If you are switching from Promethean to SMART, your lessons can come with you. SMART Notebook can import ActivInspire flipchart files, and the content stays editable and interactive, so you do not have to rebuild the library you have spent years creating. To be precise about what a switch involves: the hardware decision is moving your classrooms from Promethean displays to SMART Board interactive displays, but the lesson content lives in software, and SMART Notebook is free to download. That means a school can test-import its ActivInspire library on teacher computers before committing to a single new display. For schools running Promethean today, the biggest worry about switching usually is not the hardware. It is the lessons. (If you are still weighing the two side by side, our SMART vs Promethean comparison covers the everyday feature differences.)
This guide walks through what carries over when you switch, what you gain on the other side, and how to make the migration from Promethean to SMART smooth.
Can you switch from Promethean to SMART without losing your lessons?
Yes. Your ActivInspire lessons can move with you. SMART Notebook imports ActivInspire flipchart files (.flp and .flipchart) and converts their contents into editable, interactive Notebook objects, rather than flattening them into images. SMART details exactly how each ActivInspire object and feature converts, so IT teams can see what to expect before a single file moves. The fear of losing everything is the single biggest reason schools stay on aging technology longer than they should, and in practice that fear is usually overstated.
Can you import ActivInspire lessons into SMART software?
Yes. SMART Notebook can import ActivInspire flipchart files, converting each element into the best-matching equivalent Notebook object, so the imported content remains editable and interactive. As with any content migration, a few ActivInspire-specific elements may behave differently after conversion, which is why it is worth spot-checking your most complex or heavily customised flipcharts after import, with SMART's feature-by-feature conversion guide as the reference. But the core of a lesson library generally moves over intact, which changes the whole calculation for a school weighing a switch.
What happens to your ActivInspire flipcharts when you switch?
Imported flipcharts stay usable and adaptable, not frozen as pictures. Teachers can keep refining them in SMART Notebook on their own computers, the way they always prepared lessons, and then teach with them on the SMART Board as they would any other lesson. In other words, the years of work that went into your ActivInspire library are an asset you carry forward, not something you leave behind.
What do you gain by switching from Promethean displays to SMART Boards?
To be clear, this is the hardware half of the switch: what changes when the display at the front of the room is a SMART Board rather than a Promethean panel. Switching gives you included teaching software with no subscription, two-way student-device collaboration built into the whiteboard, full multi-user interactivity, SMART Ink that works over any content, and a display built to stay current for up to a decade. A few of the differences a switching school tends to notice first:
- Software included, no subscription. Where Promethean places parts of ActivSuite and the full Explain Everything experience behind subscriptions, SMART includes its core teaching software, SMART Notebook and the iQ whiteboard and apps, at no extra cost.
- Simpler student-device collaboration. Promethean sunset its ClassFlowplatform in 2023, and its current live student collaboration runs through Explain Everything, where collaborating from more than one student device requires a subscription, the recommended session size tops out around eight students, and students need their own accounts to join and edit. SMART Boards with iQ include two-way student-device collaboration built into the whiteboard, with the whole class joining by QR code or class ID and no student accounts required.
- True multi-user interactivity and SMART Ink. SMART is the ONLY interactive display provider that allows multiple people to write, erase, and interact at the same time without interfering with one another, and SMART Ink works over any content automatically. The comparison article covers these in depth.
- A longer, upgradeable life. SMART commits to at least five years of automatic over-the-air software updates from a display's launch and offers appliance-based upgrades for up to ten years after release, on LED panels rated for 50,000 hours, so the displays you switch to are built to outlast the ones you switch from.
- Your old library, plus a new one.
Is there a learning curve when moving from Promethean to SMART?
The transition is usually quicker than schools expect. The most common objection to switching is some version of “our teachers already know Promethean,” which is fair, and has a straightforward answer. SMART includes professional learning to help teachers get comfortable quickly, and publishes an ActivInspire-to-Notebook transition guide that maps the tools teachers already use to their Notebook equivalents, so existing habits become an advantage rather than a barrier. The iQ experience is designed for walk-up-and-use simplicity, so everyday actions take only a few touches, and because teachers see their own imported lessons on the new display, the change feels familiar rather than foreign.
How to switch from Promethean to SMART: a migration checklist
If you are scoping a move, a short plan goes a long way:
- Inventory your most-used ActivInspire flipcharts so you know what matters most.
- Download SMART Notebook, which is free, and import your flipcharts on teacher computers, spot-checking the complex ones against SMART's conversion guide. This can happen before any hardware arrives.
- Identify any subscriptions you can retire once the switch is complete.
- Schedule short professional-learning sessions so teachers see their own content on the new display.
Do you have to switch all your displays at once?
No. There is no need to flip a whole district overnight. Most schools move room by room, and because the content migration happens in SMART Notebook on teacher computers, lessons can be imported and checked well before a display is ever installed. That keeps the change manageable and lets teachers build confidence before the next rollout. A phased migration also spreads the work across the school year rather than concentrating it into a single switch.
The bottom line on switching from Promethean to SMART
Switching from Promethean to SMART does not mean abandoning years of lesson-building. Your ActivInspire content can come with you and stay editable, and on the other side you gain included software, simpler student-device collaboration, a growing library of ready-made resources, and a longer hardware life. Looked at that way, the lessons you have already built are the reason to switch with confidence, not the reason to wait.