position of two folders in the contents window?
Answer:
Yes. Just drag one folder over the other with the mouse. Be sure that
Replace target is selected in the dragging mode combo at the top of the contents window
Transferring a collection to a new file will renumber elements
(Beta, Thursday, January 10, 2002 4:31 PM)
Question:
My collection used to have more than 370,000 elements. I reduced it to 230,000
elements. However, the unused elements are still present in the files. Could you
advise me how to get rid of them?
Answer:
Elements are not renumbered at delete. The vacant element slots are reused
when building up a new collection, but in your case that could take a long time.
If element numbers are not vital, you could transfer your collection to a newly
created one (e.g. with File : Merge collection). This would renumber all
elements. However, note that element transfer does not transfer templates,
categories, unregistered scripts, repetition history, etc. For that reasons, you
might prefer to simply run File : Repair collection with all options checked and
hope to reuse the redundant fields while adding more material to the collection
Overwriting templates
(Beta, Tuesday, April 02, 2002 4:00 PM)
Question:
What is the effect if I choose
Save Template, enter the same name as the default template for the category, and click
Yes to overwrite?
Answer:
Overwriting one template with another will put the new template data in place of the old template data. Your category will now use the new template. All elements that used the old template will now use the new template. This, naturally, does not refer to elements who had the template detached or imposed
Set category ordinal to zero to choose a sequential ordinal
(Beta, Wednesday, February 13, 2002 6:03 PM)
Question:
SuperMemo sets all newly added elements with a category ordinal. Is there any
way of making SuperMemo not do it? I want all ordinals to differ
Answer:
If you set the category ordinal to zero, the default ordinal will equal the
number of elements in the collection
Pictures do not show after applying a picture-less template
(Beta, Apr 10, 2002)
Question:
Why importing from the web produces an HTML template with Template flags :
Skip source extras checked? When I later add pictures and apply this
template, the pictures are not visible
Answer:
Uncheck the Skip source extras flag in your the default topic
template in the category to which you import your articles
Efficient image compression
(Beta, Martin, Romania, Tuesday, March 12, 2002 5:34 PM)
Question:
I would like to be able to choose the compression mode GIF/JPG to minimize the
size of images. My experience shows that GIF can be 10x more efficient than your
default JPG
Answer:
SuperMemo executes very rudimentary compression that will not produce such
large differences. Rarely do images differ in size more than 50%. You can indeed
obtain higher compression by using lossy algorithms, but these are not included
in SuperMemo. In other words, if you want to achieve maximum compactness of
images, you will need an external dedicated application. Such an application
will also let you decide how much quality you are ready to compromise and
produce truly amazing compression ratios
Importing MCT along Q&A
(Beta, Tue, Apr 09, 2002 19:52)
Question:
In multiple choice test import, it is illogical to have two radio boxes sections enabled. Either you choose Q&A template (first section) or MCT template (second section)
Answer:
Imported text files can include both Q&A items and MCT items. SuperMemo will distinguish between the two by the presence of false answer fields
(A1:, A2:, etc.). For that reason, SuperMemo needs to know which template should be applied when it encounters a question-answer item, and which template should be applied when it encounters a multiple choice item
Swapping question and answer in many elements
(Beta, Tuesday, February 12, 2002 2:55 PM)
Question:
You advice to use Duplicate and Swap on elements to swap questions
with answers; however, I have 5000 elements to change
Answer:
Unless you are authoring a collection for others, in which case, you might
resolve to more complex operation on collection's text source, you should note
that the cost of Duplicate and Swap on individual items is negligible if you are
trying to learn these items at the same time. You can do those two key-press
combinations in parallel with registering the new reverse-order question-answer
memory. In addition, it is a rare case where you can do the swap without any
editing of the learning material (e.g. as in context-less one-to-one word-pair
conversions)
You cannot replace HTML tags globally
(Beta, Mar 04, 2002)
Question:
Is it possible to replace some HTML tags globally?
Answer:
Not within SuperMemo. All you can do is to replace plain texts with texts
containing HTML tags. For example, you can replace "Napoleon was exiled
to Elba" with "Napoleon was exiled to <b>Elba</b>".
You can use file tools to process tags globally. All tagged HTML files (except
external links) are stored in the Element folder (untagged HTML is stored in
text registry instead)
The purpose of View Source
(Beta, Christian, Apr 03, 2002)
Question:
I cannot see the sense of view source in template operations. If I want to go
back to the source template I can detach the template
Answer:
View Source is useful if you want to quickly peek at the source template.
