Calligrapher is an extraordinary replacement for the Transcriber handwriting recognition tool that is built into the Windows Mobile/Pocket PC operating system.
One area in which Calligrapher far surpasses Transcriber is in its macro capability:
- It can generate text phrases, such as the by the way phrase shown below. For example, a friend of mine has almost 400 Calligrapher macros. He can take notes faster on his Pocket PC than anyone I have ever seen! He uses it during interviews and meetings and takes notes in great detail, and does so quickly.
- It can even be used to running applications, as shown in my Check Mail macro in the second screenshot, in which multiple actions are performed within one macro.
Here is a snapshot of how one sets up Calligrapher to write the phrase by the way:
And, as noted above, you can launch applications with Calligrapher, too, and you can even simulate stylus taps, as shown in the following example:
To check for mail, I simply write out cm and draw a circle around and my Dell x51v connects to the wireless server and checks for mail (actually, as written, it only connects to the internet and starts the mail application — I still have to tap send and receive to check the mail).
As another illustration of a macro that has multiple actions, here is one I use for Googling when I pick up my 4700 and want to look something up:
//Goo
<#Start>\Windows\IPAQwireless.exe
<#Delay>1000
<#BtnPress>97,169
<#Delay>1000
<#BtnRlse>97,169
<#Delay>4000
<#Start>”iexplore.exe”
<#Delay>1000
<#BtnClick>263,74
<#Delay>1000
<#Type> http://www.google.com/pda/
To invoke this one, I just write goo and circle it and the macro connects to my wireless network, runs Pocket Internet Explorer, and opens the Google search page.
Note that the Check Mail macro uses the built-in mail application, but could easily be rewritten to run FlexMail or any other mail client you have. Similarly, the Google macro could be easily be rewritten to run the Opera browser.
So, as you can see, Calligrapher can be a huge time-saver!
What’s your favorite time-saving tool on your PDA?