Using Tablet PC: Handwriting Recognition 101
Published: May 28, 2003
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Good handwriting recognition is probably the single most important factor in your satisfaction with your Tablet PC. To get great handwriting recognition on a regular basis, you need to understand how handwriting recognition works and how small changes in how you write can reap big rewards in correctly turning your ink into text.
In this column, I'll give you an overview of how handwriting recognition in Windows XP Tablet PC Edition works, provide tips on getting it to work better, and explain how to get the best results from the writing pad in Input Panel.
How Handwriting Recognition Works
The Tablet PC handwriting-recognition system is a neural net. Rather than simply trying to translate ink strokes into letters and words, it uses several information sources to determine your intentions. For example, when you write "ing" on the writing pad, the system looks at its dictionary, how you wrote the word, rules of grammar, other words near the cursor, and more. If the "ing" was written with the cursor immediately after "walk" then you may have meant to add the "ing" to create "walking." If the cursor was immediately after "banana" it would make a different decision because "bananaing" is not a word.
The factors included in the recognition process work together too. In the figure below, my "t" has an extra line where I dragged my pen up to cross it rather than lifting the pen and my "g" looks more like a "y" because I did not close it off. Also, my "d" in "Pad" resembles a cursive "l" or perhaps an "el."
Figure 1
Tablet PC correctly interpreted what I wrote, despite these shortcomings, because it looks at the individual letters and the whole word. Even though my "g" looks like a y," the recognition system correctly understood "Writing" because "Writiny" is not a word. If no word seems close enough to what you wrote, Tablet PC will translate the letters as best it can.
Learn to Recognize Better
The recognition system does not learn your handwriting no matter how long you use it. However, you can learn some simple techniques to greatly improve the system's success in guessing your intentions. Here are my five rules for improving recognition:
| • | Upper and lowercase works better than all capitals. |
| • | Leave space between words. |
| • | Write on the line. |
| • | Use a normal height-to-width ratio, particularly when printing. |
| • | Cursive must be evenly sized, but often works better than printing. |
My normal cursive is so bad that the Tablet PC can't read it, most people can't read it, and often I can't read it. I have to print on my tablet computer.
Get the Most from Input Panel
Handwriting recognition is used in several places on your Tablet PC—for example, all your handwriting in a Windows Journal note is automatically recognized for later searching—but the most common use of handwriting recognition is within Input Panel.
Tablet PC Input Panel is a tool that comes with Windows XP Tablet PC Edition. Using Input Panel, you can enter text into programs and control your computer, enter handwritten text into some Windows-based programs, and dictate text using speech recognition features. If you've used your Tablet PC for more than a few days, you have certainly used Input Panel to enter text.
As a quick reminder, to enter text with the pen, tap the spot in a window where you want to enter text, then open Input Panel to use the writing pad or the on-screen keyboard. Input Panel can be opening using the button on your taskbar or by using the Start Input Panel gesture.
The gesture is a great way to open Input Panel quickly without moving your pen to a different part of the screen. To make the gesture, wave your pen back and forth just above the screen in the pattern shown below or see an animation in Start Tablet PC Input Panel with a Gesture.
Figure 2
The default gesture is a rather large motion, but it can be made smaller using the Tablet and Pen Settings in Control Panel as described in Start Tablet PC Input Panel with a Gesture. With a smaller gesture, quickly wiggling your pen back and forth will open Input Panel without slowing you down.
Note: Undock Input Panel by double-tapping the title bar. An undocked Input Panel appears as a floating window directly under the spot where you gestured, so make the Start Input Panel gesture slightly below the area where you want to enter information or it will cover the place you want text to appear.
Writing Pad Tips
To help you get the most out of the writing pad, follow the tips listed below.
