Help

The Scenarios tab lists common set-ups, such as a tax or a subsidy: press one to show it. Starting point, at the top, takes you back to the plain diagram. The scenario's name also sits in the middle of the top bar: press it for the same list, or use the arrows either side to step through.

Turn on Step by step, at the foot of the list, to reveal a scenario in stages: press Next step for each stage, or Show all to finish it.

The Tools tab holds the diagram's controls, in the same order on every diagram: Set-up (the kind of diagram, where there's a choice), Curves, Show (extras you can switch on, such as guides or welfare areas) and Dragging a curve. Some diagrams have one more section, such as Policy or Points.

To move a curve, select it under Curves, or click it on the diagram, then use its buttons or the arrow keys. On many diagrams you can also drag it. Click empty space on the diagram, or press Esc, to unselect it.

Press Present, at the top right on a laptop or larger screen, to show the diagram on its own. The scenario's name is in the middle of the top bar: press it to pick another, or use the arrows either side. The controls fade after a few seconds and come back when you move the mouse. To leave, press Exit presentation or Esc. On a phone there's no Present button: use a laptop, tablet or the classroom computer to present.

While presenting, press Pen (or P) to draw on the diagram, and Blank (or B) to blank the screen while the class thinks; any key brings the diagram back. Press ? for the full list of keys, which also work from a clicker.

Draw it, in the View tab, draws the diagram one line at a time, in the order you'd draw it at the board, with a caption for each step. Choose Line by line to press Next after each line, or Play it all to let it draw itself. In Present, Draw it (or D) starts line by line, and its Play button draws the rest. Either way, you can stop at any point and show the whole diagram.

Undo and Redo (Ctrl+Z and Ctrl+Y) are in the top bar, beside Reset, which puts the diagram back as it was when you opened it. On a phone they're at the top of the Tools tab.

Copy link copies a link to the diagram as it is now, for an email, a slide, or to open on the classroom computer. Links are for teachers: to give your class something, use a picture (Copy picture) or a practice sheet.

Save, the bookmark in the top bar, keeps the diagram exactly as it is now, under a name you choose, such as “Sugar tax, Year 12”. The bookmark fills in once that diagram is saved. Open it again from My library, in the Account menu (the person icon) and at the top of the diagram list, where you can also rename or delete it. Each one shows a small picture of the diagram as you saved it, so two versions of the same diagram are easy to tell apart. A saved diagram keeps what a link keeps.

It can keep your pen drawing too. Draw on the diagram in Present, then press the bookmark in the top bar, on the right after Reset. A small red dot on the bookmark means there’s drawing it hasn’t kept yet; pressing it keeps the drawing with the saved diagram, and the bookmark fills in. Next time you present that diagram, on its own or in a lesson, your drawing is already on the board. Rubbing it out or adding to it in class doesn’t change the saved diagram unless you press the bookmark again. When you save a diagram after drawing on it, the save box asks whether to keep your drawing. Share links and copied pictures never include it.

Saving is for signed-in teachers at a school with a licence, and only you can see what you save. If your school's licence ends, you can still see, rename and delete your saved diagrams.

A lesson is like a playlist: your saved diagrams in order, to present one after another, like slides. When you save a diagram, tick a lesson to add it to, or make a new one. Or open My library, then Lessons, then New lesson, and tick the diagrams in the order you want them. A lesson’s page shows its diagrams in order; Edit lets you drag them into a new order, take them out or add more.

To present one, use the arrow on the Present button and choose Present a lesson, or press Present on the lesson in My library. It opens the first diagram full screen. A clicker’s forward button, the arrow keys or Space step through each diagram’s steps, then on to the next diagram. The bar at the top shows where you are, such as “Diagram 2 of 6”; choose it to jump to any diagram in the lesson.

A lesson uses your saved diagrams rather than copies, so renaming one renames it in every lesson, and deleting one takes it out of its lessons (CueCurve warns you first). A pen drawing kept with a saved diagram shows in every lesson it’s in. Only you can see your lessons. If your school’s licence ends, you can still present the free diagrams in them, and delete them.

Show QR code shows a code that opens the same diagram when scanned with a phone camera. Copy QR code copies it as a picture for a slide, or a handout for colleagues.

