Working with Ink in Outlook

Outlook is a recipient, along with other Microsoft Office applications, of the Ink capabilities that come from installing the Office XP Pack for Tablet PC. (See Chapter 10 for more about this.) These capabilities are

• Using the Tablet PC Input Panel to enter text by writing it in the Writing Pad tab or typing it with the on-screen keyboard.

• Inserting Ink objects in which you can draw and enter handwritten content.

In Outlook, you can use these Ink features to enter text content in e-mail forms as well as in dialog boxes used to add appointments in the calendar, tasks, and contacts. You can insert Ink objects into e-mails and task and appointment notes areas, but not into contact notes areas.

In addition, you can use the Write Anywhere feature of the Input Panel to write on a document, but what you write will be sent to the document as text, not as handwriting. All these methods are covered in Chapter 4, but in case you skipped that one, here's a refresher course.

Entering contents with the Input Panel

The Input Panel has two parts. Use the Writing Pad, shown in Figure 12-4, to hand write letters or numbers and send them as either Ink or converted text into an item into Outlook. The Keyboard tab is used to enter typewritten content.

Figure 12-4: The Input Panel allows you to add text to documents.

Follow these steps to enter text using the Input Panel Keyboard:

1. Place your insertion point in the appropriate field in a dialog box for a task, contact, or appointment (or in an e-mail form in Outlook).

2. Use your pen and the Input Panel to enter data into the task, contact, appointment, or e-mail form.

   If you want your entry in the Writing Pad to appear in the e-mail form as handwriting rather than text, tap the arrow on the Send button first and select Send as Ink before you write.

 Tip  You can also use the Quick Keys on either the Keyboard tab or the Writing Pad tab to perform keyboard actions, such as Enter, Space, Backspace, and Tab.

Inserting Ink Drawing and Writing objects

In addition to accepting content from the Input Panel, Outlook gains the ability to insert handwritten content through a feature called Ink Drawing and Writing objects.

What you write or draw with your pen directly in the Ink Drawing and Writing object area actually becomes a graphic object which you can move around your document, resize, and so on.

When you insert an Ink object, an Ink toolbar appears (as shown in Figure 12-5). Here are the tools available to you:

Figure 12-5: 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.

To add an Ink object to an e-mail message, task, or calendar appointment, follow these steps:

1. Open a new document; the procedure has a familiar Windows feel:

   • To open a new e-mail, tap the New button while in your Inbox.

   • To open a dialog box for a new task, double-click a task row in the Tasks area.

   • To open a dialog box for a new calendar appointment, double-click a date box in the Calendar.

   The corresponding form opens.

2. Place your insertion point in the body of the e-mail (or notes area in the dialog box).

   To do so, tap with your pen tip in the appropriate area.

3. Choose InsertðInk Drawing and Writing.

   A blank object appears along with the Ink toolbar (as shown in Figure 12-6).

   
   Figure 12-6: You can insert a handwritten message in an e-mail message by writing in the Ink object.

4. Write or draw anything you like in the Ink and Drawing object, using the Ink tools provided.

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

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

Adding stuff with Write Anywhere

A feature of Writing Pad called Write Anywhere enables you to use any part of the screen as a writing pad. For example, you open Outlook and open an e-mail; then you turn on Write Anywhere. Rather than writing in the Writing Pad and sending that entry to the e-mail, you can write on the e-mail itself, and your writing is automatically converted to text. This feature is especially helpful if you have a long e-mail to write, where the Writing Pad might be too confined an area or the delay in sending text to the document too cumbersome.

To turn on the Write Anywhere feature and use it, follow these steps:

1. Tap the Input Panel icon on the Windows taskbar and choose ToolsðOptions.

   The Options dialog box appears.

2. Tap the Write Anywhere tab to display it (as shown in Figure 12-7).

   
   Figure 12-7: Control how the Write Anywhere feature functions from the Options dialog box.

3. Tap in the check box labeled Show the Turn on Write Anywhere Button on the Title Bar.

4. Tap OK.

   Now a small pen icon appears in the title bar of the Input Panel.

5. Open Outlook and tap in the body of an e-mail or a dialog box Notes field to place your insertion point.

6. Tap the pen icon.

   A writing line appears in the item you opened in Step 5.

7. Write along the line.

   When you pause for a moment, what you wrote is converted to text in the document.

 Remember  You can move the writing line to any location in the document simply by moving your pen up or down on the screen - but you if you want to edit text that's been converted, you can't select and edit it until you turn off the Write Anywhere feature (by tapping the Pen icon again).