Any recommendations on tablet and pen?

[VanPelt]

First off, can OneNote handle a tablet and pen for input for those of us who
doesn't have a tablet pc?

If so, which one would the experts recommend? I have seen a Wacom
Graphire3, and that looks pretty good, but is it the best starter one?

 

[Kathy J]

I love my Graphire. But I will warn you that ink created with it in OneNote
will not translate to text. It stays as graphics. That has its advantages
and disadvantages. Since I have a keyboard on my lap anytime I am at my
desktop machine (where the Graphire is), I don't miss the handwriting
recognition. In fact, I have gotten pretty good at typing with the pen in my
mouth or in my hand. (But don't try and take away the pen from me when I am
using the Tablet. There, I use both at the same time.)

Does that help any?

--
Kathryn Jacobs, Microsoft MVP PowerPoint and OneNote
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[VanPelt]

Kathy,

Sounds good. While I'd love to have handwriting recog. I can live without
that. My primary use is to redraw stuff that I draw on the legal pad I
carry around all day, so it gets digitally recorded. Usually these are more
arrows,simple box drawings, and the like.

I guess the Graphire does that job. The only other question I would have is
how portable are one of these things? I'd like to carry it around with my
laptop and would hope that this doesn't add more bulk or doesn't damage the
tablet.....

 

[Erik Sojka]

OneNote can accept input from an external digitizer/pen
setup. I have not used that Wacom tablet so I can't
offer any opinion on that.

Keep in mind that unless you're using ON on a Tablet PC
running Windows XP Tablet Edition you won't be able to
treat the ink from the external tablet as text. Even if
you hand write notes, ON will consider it to be a
picture. Only with the Tablet PC will ON treat the
handwriting as data which can be converted to text,
searched/indexed, etc.

 

[Kathy J]

Don't know how well the thing moves, since mine has stayed on my desk since
I got it. I know people who take them with on trips and things, so they must
be ok to travel with. Doesn't weigh much. I think I would put it in a
protected area of the laptop case though.

--
Kathryn Jacobs, Microsoft MVP PowerPoint and OneNote
Get PowerPoint answers at http://www.powerpointanswers.com
Cook anything outdoors with http://www.outdoorcook.com
Get OneNote answers at http://www.onenoteanswers.com

If this helped you, please take the time to rate the value of this post:
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I believe life is meant to be lived. But:
if we live without making a difference, it makes no difference that we lived

 

[VanPelt]

Erik,

I understand that would be the case. I'm not looking for note translations,
rather a better way to 'draw' things on a given page. Arrows, quick
sketches, etc. Since I'm already at my laptop, I'd rather key in text,
since my typing is much faster than writing anyway.

Everyone thanks for the input. I even got a private message for something
known as Finger System. www.fingersystem.com . Sounds intriguing.

VP

 

[Paul]

I just bought a Graphire3 to see how it would work with OneNote on my laptop. I set it up so that the tablet (and pen) would convert handwriting to text OR leave it as a "picture" (my choice through icons loaded on my menu bar)

See http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/...ing/productdoc/en/input_pen_installing_hw.asp for details on how get ALL Office 2003 products (on Windows XP) to recognize handwriting using a tablet and pen. I'd also suggest you go to the Wacom web site and download the latest drivers. Then, in OneNote, you can always click on Pen icon to have your pen input left as a drawing

The one thing that I dislike about the tablet/pen is that you have to write on the tablet and look to your screen for the results. It really feels a little unnatural not to be looking at what you're writing WHERE you write it. But that would be a problem with all tablet/pens not just the Graphire3. However, my experiences with "transcribing" (using my PDA) have left me a bit jaded. I'm now sure that I'll be moving to a tablet PC

Portability? The Graphire3 has a slot at it's top side in which you can carry the pen. I guess it's put there for portability purposes and would probably work well. The tablet and pen are light enough - and would fit easily in any laptop carry case. It's a USB connection so set up is easy. Oh ya, you can also have your tablet connected at the same time you have a PS2 mouse connected - kinda handy.