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Pocket PC: Data Entry

Do you ever struggle to enter data accurately on your PDA by writing on the screen? In this edition of Tips and Tricks we will cover how to improve your accuracy when entering important data such as customer information by using and customizing the writing recognition capabilities of your PDA.

The Pocket PC has 4 methods of data entry: Block Recognizer, Keyboard, Letter Recognizer, and Transcriber. The Transcriber method recognizes natural handwriting anywhere on the screen. You can print or write cursive. There are several options and settings that can help improve the accuracy of the recognition of your writing:

1. •When the cursor is in an input field and the Transcriber is activated, tap on the left-most icon on the tool bar at the bottom of the screen to get to the Transcriber options.
   

2. •On the Quick Settings tab, select the slant you normally write with or change to landscape mode to give you longer lines (this will not change the orientation of the screen itself).
   

3. •On the Inking tab you can tap on "Match Letter Shapes to your writing" to select common letter shapes that match your writing style to improve accuracy. You can also change the thickness and color of the ink as well as the delay for recognition.
   

4. •On the Advanced tab you can create shortcuts and manage dictionaries. For example, you can create a shortcut "LA" that expands to "Los Angeles", or a shortcut "#T" that expands to the current time. Shortcuts can also be set to run programs.
   

By setting the Transcriber options to your writing style you can dramatically improve your speed and accuracy of data entry and focus on the work at hand - selling cars.