You will find that once you understand the philosophy behind TurboThought (see INTRODUCTION), its use is largely intuitive. Reading through the following instructions is recommended, however, for you to fully understand the many features TurboThought provides.
PROJECTS
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The Project is the title, or statement of the problem that you want to "brainstorm" using TurboThought. There is no limit to the number of Projects you can have stored on your TurboThought application, outside of disk and memory space constraints.
ADDING A NEW PROJECT - Choose the 'New Project' pick under the File menu to add a new Project. A window appears into which you type the name you wish to give the Project. All letters you type in will be automatically converted to upper case, if they are not already.
OPENING AN EXISTING PROJECT - Use the 'Open Project' pick of the File menu, OR open the Combo box of the gray Toolbar just below the Menu, by clicking on its arrow. Either method will display a list of currently existing Projects for you to choose from.
CHANGING THE NAME OF A PROJECT - You may want to correct a spelling error in your title or completely change it. Do this by first opening the Project, and then selecting 'Change Project' from the File menu. The current Project title will be displayed in a new window, and you can edit it to any extent you wish.
SAVING A PROJECT TO DISK - You may at any time save the currently opened Project, and all Factors (see below) associated with it, to disk. Pick 'Save Project' from the File menu, OR use a mouse click to depress the leftmost button on the Toolbar (it has a picture of a diskette on it). The files are always written to the same directory that holds the TurboThought executable program. NOTE - at the time you leave a currently opened Project, if you have made any changes to the Factors or the Project title, TurboThought will ask you if you wish to save the changes. It will not ask you this if you have already saved them.
DELETING A PROJECT - This function deletes the title from the list of Projects and also deletes all Factors associated with the Project. Choose 'Delete Project' from the File menu. The Project does not have to be open for you to delete it, and in fact you may select as many as you want to delete, from the list that displays in the window. You will be asked to confirm that you want to delete each selection, before it is actually deleted.
FACTORS
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Factors are the individual ideas, facts, and elements that make up a Project. They are the "pieces of the puzzle" inspiring your free association. In the original method as described in the INTRODUCTION, Factors are what get written to the index cards. There is no limit to the number of Factors you can have within any Project, outside of disk and memory space constraints.
When a new Project is created, you are placed on the Factors screen, and you can just start typing. To get to the next free line after you have entered a factor, hit ENTER or TAB or the DOWN ARROW key. New lines will be provided even after the screen is filled up.
Remember to keep your Factors short, limited to one idea only. The shorter they are, the more easily you can see them in new contexts.
As you type in a new Factor, you will notice that a small blue box appears just to the left of it. This is called the Handle, and it will be used in some of the editing functions described below.
Once you have more than one full screen of Factors, you can scroll through them using the Scrollbar to the right of the Factors, OR the PAGE DOWN/PAGE UP keys, OR the UP/DOWN ARROW keys. You can get all the way to the bottom of the Factors by hitting the CTRL+END keys, and all the way to the top with CTRL+HOME. The HOME and END keys alone will bring you to the beginning or end of whatever Factor currently has focus.
EDITING FUNCTIONS
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Once you have Factors in your Project, you may apply the following Edit functions to them:
CUT, COPY, PASTE - You may select text within a Factor like you would any other Windows text, and move it or copy it to another Factor or a new blank Factor. The commands are under the Edit menu.
INSERT - To Insert a new, blank Factor in between two existing Factors, place the cursor anywhere within the Factor above which you wish the new one to go. Then select 'Insert' from the Edit menu.
SELECTING A HANDLE - As stated earlier, a Handle is the light blue box to the left of each Factor. The rest of the Editing functions involve 'selecting' or highlighting one or more of these Handles. This is done simply by clicking it with the mouse, OR moving to it with the arrow keys, and pressing the SPACE BAR. When selected, the Handle turns to a dark blue color. To un-select a Handle, simply do the same thing you did to select it.
