Frequently Asked Questions

Have questions? You’ve come to the right place! Find answers to frequently asked questions below. Question still unanswered? Please do not hesitate to shoot us an email at support@showme.com or contact us on Twitter, Facebook, or our community support forum.

What is ShowMe?

ShowMe turns your iPad into a personal interactive whiteboard allowing you to easily record voice-over lessons and share them with your private classroom or with our community of teachers and students. Whether you are interested in teaching or learning about chemistry, music, history or language ShowMe helps to immerse you in the subjects you are most interested in.

Why should I use ShowMe?

ShowMe is a great way for you to quickly create explanations of concepts and then share them with anyone you want.

Here are just a few examples of the amazing lessons created by our ShowMe users:

How can I use ShowMe in my classroom?

You can use ShowMe to implement the flipped classroom instructional strategy in your class, or you can use ShowMe in your own, creative way. You will find the feature called Groups useful for your class. With Groups you can collect your students in one group (or separate groups) where you and your students can post ShowMes and documents.

Good examples of Groups usage are the following:
1.The instructor posts a ShowMe lecture in the group after which students post their own ShowMes with questions.
2.The instructor posts a document-assignment in the group. Thereafter students upload their completed-assignment-docs, which the instructor can later check.

How much does this cost me?

Absolutely nothing for basic features. We want everyone to share their knowledge with the world.

With that said, we do have a premium membership that provides more opportunities and creates an even richer experience for ShowMe users.

Explore our Premium Account advantages here.

How to create a new ShowMe?

Getting started on ShowMe is easy! Simply open up the app and login (This is optional, but we recommend it to you for getting the most out of the ShowMe Community). From there hit the blue "Create" button in the top right hand corner. You can now get started right away by hitting the record button in the top middle of your screen.

Alternatively, you can add text and image layouts to your lesson, before you start recording.

How to add text to my ShowMe?

You can do that in a several ways. The easiest way to add text is to use the text icon when you’re creating ShowMe lessons. Simply hit the text icon (Aa) on the top left icon bar. You can now type in the text you would like to add.

If you would like to use text or fonts not found in ShowMe:

Take a screenshot of the text on your computer and email the image to yourself, then save the attachment to your photo library. Alternatively, you can place the screenshot into your Dropbox and then insert it into ShowMe through ShowMe tools.

How to insert a document into a ShowMe?

We have made it incredibly easy to add images and documents! To do so follow the steps below:

1. Push the button on the top of the screen that looks like a small drawing of a mountain and sun with a + next to it.
2. You'll have the option to select an image from your photo library, take a photo with your camera, insert an image from the web or insert a file from cloud services like DropBox or Google Drive. (Files can be of the following formats: PDF, PPT, PPTX, DOC, DOCX, KEY, XLS, XLSX, TXT, etc.)
3. Decide where the image or document should be placed and whether it needs to be rotated.
4. You’re done!

How to add an image to the ShowMe lesson?

1. Tap on the image button (a small drawing of a mountain and sun with + next to it) located on the toolbar.
2. Select one of the options from the dropdown menu (‘Choose Photo’ from your library, ‘Take Photo’, ‘Search images on web’, ‘Dropbox’, ‘Google Drive’ – to use these last two you need to be logged into your accounts).
3. Option ‘Choose a background’ enables you to insert a template for a slide. Among the available ones, you can find music lines or mathematical graphs.
4. Choose the image or document you want to insert to your slide.

How to edit an image?

1. In order to edit the image tap on it and hold it for a few seconds till the pop-up settings bar appears.
2. From there you can delete, crop, or rotate it.
3. While cropping you can also change the angle of your photo, just tap on it, hold it for a few seconds and move the way you want it to looks like. The button ‘Constrain’ contains the scopes for a picture (Square, 3×2, 3×5, 4×3 and so one).
4. Buttons ‘‘Move to front’ and ‘Send to back’ enables you to change the order of them.
5. Change the size of your image by squeezing it.
6. Change the location of the image by tapping on it and move it on the slide you like.

How to add a new page to my ShowMe?

You can do so by using the left and right arrow keys on the toolbar. For your info, the limit of pages for one ShowMe is 50.

How to change the pen thickness?