You can do it with Ctrl+Shift+U. The same key will return the template
look. Detaching and reapplying the template in such circumstances would require
accessing the menu, finding the detached template in the template registry
(without actually being informed which template had been detached), and
reapplying the template
Templates can affect the displayed texts
(Beta, Tuesday, April 02, 2002 4:00 PM)
Question:
Why would some elements duplicate each other's answer text, while other elements not. Perhaps making changes and then trying to save them by overwriting the old template definition would have something to do with it?
Answer:
If you overwrite one template with another, the new template contents will be used to display all elements that use the old template. If you save objects, such as texts, while overwriting the old template, those objects may, but do not have to, be used in elements using that template. If the answer field of an element with an overwritten template has been already filled out, the element's original text will be displayed. However, if that field is empty, the texts saved into the template will be displayed. If you rename the text in the template, all elements that do show that text will show the new text. However, the elements that display the original text will still show no change. If the source and template texts happen to be the same, changing the template text may have a confusing effect of some texts being shown as changed and others shown without change
You can use a link to an external site in HTML component (#7353)
(Kentaroh Takagaki, Japan, Thursday, October 18, 2001 7:39 PM)
Question:
I would like to make an active link in HTML component to an external website, so that each time this element comes up in the learning process, the newest version of the website is displayed in the element window. How can I do this?
Answer:
The recommended way is
Edit : Add to category : URL (with Ctrl+Alt+U). This requires a click on the link but you will not have to wait for loading the whole page each time you enter
this element in contexts other than learning
Importing tab-delimited text
(John McGrath, Netherlands, Mon, May 27, 2002 9:43)
Question:
I have several tab delimited text files created for Palm Pilot SuperMemo that I created in Excel. How can I import these files to SuperMemo 2002?
Answer:
SuperMemo 2002 does not support import from tab-delimited text files. These are the three options you have:
Although the third solution may seem awkward for beginners, incremental reading tools should be your primary choice for processing all source text files and converting them into well-structured learning material. The processing overhead is negligible as compared with the learning time. Your first exposure to individual pairs is passive anyway (unless you already know the answer). Using Alt+X for extracts is instantaneous. On the second exposure, you execute a cloze deletion after selecting the answer part (Alt+Z). In other words, you need two additional key strokes that can be executed in parallel with the review process. You can use this approach to import lengthy glossary lists from the Internet and process them with negligible overhead. See also: incremental reading
Scrollbars appear if the content of the element window goes beyond its client area
(tomkin243, Sat Nov 24, 2001 8:48 pm)
Question:
I have a scrolling problem. Two scrollbars appear: one on the rtf-text, and one on the element window. Often these two overlap, and one is inaccessible
Answer:
The obstructing element window scrollbar will appear if your
RTF text component is larger than element's client
area. There are two solutions:
SuperMemo does not use "Save As" because it does not keep files in memory (#8633)
(mark, Denmark, Sunday, September 23, 2001 1:42 PM)
Question:
I suggest you rename
Copy collection to Save as as in most applications (e.g. MS Office). The difference between
Copy and Save as, is that Copy leaves the user in the collection and not in the new copy. Save as leaves the user in the new file. You could also give the user a choice:
Do you want to continue working in the file
Answer:
The main difference between SuperMemo and most Office applications is that SuperMemo collections are not kept in computer's memory but its files are kept on the user's disk. Some collections grow to hundreds of megabytes and reading them all into memory would: (1) clog less resourceful computers, (2) take time, (3) make user data vulnerable to power outages and other disasters. Using
Save as would be misleading in this sense that Save as leaves the old copy unchanged, while
Copy creates an identical duplicate.
In old SuperMemos, indeed the new collection would be open after copy. However, users frequently complained that this left them confused. In addition, the user optimally works with one collections that keeps all
his or her vital knowledge and uses Copy collection only to back up his data. In other words, unlike with office application, the user will sculpt his only work of art instead of developing many independent pieces of work in progress.
Last but not least, Office applications that keep files on the hard disk do not use
Save as either. For example, FrontPage uses Close Web while
Save as is reserved only for individual files. MS Outlook keeps all data in one static file, while
Save as is reserved for saving individual items (e.g. pieces of e-mail), etc.