MOVE - To move an individual Factor to a new location in the list of Factors, first select its Handle. Then, as in INSERT, move the cursor to anywhere on the Factor that is just below where you want to move the selected one. Then pick 'Move' from the Edit menu. Normally, only one Factor may be moved at a time. You may, however, move an entire LINK (see below) by selecting its first member.
A move can also be done by using the mouse to "drag-and-drop", but only if the Factor you want to move, AND the Factor you want to place it above, are both visible on the screen at the same time. This technique is simple: just click the left mouse button on the Handle of the Factor you want to move (it highlights), and hold the button down while you move the mouse to the text line above which you want to place the Factor; then release the mouse button.
DELETE - You may delete as many of the Factors as you wish by selecting their Handles and Choosing 'Delete' from the Edit menu.
LINKING - There may at some time be a Factor that must extend more than one line. Or, you may wish to keep certain Factors at least temporarily juxtaposed during Shuffling (see below). For these reasons, you can Link two or more Factors together. To do this, first make sure they are already placed the way you want them in relation to each other. Then select the Handle of each of the Factors you want in the Link. You complete the Link by depressing the second button from the left on the Toolbar, OR picking 'Link' from the Edit menu. Once LINKed, the Factors will remain together until you UNLINK them.
To remove a Link (UNLINK), select the Handles of the Factors that make it up, and choose 'Remove Link' from the Edit menu OR press the same button on the toolbar that you used to LINK them.
It is highly recommended that the use of Linking be kept to an absolute minimum, as it works against the efficient creation of new contexts through Shuffling.
ANCHORING - As you Shuffle or Animate (see below) the Factors, there may be certain Factors that you want to remain anchored in their current positions. You may want to do this if, say, a Factor represents a concrete component of the final problem solution. To Anchor, Select the Factor's Handle (you may Anchor more than one at a time), then depress the third button from the left on the Toolbar, OR pick 'Anchor' from the Edit menu.
To remove the Anchor from a Factor, select its Handle again, and choose 'Undo Anchor' from the Edit menu OR press the same button you used to Anchor the Factor.
Anchoring a Factor does not prevent you from moving it manually; and if you Insert or Move a Factor above it, it will move down to make room.
As with Linking, it is recommended that the use of Anchor be kept to a minimum.
OPTIONS
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The key to using TurboThought as a problem-solving tool lies in its facilities to manipulate the Factors to stimulate free association. By seeing the Factors in new contexts with each other, new conclusions are drawn which themselves become new Factors, until eventually a solution begins to take shape.
SHUFFLING - Although you can manually place the Factors into new contexts by using MOVE, Shuffling is a way to do a complete and random rearrangement of the Factors. After doing a Shuffle, you can then read through them, paying attention to the meaning of any new contexts created by the random rearrangement.
To perform a Shuffle, simply double click the mouse anywhere on a blank part (light blue) of the form, OR choose 'Shuffle' from the Options menu.
When you are looking only at the Factors within a single category (see below), Shuffle may also be used.
ANIMATING - Where Shuffling completely rearranges the Factors at once, Animate creates a dynamic, continuous, and spontaneous rearrangement of the Factors over time. This feature is excellent for a relaxed, hands-off examination of the Factors. It is possible to adjust the speed of the Animation, even as it is occurring, to suit your taste.
To Animate, depress the button on the far right of the button group on the Toolbar, OR select 'Animate' from the Options menu. This brings up the Animate controls. The Speed adjustment can be filled in as any number between 0 and 9, with the speed increasing as the number increases. Clicking on the START button (OR tabbing to it and hitting ENTER) begins the animation, which will continue until you hit ENTER again (OR click the STOP button). To remove the Animate controls from the screen, choose 'UnAnimate' from the Options menu OR depress the same button you used to bring the controls up.
NOTE - When you bring up the Animate controls, TurboThought will automatically scroll you to the top of the Factors list. You may then scroll downward if you like, before beginning the actual Animation, but no Factors that are above the top of the screen will be included in the Animation.