1. On the right side of the top bar, you can see the colors option.
2. Tap on one of the color squares.
3. A new bar with five thickness options will appear below.
4. Choose the thickness you need by tapping on a particular dot size.

How to use the math keyboard?

1. Open a ShowMe creator.
2. Tap on the typing tool (the Aa icon) on the ShowMe toolbar
3. To open the math keyboard tap on the sum symbol ∑.
4. The blue column contains symbol x, y, and templates for elements and fractions.
5. To use fractions or elements: tap on its symbol, to enter numbers tap on the red square and then on a number you want to enter.
6. Next to the button ‘123’, there are other options: ‘()%<’ includes basic mathematical symbols, and in ‘f(x)’ you will find advanced symbols like sin, cos, and log. The last button ‘abc’ contains the italics alphabet and greek symbols (alpha, gamma, delta, lambda, rho).

Hot to editing the voice recording while uploading ShowMes:

1. Tap on 'Done' button, and then on ‘Save & upload ShowMe Video’.
2. You will be taken to the review screen, where you can change the recording.
3. Listen to your lesson and decide which part you would like to change.
4. On the top bar go to the point you want to change, and pause the video.
5. Tap on the microphone icon placed on the lower toolbar. Now you have two options: you can re-record your voice or mute it.
6. By tapping on ‘Mute’ you will remove the whole voice recording from your lesson.
7. By tapping on ‘Record Audio’ the 3-second countdown will appear so you can prepare yourself to record.
8. Stop recording by tapping on the red recording button places on the lower toolbar.
9. You can change your recording as many times as you want. Whenever you are done with editing just save your ShowMe as usual.

How to edit the voice recording after uploading ShowMes:

1. Open the ShowMe lesson you want to edit.
2. Listen to your lesson and decide which part you would like to change.
3. On the top bar go to the point you want to re-record and pause the video.
4. Tap on the microphone icon placed on the lower toolbar. Now you have two options: you can re-record your voice or mute it.
5. By tapping on ‘Mute’ you will remove the whole voice recording from your lesson.
6. By tapping on ‘Record Audio’ the 3-second countdown will appear so you can prepare yourself to record.
7. Stop recording by tapping on the red recording button places on the lower toolbar.
8. When you finish the editing, tap on ‘Done’ and choose one of three options: ‘Update Original’, ‘Save as New ShowMe’ or ‘Discard Changes’.

How to remove the voice and video recording from ShowMes:

1. Click on the gear button and duplicate your former lesson.
2. Once a draft of your former lesson appears, click on this draft’s gear button and delete the recording.
3. Use the new draft to record your lesson again! Just open it, tap on recording button the toolbar and create the audio and the video for your slides.

How to create a ShowMe group?

1. Open ShowMe app and tap on ShowMe featured places on the top menu.
2. Tap on ‘+ New Group’ button.
3. Name your group. You can also import a group from Google Classroom, check how here!
4. Tap on ‘Create’, and it’s done!

How to add a group member?

With a group code:

1. Open a group you want to add members to. On the toolbar, there is a group code.
2. Give it to your students so they can join your group.

To join a group with a code your students need to:

1. Open ShowMe app, go to group feature and tap on the ‘Join a group’ button placed on the left side of the screen.
2. After a popup window appears, they need to enter the code and tap on ‘Join’!

How to delete a group member?

1. Open a group you want to remove members from.
2. Choose from the list which member you want to delete, and tap the name, then swipe to the left.
3. A red button will appear while swiping, tap not it.
4. If you are sure you want to remove this member, choose an option ‘Remove’ from a pop-up window.

How to add a post in a group?

While creating ShowMe:

1. When you are done with building your lesson, you need to name it, and while choosing the topics you can add your new ShowMe file to a group.
2. Just tap on ‘Groups’ button on the lower toolbar.
3. From the popup menu choose in which of your groups you want to post this lesson.

Posting ShowMes from your library:

1. Open Group feature, and tap on ‘+ New Post’.
2. In a drop-down menu tap on ‘Create a ShowMe’.
3. From a pop-up window choose which lesson you want to post.

Creating a new ShowMe directly in a group:

1. Open Group feature, and tap on ‘+ New Post’
2. In a drop-down menu tap on ‘Create a ShowMe’.
3. Build your lesson, and save it as always. Your creation will be posted in a group and in your library!

