Tools for Editing
Prezi provides two contextualizing menus that you will utilize when you edit. The first of these, the tool wheel, is located in the upper left corner of your workspace as shown below.
You must be in "write" mode to make changes in your presentation; the tool wheel should look like this:
The second is the toolbar at the top of your workspace, which provides you with a few functions you may find useful.
For instance, you can undo and redo your actions by using the curving arrow buttons in the toolbar at the top of your screen (the one pointing left is undo, the one pointing right is redo). You can also undo by holding the Ctrl+Z keys (Command-Z on a Mac) and redo with Ctrl+Y (Command-Y on a Mac)
Prezi saves your work at intervals, and the time at which your presentation was most recently saved is displayed in the button at the far left. You can click this button to manually save your work as well.
Prezi also automatically saves when you leave the program via the "exit" button on the far right of the toolbar.
Next to the exit button, you will find a "help" button, from which you can also easily access Prezi's own instructions and tutorials.
To the left of the "help" button, the "print" button sends your project directly to your default printer.
See this page for an explanation of the meeting button located in the center of this toolbar.
Editing and Manipulating Elements
Clicking once on an element of your presentation opens Prezi's "zebra tool" (shown below), which permits you to easily move, resize, and rotate your text, images, and video as described in more detail below. Please note that you may need to zoom in or out of your workspace in order to highlight, click, and edit an element.
Additionally, be aware that there is a special consideration for editing frames and geometric shapes that contain text or images within their boundaries. By default, selecting your frame or geometric shape and moving/scaling/rotating it will also alter the items it contains. This can be very handy, ensuring you move all these related items to the same degree.
If you wish to everything within the frame, click the frame. To edit a single item within the frame, you can do so simply by clicking it. If you wish to edit the frame or surrounding shape alone, hold down the "alt" key on your keyboard ("option" on a mac) when you click with your mouse. To alert you to this decision, the zebra tool will display as yellow rather than blue; note the distinction below.
Now that you are able to select your elements as desired, see below for various editing options.
Moving Elements
Clicking and dragging the "hand button" in the center of the zebra tool enables you to reposition an item. Note that you can pan across your canvas by dragging an item to the perimeters of the visible workspace.
Aligning Elements
You'll notice that the Prezi workspace contains a grid, which can be helpful in this respect. Additionally, Prezi assumes to some extent that you might wish the item you're moving to line up with, or be centered with respect to, a nearby element of the same type. Prezi will attempt to anticipate your desired placement and displays a blue dotted line when this is achieved (see the video below).
Note that the aligning function does not work when you have multiple items selected, nor will it activate for images as their varying proportions disrupt Prezi's ability to determine their relationships. Frames, whether selected individually or including the elements within them, must be placed relatively close together for the alignment guide to appear.
Resizing Elements
Clicking in the shaded area of the zebra tool and moving your mouse to the right and left will enlarge or reduce the scale of an item. You can also accomplish this by clicking the "+" and "-" buttons in the same area of the tool.
Just as Prezi will help you to align your elements, it will also aid you in scaling two elements the same size. As you scale an item, a nearby element of the same type will highlight when the sizes correspond. In the below example, Item 1 highlights when Item 2 is decreased to match.
You will find you have additional options when editing shapes and frames; see this page for more information.
Rotating Elements
Clicking and dragging the outermost dashed circle in a clockwise or counterclockwise direction will rotate an item. Just as Prezi will help you to align and match the sizes of your elements, it will also aid you in rotating one element to match the angle of another. As you rotate an item, a nearby element of the same type will highlight when the angles correspond. In the below example, Item 1 highlights when Item 2 is rotated to match.
Cropping Images
Once you have added an image to your prezi, you may wish to crop it. To do so, double-click on the photo and note the "photo corners" that appear.
Click and drag any or all of these until the desired portion of the image is isolated.
Hit the "return" or "enter" key on your keyboard to realize these changes.
If you find that your alteration is not to your liking, you can use the "undo" button in your tool bar (see above), or simply double-click on your image once more - you will find that prezi "remembers" your original image, and you can readjust your parameters.
Deleting and Copying Elements
Right-clicking, or control-clicking, anywhere on the zebra tool will open a menu from which you can delete or copy an item.
You can access the same menu by highlighting any item with your mouse and right-clicking.
Paste as desired by right-clicking elsewhere on your workspace and selecting it from the pulldown menu.
There are also keyboard commands with which you can execute all of these actions. Delete an item by highlighting it with your mouse, clicking once to select it, and hitting "delete" on your keyboard. Copy an item by highlighting it with your mouse, clicking once to select it, and typing control-c (command-c on a PC). You can then paste this item by typing control-v (command-v on a Mac).
Select multiple elements at once by holding down the "shift" key as you click each of them. If the items are close together, you can click and drag your mouse while holding down the shift key and select them by drawing a box around the group. Either of these techniques will allow you to reposition or rotate more than one item at a time (and ensure you do it to the same degree for each one).
Layering Elements
As you add elements to your presentation and move them around, you may find that one item covers another and that you wish to change this arrangement.
Let's say that I've drawn an arrow over some text, or placed a rectangle over some text, and for the purposes of clarity I wish to move the text in front of both of these shapes. Originally, it appears as shown below.
Now I can right-click or control-click on either the shape or the arrow, and choose "send to back" or "bring to front" respectively.
Note the increased legibility in both instances:
You may find it easier to move and edit your text if it is layered in front of other elements. Be aware that from this file menu you can send things backwards and forwards as well as to the very front or very back—this permits you to layer multiple elements with respect to one another.
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