Providing an option as to which file should be opened would add to program's complexity. If the user wants to switch to the newly created file, (s)he can choose
Alt+F and 1 (for File : 1.[recent copy])
Editing an element with a template may affect the template
(Nathan Forsdyke ..., Mon, Jun 10, 2002 22:39)
Question:
If I change the position size of a picture component then ALL the templates using the same one get changed too! There should be only one way to change the master template
Answer:
This behavior is by design. If you see your template needs a correction, you fix it as soon as you see it in any element. If you want an element to reuse the template but create its own look, impose and detach the template (e.g. with
Ctrl+Shift+F2). In such a case, changes to the element will not affect other elements. However, if you change the original template, the change will not be reflected in the element from which the template had been detached.
You can recognize the editing and dragging mode by the appearance of components
(Dustin Darcy, USA Educational, Friday, January 25, 2002 1:21 AM)
Question:
Sometimes it isn't clear whether or not the GUI is in editing, presentation, or the dragging mode. Some sort of indicator in the title bar would be nice
Answer:
SuperMemo uses presentation, editing and dragging modes mostly in reference to components, not
whole elements. Consequently, the user only needs to learn how to recognize the mode of individual components. Whenever possible, these are the indicators of individual modes:
With Alt+click on the element area (or on individual components), you should quickly learn to recognize individual component modes
The format of text files that can be imported to SuperMemo is very
simple
(Marc Zaban Fogel, Thursday, August 29, 2002 7:28 AM)
Question:
How should I format a text file with learning material in order to import it to SuperMemo?
Answer:
For a classic SuperMemo item, you would need to precede the question part of an item with Q: and the answer part with A:
Q: the question part of an item
A: the answer part of an item
Q: med: a non-cancerous fluid-filled sac in the ovary
A: ovarian cyst
You can undismiss elements in your collection
(Jerry Sallis, Monday, September 16, 2002 12:38 PM)
Question:
How can I undismiss a number of elements once they have been dismissed?
Answer:
The procedure goes as follows:
You can create multiple-choice items
(Karolina Melkowska, Poland, Friday, September 20, 2002 11:18 PM)
Question:
How can I create multiple choice items?
Answer:
The procedure is this:
You can change the default font
(harold hill, Saturday, September 28, 2002 6:36 AM)
Question:
I have imported a number of items in the Q&A form into my SuperMemo collection. Now would I like to increase the size of the font used in question and answer components, what is the fastest way to accomplish it?
Answer:
Choose
Tools : Options from the main menu, click the Fonts tab, and use the Default font button.
Default font affects only plain text and rich text components
Using categories
(Fred.Clough, Tuesday, February 05, 2002 7:01 PM)
Question:
If I select an element in the contents window and choose to make a category, it pops up with a dialog that lets me input a name. But what use is this?
Answer:
This will only create a category. This category will now become the
current category. This means that if you press
Ctrl+Shift+A or click Add New, you will be adding new items in that particular place of the knowledge tree. That is not very useful yet. However, if you go to
Search : Categories and choose a template for your new category, all your new items will get the desired look (e.g. color, font, size, etc.). To make a good use of categories, you will then need to become fluent with templates first
You can import items sent in a text file from a friend
(Karolina Melkowska, Poland, Saturday, September 28, 2002 2:05 PM)
Question:
My friend has sent me around 100 SuperMemo items in a text file. Is there a way to import them into my collection all at once?
Answer:
Use
File : Tools : Import : Q&A text
(or press Ctrl+Shift+E)
Limit on the number of children in contents is imposed for performance reasons
(Steven White, Australia, Thursday, September 12, 2002 8:10 AM)
Question:
Is there any way to force a linear knowledge tree. I just want new items added on the end but they seem to be created as child items in places. It takes a lot of work to drag them back to a linear tree
Answer:
Unfortunately you will sooner or later be forced to give up adding new children to the root node due to performance reasons. Each time SuperMemo opens a tree node, it needs to read all information from the hard disk. Once you add many elements to a single node of the tree, your SuperMemo will start slowing down. By design, knowledge tree should not play part in learning other than by helping you organize knowledge and delineate knowledge subsets. For that reason, it should not matter if children of a node are organized in one or in many levels. The limit on the number of children per tree node is set precisely for the reason of maximum performance and uninterrupted flow of repetitions even in cases where your knowledge tree is set to expand and visualize the location of the current element
You can import text to SuperMemo
(nader c., Sunday, August 25, 2002 2:00 PM)
Question:
Can SuperMemo import text? I have question and answer file saved on
a diskette
Answer:
SuperMemo can import plain text as long as it is represented in Q&A format. See:
File : Tools : Import : Q&A text.