Links and QR codes for the four free diagrams open for anyone. The others open only for signed-in teachers at a school with a licence.

Copy picture copies a picture to paste into a slide, worksheet or document (or downloads it as a PNG file if your browser won't allow copying). Print prints the diagram on its own. For black-and-white printing, choose Exam black and white under Shading and markers, in the View tab.

Choose Practice sheet in the Share menu to print a question page for the class: blank axes to draw on, or the diagram without its labels, with a question of your own. Leave Print the answer page ticked for a separate page showing the finished diagram.

Curves are black, as they are in exams. To colour them, choose Colour-blind-safe colours under Curve colours, in the View tab: demand turns blue, supply and marginal cost orange-red, average cost green and marginal revenue purple, in colours chosen to stay distinct for colour-blind viewers. Exam black and white always draws curves in black.

• Give it a minute or two, then check your spam or junk folder.
• School email filters sometimes hold back new senders, and some put the email in quarantine rather than junk, where you can't see it. Ask your IT team to release it and to allow email from cuecurve.co.uk – that's the surest fix for everyone at your school. Adding no-reply@cuecurve.co.uk and hello@cuecurve.co.uk to your safe senders can help too.
• Or don't wait: press Sign in with Microsoft or Sign in with Google and use your school account instead. They need no code.
• Check the address you typed. If it's wrong, press Use a different email.
• If CueCurve says there have been too many attempts, wait a minute and try again.

If it still hasn't arrived, contact us.

Open the link, sign in with your school email and choose your school, then press Claim free access. Your school gets every diagram for the time the link says, and you become its lead teacher.

Type or paste colleagues' email addresses – school addresses where they have them – under Add a teacher by email address (separate several with commas or new lines) and press Add teacher. We email them to say they've been added, and they can sign in straight away. To remove someone, press Remove (a lead teacher steps down first). The list holds up to 15 teachers; if you need more, contact us.

Once you've added your colleagues, press Account, then Department training. Choose your exam board, say how many teachers will do the micro and macro treasure hunts, and print a plan for a 30-minute team meeting for you and carefully designed tasks that take each teacher through the features they'll use most in lessons. Each teacher's pages come out together, ready to hand round. The last task has each teacher save a diagram and email you its link, so you know everyone has finished. Department training is for teachers at a school with a licence; open it here.

Press Make lead teacher next to a colleague; a school can have more than one. To hand over, make someone else lead teacher, then press Step down as lead teacher.

A licence lasts 12 months and doesn't renew automatically. From 30 days before it ends, lead teachers get reminders and signed-in teachers see a notice. You can renew on the Your school page from 60 days before, by card or invoice, and lose nothing: the new year starts when the current one ends.

If the end date passes, access carries on for 14 days. After that, the school diagrams lock until you renew, but your teacher list is kept for 12 months. If you renew after the 14 days, the new year starts on the day you renew, so you don't pay for the gap.

Choose Get a quote on the pricing page. We email it as a PDF, valid for 30 days, and its Order from this quote link orders at the quoted price. A quote isn't an invoice, so please don't pay against it.

Invoices go to your finance contact by email, through Stripe, payable by card or bank transfer within 30 days. If one stays unpaid, CueCurve shows the date access will pause, 60 days after the due date, with a message for your finance office. For a renewal invoice, it's 60 days after the due date or 60 days into the new licence year, whichever is later. For a copy of an invoice, contact us.

Press Try again, then Reload page if that doesn't work. This can happen when CueCurve has been updated while your tab was open. If you see "Sorry, this diagram stopped working", press Reset diagram.

You're signed in, but CueCurve can't find a current licence for you. The message says why. Usually:

• your lead teacher hasn't added the address you sign in with;
• your school's licence has ended: a lead teacher can renew it;
• an invoice hasn't been paid: your finance office can check;
• your school's access is paused: your lead teacher can contact us.

Open the View tab and press Report a problem with this diagram, at the bottom. Say what looks wrong, such as a label, a curve or a scenario step. The diagram is sent with your report exactly as it appears on your screen, so we'll know what settings you used. Add your email address if you'd like a reply.

Reset your browser's zoom with Ctrl and 0 (Cmd and 0 on a Mac), then reload. For bigger labels at the back of the room, use Text and line size in the View tab. If it still looks wrong, tell us your browser and device.