How to approve your student’s post in a group?

1. Open the Group feature.
2. Tap on a specific group.
3. Find a post you want to approve. You can scroll down posts in the group or tap on a specific student from the list on the left sidebar and see all the posts he or she submitted.
4. To accept the post, tap on the green check button.
5. To remove the post, tap on the X button. Remember, that post will be permanently deleted from the group.

How to edit posts in a group?

1. Open the Group feature.
2. Tap on a specific group.
3. Find a post you want to edit. As a teacher, you can edit all students’ posts, but a student can only edit the teacher’s post.
4. Tap on the ‘Edit’ button.
5. Write your comments, mark and draw by using the typing tool or the pen.
6. Tap on ‘Done’ button, and choose one of the options: ‘Discard’, ‘Save & Upload ShowMes Slides’, ‘Save As Draft’.

How to post a ShowMe in Google Classroom:

1. Tap on the gear button of a ShowMe you want to share.
2. In the pop-up settings window, tap on ‘Google Classroom’.
3. Choose a classroom you want to post your ShowMe.

How to import students from Google Classroom:

1. Open one of your group into which you want to import your students.
2. Tap on the icon of students on the right side of the toolbar.
3. Tap on ‘Import from Google Classroom. If you are not logged into your account you will be redirected to a logging website.
4. Choose a Classroom.
5. Choose students which you want to add to your ShowMe group.

How to create a group from Google Classroom:

1. Open ShowMe app.
2. Tap on Groups feature.
3. Tap on ‘+New Group’ option on the left side of the toolbar.
4. Tap on ‘Create from Google Classroom’. If you are not logged into your Google account you will be redirected to a logging website.
5. After choosing a group, decide which students you want to add to a new group. You can mark them all or select particular persons.

How to delete a public ShowMe or make it private?

From the app:

1. Go to the "My ShowMes" section of the app and find your ShowMe.
2. In the top right corner of your ShowMe tap the gear that opens ShowMe settings.
3. To delete or unpost it, select “Remove”. To make it private, tap "Private". (Note that Premium Membership is required for this)

From web:

To take down your ShowMe, visit www.ShowMe.com and login from the top right corner. Thereafter, hover over your name to make a menu appear. Select "Edit ShowMes" and from the next screen you can delete your ShowMes or make them private.(Note that Premium Membership is required for this)

Making a ShowMe private will allow you to still see it on the web and share it but only those with the direct link can view it.

How to categorize a ShowMe so it is easy to find?

Tagging your ShowMes helps keeping them organized and also makes them easily accessible for other people. You can tag your ShowMe during the upload process from your iPad.

After selecting to post your ShowMe, you will see space to add a description and Topics. Start typing your subject/topic into this space and you will see already existing topics populate. Select the one you want or keep typing to create your own topics!

If you forgot to add topics for your ShowMe or noticed a ShowMe created by someone else that is missing topics, no worries, you can always add them from the web by looking for the “Edit Topics" button beside the ShowMe player.

How do Paid ShowMes work?

Educators can earn extra income by selling their premium lessons to the ShowMe community. Paid ShowMes cost only $9.99 from which $5.00 goes to the instructor. To begin monetizing your courses, simple hit the “Paid” button when uploading your lesson.

How to create a Course out of multiple lessons?

Courses are a great way to group multiple lessons into one compressive plan. If you want to create a Course, please follow the steps below.

1. To access Courses, start by updating ShowMe to the latest version on iTunes.
2. Once completed, navigate to My ShowMes and then to Courses.
3. To create a course either search by name or navigate to a creator's profile, and then Courses.

In addition to creating your own Courses, you can also follow those made by other educators. To do this, head to your selected ShowMe profile click Courses.

How to privately upload a ShowMe?

When you save your ShowMe you will begin the upload process where you can add topics and share via Facebook or Twitter. On this same screen you will see a small grey lock icon. Press this icon and it will turn blue, guaranteeing that your ShowMe will upload privately.

A private ShowMe does not appear in search results and can only be viewed if someone is given the direct URL to ShowMe.

Please note that private upload of ShowMes requires Premium Membership

How to re-upload ShowMes?

