Tablet+Tips

= Tablet Tips =

[|Calibrating your stylus] [|Using the Snipping Tool on your tablet] [|Getting your cursor under control]

**//Miscellaneous pointers and suggestions for working with your tablet//**
Looking for more? Check out [|OneNote Tips & Tricks].
 * 1) Get used to your pen. A computer screen will probably NEVER feel exactly like paper, and a digital pen will never write exactly like a regular pen, but give it some time to get used to it.
 * 2) Take advantage of your Tablet PCs microphone. Many Tablet PCs have high quality built in microphones compared to standalone desktop microphones you buy at the store.
 * 3) You'll find yourself putting more and more of your life on your Tablet PC. Make sure you back up regularly. Use the SyncToy to transfer and keep your Desktop and My Documents folder in sync with your PC over the network
 * 4) Wedge your tablet. Many of us like a slant while writing. A 3-ring binder works great for this. Just make sure your tablet won't slide off the edge of your desk/table.
 * 5) Tired of misplacing your stylus? Look into an elastic tether or make your own with some elastic cord. You could also consider tethering the pen to a lanyard and wearing it.
 * 6) Battery draining quickly? Check out Battery Conservation Tips.
 * 7) Concerned about using your tablet near liquids? A giant Ziploc may be your friend. Your tablet should recognize your stylus through the plastic.
 * 8) Recalibrate your pen occasionally. If you haven't done so in a while, calibrating your screen in both landscape and portrait is a good way to keep your pen in line with the cursor. Right click the tablet icon in your tray, click properties, and then calibrate the display in each of the two orientations.
 * 9) Using ink when presenting PowerPoints adds impact to your presentations. Just simply use your pen to click the pen icon on the translucent toolbar and ink away on each slide. Or, you can ink before presenting to save time.
 * 10) CLEAN UP STARTUP PROCESSES. Tablets tend to have a LOT more start up processes then a normal laptop. this will slow down boot times, and can get annoying. Do a bit of research and turn off any start up processes that aren't necessary, or that you don't want.
 * 11) Most tablet users want everything just a tap away. To make your applications easy to access, enable the Quick Launch in your taskbar.
 * 12) If you need to ink in other languages, try the Tablet PC Recognizer Pack.
 * 13) Use a graphing calculator? Try http://www.ticalc.org/archives/files/fileinfo/84/8442.html
 * 14) Did you know that TabletFlash, a free flash card program for the Tablet PC, can also record audio? Click on the little microphone icon to record a clip, and the little speaker icon to hear it played back.
 * 15) Understand that your tablet will only work as fast as you take care of it. Make a habit of running virus checks, disk cleanup, and defrag at least once per month. Don't forget to empty the trash and restart daily.
 * 16) The Tablet PC Input Panel likes to interpret "print character L"-s as the numeral "1" (one). To avoid this, write your "L"'s as a cursive "L".
 * 17) For those who have tendency to multitask and get distracted often, you can create a set of windows users. Each user will be associated to a context you use your PC, as example, Study, Class, Entertainment, Work, Research. And set those users only the software and the files you use in that context whiteout share information that are not related or deny Internet connection to those contexts were you need concentration.
 * 18) Put the toolbars for stuff you use often so they're out in the open. View --> Toolbars & select.
 * 19) Customize your pens and highlighters. It’s amazing how much better things can be with customized pens. Choose colors and thicknesses that work for what you do.
 * 20) USE ZOOM. A lot of people find this to be extremely helpful. You can zoom in or out on your page for writing. If you zoom in further, the rule lines will be further apart and you can write larger, and then if you zoom out or print, the writing will be relatively small.
 * 21) Type when it makes sense. Write when it makes sense. If your notes are just for you, write. If you're sharing, you'll probably want to type. Also, some meetings will be better for you when you swivel your screen and are more open to the discussion.
 * 22) The OneNote icon in your taskbar is a great resource and often overlooked. Double clicking it allows a “side note” to come up, that you can jot something down really quick. It saves the note into OneNote so you can access it later. It’s sort of like having a sticky note that’s always available and not likely to get lost.
 * 23) You can draw an imperfect square, circle, or line in Windows Journal and convert it to a perfect geometric shape. Highlight the drawing with the Selection tool, and select Change Shape To under the Actions menu. You can select the circle/ellipse, square, or line for the desired shape.
 * 24) Just because your tablet has handwriting to text conversion capabilities, doesn't mean you should always use them.
 * 25) Create a shortcut for the Snipping Tool 2.0 in your quick-launch bar for easy access to graphs and charts in your notes.
 * 26) When taking notes into OneNote, set the zoom percentage up to 150%. When reviewing notes, revert back to 100% for much clearer, neater hand-writing.
 * 27) A scanner is your best friend. You can scan anything you have in print, even if the digital original is lost.
 * 28) When scanning, scan in as a *.tiff file format. It's a relatively loss-less way to get the best image possible for OCR-ing later in the process. You can down-sample the tiffs later.