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Palm OS: 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 primary method of data entry on the Palm OS is "Graffiti". Graffiti recognizes characters very well but occasionally you may have trouble remembering how to make a certain punctuation mark or character. There are 2 ways to get help:

1. •Any time you are entering text, tap the small "ABC" in the lower left corner of the writing area  for letters or the small "123" in the lower right corner of the writing area for numbers. A keyboard will be displayed on the screen so you can simply tap the character or punctuation mark you want. Press "Done" at any time to remove the keyboard.
   

2. •To get a list of the Graffiti characters any time you are entering text, drag the stylus from the writing area of the screen to the top of the screen. The Graffiti help screen appears and you can scroll through the list of characters and punctuation marks to see how to correctly draw the character you need.
   

Apart from getting help, with Graffiti 2 you can "tune" certain characters to your writing style to make your entry faster and more accurate:

• Tap Preferences

• Tap Graffiti 2 and change the settings to match your writing style