If the text is not formatted as Q&A, you can paste it to incremental reading
(Ctrl+Alt+N) and process using incremental reading tools (i.e.
Alt+X and Alt+Z)
Non-HTML texts are not kept in formatted files
(Dustin J. D., USA Educational, Fri, Jun 21, 2002 22:29)
Question:
Why does not SuperMemo create HTML files instantly when I create an HTML component?
Answer:
If your text is unformatted, the file is not created in order to save space. Formatted texts are kept in the registry (e.g. for search purposes) and in an HTML file (to retain formatting). Unformatted texts are kept only in the registry. This approach substantially saves the space needed for collections. It also speeds up file copying which may slow down to a crawl with a large number of small files. You can quickly convert HTML and plain text files in HTML components. Use
Ctrl+Shift+F12 to generate plain text. Use any formatting command to create HTML (e.g.
Ctrl+])
Q&A import can only be used to import plain text
(Alexia L McKnight, Monday, February 11, 2002 12:17 AM)
Question:
I imported a big Q&A text file into SuperMemo. How can I get SuperMemo to retain special characters: superscripts, subscripts, etc.?
Answer:
Q&A format is a plain text format intended solely for data exchange between platforms and older versions of SuperMemo. To retain formatting, you need to create your material in SuperMemo. For good effects you can use rich text components and edit your texts in MS Word (shortcut
F9). Or you can save your files as HTML and import them to HTML component. As for your Q&A file, it will require some extra effort. Either you paste individual items individually or import them all and correct formatting in SuperMemo. The fastest approach though is to use incremental
reading tools. Paste the entire file to a single rich text topic (e.g. with Ctrl+Alt+N), generate individual elements with
Extract and create individual items with Cloze. This work should take a fraction of time needed to learn this material
Adding fonts to SuperMemo (#25587)
(Stanley Ross, May 26, 2004, 23:02:22)
Question:
How can I add fonts to SuperMemo. I want to add the international symbols for language transciption
(ILP) codes
Answer:
To use a font in SuperMemo, you need to install it in Windows.
The course of action will then depend on the type of the text component you use. With HTML and RTF components, select a block of text and choose the font button on the
Format toolbar.
With plain text components you can define fonts used with individual texts or with templates that can be then used in many elements (use options from the Text submenu of the component menu:
New Font, Edit Font and Link Font, etc.).
See more:
Use the editing mode to fill out text fields
(Tim Elston, Sat, Jun 29, 2002 15:37)
Question:
How do I fill in the multiple choice template? When I tried to fill in the area with the next possible answer, the four remaining areas turned red and would not allow me to enter text
Answer:
You need to use the editing mode to enter texts. For example, press
Ctrl+E to set all components in the editing mode. Use Ctrl+T to move to editing the next component. You can also
Alt+click a component that should be modified
The use of spell-pad should be restricted to spelling exercises
(Jeromy Wong, USA Educational, Friday, October 26, 2001 6:17 AM )
Question:
I prefer the function of interactive learning, i.e. to be able to type my answer in comparison with the original input answer
Answer:
Except for spelling exercises, the use of Spell-Pad component in SuperMemo should be limited. Research shows that using
the Spell-Pad component slows down the learning process without improving retention or reducing the number of repetitions per item.
On spelling exercises, where the use of the Spell-Pad is necessary, you can convert your standard question-answer element to a question-spelling element with the
Spelling template in the template registry. For example, choose Ctrl+Shift+M
(Apply Template), type "Spell" and press Enter.
To permanently use the spelling template, set it as the default template in your current category (e.g. with
Ctrl+Alt+M). This will make sure that the Spelling template is
used on all newly added elements
SuperMemo cannot convert WAV files to MP3 format
(Vaclav, Jun 23, 2001)
Question:
Can sound components convert WAV files to MP3 (as image components convert BMP to
JPEG)?
Answer:
No. You need a separate utility to convert WAV files
to MP3
Drag&Match allows of no more than ten rectangles)
(Piotr, Mon, Oct 01, 2001 21:42)
Question:
Why can I not add more than ten rectangles to a Drag&Match test?
