A recent user survey indicates that among the concepts of SuperMemo 2002, templates and categories give users most headaches. This article is an attempt to provide simple step-by-step instructions without redundant material that can be found elsewhere in the documentation. If any portion of this text is unclear, please write to Konrad Hejwosz

1. Learning outcomes

When you have finished this article, you should be able to:

• Design simple templates
• Save your templates for future use
• Design templates by reusing and/or modifying previously created templates
• Change the look of an individual element
• Change the look of a subset of elements
• Create knowledge categories
• Move an individual element to a desired category
• Move a subset of elements to a desired category

2. Professional user interface

Before we begin this step-by-step tutorial, there are two vital things you need to set up in SuperMemo in order to be able to practice tasks described in this article without unnecessary interruptions:

1. You need to switch to the professional level to make all program options available,
2. You need to arrange the windows layout to ensure maximum efficiency and convenience.

If you already have (1) the professional level on and (2) the windows layout similar to the one in the picture below, you can immediately proceed to the next step.
Otherwise, it is recommended you set up the windows layout according to the list at the bottom of this page.

To switch to the professional user interface:

1. Choose File : Level : Professional to make all program options available,
2. Choose Window : Dock (Ctrl+Alt+F11) to show the toolbar docking window,
3. Choose Window : Background (Ctrl+Alt+F10) to hide the desktop behind SuperMemo,
4. Press the Contents button (Alt+C) to open the contents window,
5. On the Edit toolbar, turn on the Synchronize button for the element window to display the currently selected element in the contents window,
6. Arrange the contents and element windows so that they overlap with the element window over the contents window,
7. In the element window, on the element toolbar, turn on the Synchronize button to select the currently displayed element in the contents window,
8. Click the Tools toolbar to make it active,
9. Choose Window : Layout : Save custom layout to save the current layout,

   	If you wish the current layout to be your default layout each time you open SuperMemo, you would rather choose Window : Layout : Save as default (Ctrl+Shift+F5) in the menu bar.

10. In the New layout dialog box, in the Input name text box, type in a unique name (e.g. Professional Interface) for the layout you have just arranged,
11. Click OK to save the layout under a chosen name.

    	If you change the windows arrangement, you can later restore the Professional Interface by choosing Window : Professional Interface in the menu bar.

Next

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Contents of this article:

• 1     Learning outcomes
• 2     Switching to the professional user interface
• 3     Introducing templates
  • 3.1     Designing templates
    • 3.1.1     Designing your first template from scratch
    • 3.1.2     Saving templates for future use
    • 3.1.3     Designing a new template by reusing and modifying one of the previously created template(s)
  • 3.2     Changing the look of elements
    • 3.2.1     Changing the look of an individual element
    • 3.2.2     Changing the look of a subset of elements
      • 3.2.2.1     Changing the look of a subset of elements in the contents window
      • 3.2.2.2     Changing the look of a subset of elements stored in the browser
• 4     Introducing categories
  • 4.1     Creating your first category
  • 4.2     Moving elements to a desired category
    • 4.2.1     Moving an individual element
    • 4.2.2     Moving a subset of elements