1. Open your ShowMe library and tap on a ShowMe file you want to re-upload.
2. Tap on a re-uploading button placed in the setting bar.
3. Choose topics, and tap on ‘Done adding topics’
4. A popup window ‘You’ve already uploaded this ShowMe. Upload again?’ will appear. In order to re-upload this file tap on ‘Ok’.

How to share a ShowMe with people?

You can share a ShowMe, whether it is for public or personal use, right after you upload it from your iPad by pressing the share button within the ShowMe player. You will see options to share via Facebook, Twitter or Email.

When you see a ShowMe on the website that you love and want to share with people, do so by pressing Email, Twitter or Facebook icons below the video player. You can even embed the video into a website using the embed link.

If you are sharing your own ShowMe that is private, only people with the link will be able to see the page.

Can I embed my ShowMe into a Keynote or Prezi Presentation?

Yes, definitely! First, start by downloading your ShowMe to your computer (note that this requires Premium Membership). In Keynote, simply drag the file into your presentation. In Prezi, you can insert a ShowMe presentation just like any other type of media.

How to make my ShowMe standout and get noticed?

We love featuring the excellent lessons created by our community members--yours included! There are a few easy steps to get your ShowMe noticed:

1. Make sure your ShowMe has a clear and informative title
2. Make your ShowMe Public and Include Topics
3. Be Interactive! People are more likely to see your ShowMe if you are watching lessons created by other community members and clicking the Like button when you see an awesome video.
4. Keep Your ShowMe Short and Concise. If you've got a lot to cover, consider breaking up your lessons into a few shorter ShowMes!

Additinally, if you are creating elaborate courses or series of ShowMes, you can send us a Tweet, Facebook message or notify us by emailing to support@showme.com so that we can promote your ShowMes too.

More details on how to make your ShowMe stand out on the blog: http://www.showme.com/blog/2012/03/make-your-showme-standout/

Is there a limit to the number of Showmes that I can create and publish online?

With a basic account you can have 5 uploads or cumulatively up to one hour of ShowMes.

With ShowMe Premium subscription you can upload up to 300 hours of ShowMes with no limit for the number of ShowMes you can upload.

If my students don’t have emails, how do they create accounts?

For students that do not have emails, instructors can create student accounts through their own account. To do so please follow the steps below:

1. Open the app main page and tap on your profile. A dropdown menu will appear.
2. Select “Invite Friends”. At the bottom of the list you see a “Create a student account”. This is what you are looking for.
3. Write first and last name of the student. If the student is below 14 years old then please use the bottom switch to inform us about that. Information about students under the age of 14 will not be displayed publicly.
4. You will see a username and password generated for your student. You may pass this user info directly to your student. You may also change the username and password through the website (logged in with the teacher account) in order to have a friendlier username and password before passing it to the student.

Going forward, all student activity will be linked to your account and you will receive notifications whenever they upload or like a ShowMe.

If my students don’t have iPads, can they still watch my ShowMes?

Absolutely! When you upload a ShowMe it can be viewed from our website. You can have your students subscribe to you to stay updated on your new ShowMes. You may also embed the ShowMe links into a class website or blog, or email links directly to students. ShowMe also works great with tools like Evernote and Posterous.

I don't own an iPad. How about a PC version? Android?

We find drawing with our fingers or stylus more intuitive than maneuvering a mouse and cursor. With that in mind, we don’t have any plans for a PC version of the app. As for the Android platform, we will strongly consider it further down the line.

My app crashes when I try to use it, what can I do to fix this?

Sometimes iPads get overloaded when too many apps are open which causes them to crash. You can close unused open apps by doing the following:

1. Double press the iPad home button to display all of the apps that are open.
2. Swipe up the apps that you do not need right now in order to close them.

If ShowMe still crashes after you’ve done this, email us at support@showme.com and we will get back to you right away!

My ShowMe says it is "being converted". What does that mean?

When you send a ShowMe to be uploaded we are immediately doing a several things: we convert the format for web, generate several links for you to share and embed, and create the downloadable mp4 file. Normally this process is done instantly but if you are uploading a very long ShowMe this could take from several minutes to several hours. Email us at support@showme.com if you think there is an issue and your ShowMe takes way too long to upload. We will get back to you and solve the issue right away.

Will you ever delete my ShowMes?