Answer:
There is a hard-wired limit of 10 rectangles in Drag&Match tests. If you add more rectangles, the performance will suffer and your item may become excessively complex. This may quarrel with the minimum information principle
Merging collections is bound to be slow
(Maarten Mols , Netherlands, Monday, February 09, 2004 11:39 PM)
Question:
Is there a chance for a quicker way of merging two collections than using
File : Merge collection
Answer:
Unfortunately, transfer of the learning material in SuperMemo for Windows is only likely to get slower. The speed of transfer is limited by the complex structure of SuperMemo collections. When transferring simple questions and answers you are not only moving pieces of text. You also need to build the component structure, set all component and element attributes, transfer the learning process, update all learning statistics, transfer repetition history of individual items, build new files for retention,
back-retention, parameter distributions, etc. Worst of all, all objects used by a single element are kept in indexed registries whose indexes have to be searched through and updated on the transfer of each picture, text, sound, font and even each individual lexical unit (word). Object references in SuperMemo scripts must be updated (as numbers of elements change). This means that SuperMemo has to scan all scripts in the transferred material and update them. Note that currently SuperMemo does not attempt to update references intertwined in HTML code of text components. However, due to customer complaints that those references get lots on transfer of the learning material, these will also have to be updated in the future slowing the transfer process further. With each new option in SuperMemo, complexity of the database structure increases. That will slow the transfer further. Historically though, the increase in the speed of computers compensated well enough for the increase in the complexity of SuperMemo. Consequently, with SuperMemo, you need to be less worried about the quality of your PC today that you were at the times of Windows 3.0 over a decade
ago
Determining the timing of sound playback
(Gitte Stangel, Monday, May 20, 2002 8:57
AM)
Question:
I am trying to learn Slovak. The problem is that the word in English appears and the sound track in Slovak is played, which gives out the answer. How do I delay the sound?
Answer:
You can control the timing of playback with
Play At option on the component menu. You can play sound at any step of the repetition cycle or any combination of steps. It is also recommended that you check
Answer to make sure that associated texts do not provide an additional hint
You can import audio and video files in most popular formats
(Timothy Winey, United Kingdom, Thursday, August 01, 2002 8:21 AM)
Question:
How can I import audio or video files to SuperMemo?
Answer:
There are many ways. You will most likely want to import sound files to a
sound component and video files to a video component. In such cases, use
Import file option on the component menu
Infinite recursive text replacement
(P. Zmudzinski, Aug 05, 2002)
Question:
I am trying to do search and replace but got stuck when attempting to replace
"Lord Cornwallis" with "Lord Cornwallis (The Patriot)". I get this error
"Cannot run Replace All on infinitely recursive replacements"
Answer:
This error prevents infinite replacements. SuperMemo could try to replace
"Lord Cornwallis" from the replacement again and again. You can go around this by first replacing
"Lord Cornwallis" with "Lordx Cornwallis (The
Patriot)" and then "Lordx Cornwallis" with
"Lord Cornwallis"
You can select more than one elements in the contents window
(louis, Canada, Monday, November 18, 2002 3:05 PM)
Question:
Can I select more than one elements in the contents window?
Answer:
Similarly to Windows Explorer:
(1) To select consecutive elements, click the first element, press and hold down
Shift, and then click the last element,
(2) To select nonconsecutive elements, press and hold down Ctrl, and then click each
element
RTF and HTML components stay always on top
(Richard
Bai, China, Sunday, December 15, 2002 12:00 AM)
Question:
When I add an image component to my RTF-based elements it is always behind the question and answer components. I tried to fix that with changing the component order but it did not help.
Answer:
RTF and HTML components always stay on top independently of the component order in a given element. In such a case, you should resize components that obstruct the
image
You can create many different testing exercises
(Danny Batard, Saturday, December 14, 2002 6:43 PM)
Question:
Does
SuperMemo feature "multiple choice", True/False, "Fill-In" flashcard questions?
Answer:
SuperMemo elements are created by means of components.
There are fourteen different types of components for including text, image, sound, video, etc. in your elements. They are all available on the Compose toolbar. Furthermore, each component has specific properties that enable you to customize its appearance or control the way it behaves. They are available from the component menu. All this enables you to design all imaginable forms of testing (including multiple choice tests, spelling exercises, point and click test, pronunciation exercises, drag and match tests, and many
more)
Creating occlusion tests is simple
(Lisa Reaves, Tuesday, December 31, 2002 4:57 AM)
Question:
Could you provide me with an accurate, step-by-step instructions on how to create an occlusion test?
