Entering Handwriting and Text

Chapter 4 covers the basics of entering text via the Input Panel. Writing or typing text works just the same no matter which Office application you're in.

But what you can enter and where you can enter it are a little different in each Office product. Also, Excel and Word (but not Access) have a neat little feature that enables you to enter handwriting directly in documents.

Working through the Input Panel

Think of the Input Panel as the gateway that your Tablet PC uses to input stuff into documents. The Input Panel enables you to enter information into any Office application via the on-screen Keyboard or Writing Pad.

Here is how the Input Panel interacts with Word, Excel, and Access:

• You can use the Input Panel Keyboard to enter text in all three applications.

• You can use the Input Panel Writing Pad to enter text in all three applications.

• You can use the Input Panel Writing Pad to enter handwritten content only in Word (as shown in Figure 10-3).

  
  Figure 10-3: Word is the only Office application that accepts ink from the Writing Pad.

In addition, you can use the Write Anywhere feature of the Input Panel (covered in Chapter 4) to write on a document, but what you write will be sent to the document as text in all three applications.

All about Ink Drawing and Writing objects

In addition to accepting voice commands and accepting content from the Input Panel, Word and Excel have also had a little feature, called Ink Drawing and Writing objects, added to them.

This feature (which I call IDWOs because the name's so long) enables you to write or draw in a document. What you write or draw with your pen in the Ink Drawing and Writing area actually becomes a graphic object, which you can move around in your document, resize, and so on.

When you insert an IDWO, an Ink toolbar appears (as shown in Figure 10-4). Here are the tools available to you on the Ink toolbar:

Figure 10-4: The Ink toolbar provides basic tools for working with handwritten input.

• Pen is used to hand write in the object.

• Eraser erases whole words or drawn objects.

• Selection Tool selects drawn or written items to cut, copy, or paste.

• Ink Color sets the color of the Pen tool.

• Ink Style sets the thickness of the line you draw.

Inserting Ink Drawing and Writing objects

To add an IDWO, follow these steps:

1. Open a document in the application (Word or Excel).

2. Tap in the document to place your insertion point.

3. Choose InsertðInk Drawing and Writing.

   A blank object appears, along with the Ink toolbar.

4. Use the Ink tools to write or draw anything you like.

5. After you've finished, tap outside the object to close the toolbar.

   You can tap the object at any time to reopen it for editing.

Resizing and moving Ink Drawing and Writing objects

As with any object, you can move IDWOs around documents and resize them. However, keep in mind that resizing an IDWO does nothing to resize the handwritten content within it, so there's not a whole lot of point in doing it, except that by doing so you add a bit of white space surrounding the handwritten content. (Figures 10-5 and 10-6 show the difference between an original object and its resized version.)

Figure 10-5: Here's the original object size . . .

Figure 10-6: . . . and here it is enlarged.

To resize an IDWO, follow these steps:

1. Tap the object to open it.

2. Move your pen over any corner until your cursor changes into a corner shape.

3. Tap and drag in or out to resize the object.

4. Release your mouse when the object is the size you want.

You move an IDWO the same way you move non-IDWOs: Move your cursor over the edge of the object until it turns into the familiar move cursor (the one with four arrows), tap, drag, and drop the object.