We never delete a ShowMe unless the content is highly inappropriate or otherwise violates our Community Guidelines.

Where can I share ideas and feedback?

You can email us at support@showme.com

Your feedback is really important for us.

How to download a ShowMe?

Only ShowMe Premium users can download the ShowMe video files.

How to download from the application:

1. Open the application at the My ShowMes tab.
2. Find the uploaded ShowMe that you want to download. Tap on the gear-like icon at the top-right corner of the ShowMe. ShowMe settings page will be opened. There you can find the Download button.

How to download from the website:

1. Log in at www.showme.com
2. Go to your Profile Settings and find the My ShowMes section. Alternatively, just open this link: www.showme.com/profile#Showmes
3. You will see your ShowMes with a Download button next to each of them.

How to export ShowMes to Google Drive?

1. Open your ShowMes library.
2. Tap on a gear button of the lesson you want to export.
3. From a pop-up menu tap on ‘Download’.
4. Tap on a Google Drive icon.
5. If you are not logged into the cloud, you will be redirected to the logging page.

How to download from the website:

Does ShowMe have a Facebook or Twitter?

Sure! You can reach out to us anytime on our Facebook or Twitter page.

How to add Subtitles/Closed Captions (CC) for my ShowMe?

You can automatically generate Subtitles/CC for your ShowMes. (Note that Premium Membership is required for this.)

From the app:

1. Go to the "My ShowMes" section of the app and find your ShowMe.
2. In the top right corner of your ShowMe tap the gear that opens ShowMe settings.
3. Tap on the Subtitles/CC button, which will lead you to the generation process.
4. You will be notified once the Subtitles/CC for your ShowMe are ready and they will automatically be published and available to users.
5. You can turn on/off the Subtitles/CC from the ShowMe Player.   

From web:

1. Click on the Subtitles/CC button from ShowMe page or “Edit My ShowMes” page.
2. Click on the Generate Subtitles/CC button which will lead you to the generation process. 
3. You will be notified once the Subtitles/CC for your ShowMe are ready and they will automatically be published and available to users.
4. You can turn on/off the Subtitles/CC from the ShowMe Player.   

How to manage Subtitles/Closed Captions (CC) for my ShowMe? 

Once automatically generated the Subtitles/CC are becoming visible to the viewers.You might be willing to make changes to autogenerated Subtitles/CC or unpublish them.

From the app:

1. Go to the "My ShowMes" section of the app and find your ShowMe.
2. In the top right corner of your ShowMe tap the gear that opens ShowMe settings.
3. Tap on the Choose Subtitles/CC and choose Manage Subtitles/CC, you will be redirected to the browser to make appropriate changes.

From web:

1. Click on the Subtitles/CC button from ShowMe page or Edit MyShowMes page.
2. On the Subtitles/CC editor page, you can make changes to the automatically generated text. Later you can discard changes and return to the initial stage. 
3. On this page, you can see a switcher for publishing and unpublishing the Subtitles/CC.

How to activate Scriba?

1. In order to activate Scriba hold a squeeze.
2. Once Scriba vibrates and flashes a blue lights it means it is activated.
3. In case Scriba is not activating, make sure it’s fully charged.

How to charge Scriba?

1. Remove the aluminium end cap.
2. Plug the supplied cable into Scriba’s charging port and a USB charger.
3. Scriba should be fully recharged in two hours.

How to change Scriba’s tip?

1. Unscrew the aluminium tip cover.
2. Swap the worn tip for a new one.
3. Replace the tip and screw the cover back on.

How to pair Scriba and ShowMe?

1. Activate Scriba by holding a squeeze.
2. Open the ShowMe app, and open a drawing window.
3. A pop-up notification ''Connected'' should appear.
4. If the notification does not appear hold a squeeze again.

In some cases you will need to check your iPad Bluetooth settings.

1. Turn on Bluetooth, connect with Scriba.
2. Set Bluetooth to forget Scriba tool.
3. Open the ShowMe app, activate Scriba.
4. Open the drawing window, hold a squeeze once again.

How to use Scriba and ShowMe features (changing colors, thickness and eraser)?

1. Pair ShowMe and Scriba.
2. Squeeze Scribe once to change the color.
3. Double squeeze to change the thickness.
4. Hold a squeeze to use the eraser feature.