Answer:
(1) Add a new item (e.g. by clicking the Add new button (Alt+A),
(2) Right-click the newly added element, and then select Template : Apply template (Shift+Ctrl+M) from the element menu,
(3) In the template registry window, in the left pane, select the Occlusion template registry member, and then click the Accept button to apply the selected template,
(4) Right-click the image component behind the red occlusion rectangle, select Import file (Ctrl+Q) from the component menu,
(5) Upon importing the graphic, move the occlusion rectangle over the part of the picture, which is the subject of the question,
(6) Fill out question and answer components with appropriate texts
Sound component may not disable player buttons if the sound file is missing
(Yossi Patt, Israel, Saturday, August 10, 2002 9:59 AM)
Question:
In
Advanced English 2002, I can see the sound toolbar, but none of the buttons responds
Answer:
Depending on the setting of
Sound : Panel in sound components, the buttons may or may not be disabled when the sound file is absent (e.g. due to a wrong setting of
the secondary storage). For example, Sound : Panel : Recorder leaves all buttons enabled. In this setting you can record your own pronunciation even if the original file is absent or temporarily inaccessible
Converting remote images to local images
(Cezary Gorzeñski, Jul 19, 2004, 19:57:51)
Question:
I imported a
web page from a website directly to SuperMemo. How can I make sure that the images that are still located on the remote server do not disappear when the server becomes unavailable?
Answer:
Use Download Images on the component menu
(Ctrl+F8) with Import. This option will help you choose which images to download, preview the downloaded pictures, import those you think are important and place them in tiled image components.
You can also keep the images embedded in HTML. For that, however, you must remember never to delete the source article (in order to save space, images are only kept in association with the source). To keep embedded images local, use Download Images on the component menu (Ctrl+F8) and choose Localize
You can import questions and answers with a specific font size and color
(Alexander A Klimenko, France, Mar 19, 2005, 02:12:27)
Question:
I have a material with Sanskrit roots. I wish there were a way of importing it with the possibility of giving font and size. The default templates do not recognize UTF8 and give ??? instead of
characters
Answer:
If you format your material as a Q&A file with font size and color encoded in HTML, you can import this file using default HTML temples (e.g. the default Item template).
An even simpler solution would be to paste your entire material file in its native format into SuperMemo (e.g. with
Ctrl+Alt+N), and process it with incremental reading. Because there is no easy way to do global HTML formatting in SuperMemo, you should rather format your material before pasting to SuperMemo (e.g. globally replacing font sizes and colors throughout the source file)
Setting ordinals en masse
(alireza bidkani, Nov 12, 2005, 08:07:04)
Question:
How can I make the number of all created and deleted items the same as ordinal number?
Answer:
The default ordinal is set in proportion to the current number of elements in the collection
(Total in Statistics). This way, if you sort your collection by ordinals, elements added first will come on top. However, if you delete a portion of items, you will shift back the ordinal counter. If you want to set a different order of items or different values of ordinals, arrange the subset of elements that is to be changed in the browser and use
Ordinal options from the Process browser
menu. In particular, you can choose View : All and use Ordinal : Spread Ordinals to set a linear order to all existing
elements
Adding sounds to SuperMemo
(lee ferguson, May 05, 2005, 12:58:19)
Question:
How can I get an audio file in an element?
Answer:
You can either add a sound component from the compose toolbar, right click and choose
Import file, or you can change your default template to add many items with sounds.
For example:
You can change your default editor used with pictures or HTML files
(Kazimierz
B, Friday, September 16, 2005 3:26 AM)
Question:
I would like to change default image editor
(Ctrl+F9) from MS Paintbrush to Microsoft Photo Editor
Answer:
All you need to do is to change the association for the action
Edit for all relevant file types (extensions) (e.g. JPG, BMP, etc.). You can do it in
Windows in Control Panel : Folder Options : File Types or in any application that creates file type associations
You can see how the element will look to the user during learning
(Skimming, Glen, Aug 09, 2004, 17:14:56)
Question:
How can I immediately test the knowledge element to see how it looks for users?
Answer:
Press
Ctrl+Shift+L ( Components : Test repetition cycle on the element
menu).
Press Esc a few times if the keyboard shortcut does not work (e.g. as
while editing
HTML)
You can make the sound play at answer time (#28382)
(Kevin Rahm, Sep 29, 2004, 12:01:05)
Question:
Is there a way to have the audio file play when I ask for the answer?
Answer:
Yes. Import the sound to a
sound component and check Answer on the component
menu
You can establish a "home page" in your collection (#29046)
(tomas, Czech Republic, Oct 14, 2004, 21:36:21)
Question:
For each collection, I would like to make it possible to establish a "homepage", which could be just any element that the user chooses
Answer:
You can use
Tools : Options : Access : Default element for that purpose