CATEGORIZING - The Who-What-When-Where-Why-How technique is a powerful tool in solving problems. By separating your Factors into these categories, you can examine each in isolation from the others, and view your problem from the unique perspective of that category.
By clicking on the second button from the right on the Toolbar, OR choosing 'Categorize' from the Options menu, the Category check boxes are brought up onto the screen. For each Factor, there is a set of check boxes, one for each Category. To place a Factor into the WHO category, for example, you would click the check box to its left and under the 'Who' column heading. You may also move the focus to that check box by using the TAB or arrow keys, and hit the SPACEBAR to check the box. You may place any single Factor into as many of the Categories as you feel it belongs. To remove the Factor from a category, simply repeat the process to un-check the box.
To view only the Factors of a given Category, Click on that Category's column-header button above the check boxes, OR open the Combo box on the far right side of the Toolbar, OR pick that Category from the Option menu. While viewing that Category, any Factors you add will automatically be placed into that Category, but not into any of the others unless you Categorize it there with the check boxes. Of course, any Factor added to any category is always visible when you view the ALL category.
To remove the Categorizing check boxes, choose 'Leave Categorize' from the Options menu, OR click on the ALL button above the check boxes, OR click the 'Categorize' button on the toolbar again.
LAYOUT - TurboThought also provides you with the option of viewing your Factors from a perspective more closely simulating what you would see if you were to carry out the technique in its original form - on index cards. By selecting 'Layout' from the Options Menu, you will see your Factors laid out across a scrollable screen, each on its own moveable 'card'. You can rearrange these into any position you like by dragging them with your mouse.
On the bottom of the Layout screen is a text box which enables you to add new Factors or change existing ones. To change one of the Factors, click its 'card' with the mouse; you will see it become highlighted and its text will appear in the text box. You can then make your changes, and hit ENTER to establish the change. To add a new Factor, first make sure that no card is highlighted, then simply type your new Factor into the text box and hit ENTER.
You can Delete a Factor in one of two ways: you can make a change to it in which you delete all the text from the text box; or you can highlight the card(s) you want to delete, and choose 'Delete' from the Edit Menu.
The Link and Anchor features work within Layout similar to the way they do in the main Factors screen, and are completely independent of any Links or Anchors that exist in any of the categories on that screen. To initiate an Anchor or Link, click the card(s) involved to highlight them, then push the Anchor or Link button on the toolbar OR choose them from the Edit Menu. They can be undone by repeating the process. A card that has been Anchored cannot be moved with the mouse; a Link can only be moved by moving its first member.
You can Scroll within the Layout screen by using the Scrollbars in the lower right. For quicker scrolling up and down, use the PAGEUP/PAGEDOWN keys, and you can move directly to the bottom with CTRL+END, and to the top with CTRL+HOME.
PRINTING
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TurboThought includes a flexible Print option to allow you to work with or examine your Projects while away from your computer. You may print the Factors in any or all Categories, to paper or to disk as a text file. Another option is to print only those Factors which contain question marks. Thus if questions come to mind as you are creating Factors, simply enter the questions in as Factors. Then you can print out only the questions to paper or disk, so that you or someone else can more easily research the answers.
PRINT SETUP - To choose what you want printed, you must first set up your Print request. Choose 'Print Setup' from the File menu to bring up the Setup window. Check off the boxes of the options you would like (with a mouse click OR the SPACEBAR). You can then select OK to save these options, or PRINT if you want the Print to take place immediately. If you chose OK, you will leave the Print Setup window without printing.
PRINT - The Print choice from the File menu will begin printing according to the options you selected in Print Setup. If you did not select any options, the default Print will occur, which puts all of the Factors for the project to paper. If you chose to put the Print to an ASCII file, another window will come up showing you the name of the file that is going to be written. You may change the file name, or the location it is going to be written to, at this time. If you checked off more than one Category to be written to a file, you will see each filename presented to you, one after the other, for you to change or write as is.