| • | If single words consistently appear as many small words or individual letters, your letters are too far apart. Make them closer together or use cursive handwriting. |
| • | Because the ratio of height-to-width of letters is important, adjust the height of Input Panel so you can write comfortably while still having your capital letters use about 7/8 of the writing area. |
| • | The longer the writing pad area relative to its height, the more words you can fit in before you run out of space.  Figure 3 |
| • | The smaller you write, the closer together your letters should be. It's okay if letters overlap. This is especially important if you reconfigure your writing pad to show two lines instead of one line. |
| • | To create an ampersand (&), you can write the common abbreviation of "E" with a vertical line through it.  Figure 4 |
| • | The writing pad often adds a space on the end of each word, causing problems with some file names, logon names, and passwords. If you're having trouble with something that appears to be correct, try tapping Backspace to remove the last character after text appears. Capitalization errors can cause similar problems. |
| • | If ink does not convert fast enough, select a shorter automatic insertion time in the Options dialog box. To open the Options dialog box: In Input Panel, on the Tools menu, tap Options. Experiment until you see your ink for at least a moment before disappearing, but never wait more than half a second or so for a place to write. |
| • | A two-line pad allows you to fill one line with ink and then continue on the second. By the time the second line is full, the first line should be empty, and you continue writing up there. This back and forth flows quite naturally after a few tries. The option for a two-line pad is on the Writing Pad tab of Input Panel options. |
How to Correct Mistakes
Following the tips above will greatly improve the accuracy of handwriting recognition on your Tablet PC. For other mistakes, a few more tricks will make the corrections go smoother.
The scratch-out gesture allows you to erase ink you just wrote before it leaves the writing pad. A scratch-out must be at least 2.5 lines that intersect the ink you want to erase and is shaped like a flat Z. Scratch-out works more consistently if you don't try to cover the ink you want to erase. Instead, go back and forth over the same line in a very horizontal motion. Whatever ink intersects that line should disappear.
Better Scratch Out
Worse Scratch Out
For more information on working with gestures, see Editing with Gestures.
The quick keys pad, which appears by default to the right of the writing pad, also provides arrow, Backspace, Delete, and Space keys for simple corrections. To correct text, tap next to the mistake to place the cursor and use the Backspace or Delete keys or select the mistake with the pen and rewrite it using the writing pad or the Input Panel keyboard. You may also use a backspace gesture to delete text.
When you enter letters one at a time on the writing pad to correct text, the system knows you are correcting the word and usually won't try to make new words. For better results when correcting single letters, use cursive to create lowercase letters and print for uppercase. The one exception is capital I. Use a cursive for capital I and draw the upper hook and lower horizontal of a 1 (one) to distinguish them from l (el), as shown in the figure below.
Figure 7
Fix Symbols and Punctuation
Entering symbols such as € and + in the writing pad can be very difficult. These symbols usually appear as E and t. The numbers 1 and 0 are also a challenge because they usually come out as the letters l and O. Tapping the Symbols Pad button on the Input Panel title bar opens a palette of commonly used symbols.
The symbols pad closes automatically after you tap a single key, but you may drag the symbols pad off the title bar and keep it available as a floating palette that remains visible until you close it or hide Input Panel.
Preview and Send Text
The text preview pane lets you view and edit text after it's converted from handwriting but before it's inserted into a document.
To view the text preview pane:
1. | Tap the Tools menu on Input Panel. |
2. | Select Text Preview. |
The text preview pane opens above Input Panel. When you write on the writing pad, the interpreted text appears in the text preview pane rather than in a Windows application.
To send the text from the text preview pane into an application, tap once in the application where you want the text to go and then tap the Send Text button in the text preview pane. If text appears in the text preview pane but the Send Text button is grayed out, you probably haven't placed the cursor telling Input Panel where you want the text to go.
Text Preview Pane
The text preview pane also keeps a list of all the text you viewed in the window. If you want to enter the same text several times in a document, you can scroll back through a list of text strings you wrote using the arrow buttons on the right of the text preview pane, find the text you want, and tap Send Text. This applies only to text you wrote with the text preview pane open. Any text you wrote while text preview was hidden is not saved.
Alternate Words List and the Tablet Dictionary
The Tablet PC may not learn your handwriting, but it can learn your vocabulary and add them to its dictionary. In fact, adding words to the dictionary is very helpful for improved handwriting recognition.
Know When to Rely on Handwriting Recognition
Although handwriting recognition is very cool, the savvy Tablet PC user employs all the tools at his or her disposal to get the best results for entering text. Each option has its advantages, disadvantages, and best uses. Handwriting using the writing pad or write anywhere is best for up to a paragraph of text—short e-mail messages, Web addresses based on real words, minor document editing, and many general Windows-based tasks, such as naming new folders, work well using handwriting. See Windows XP Tablet PC Edition Tips for more quick ways to get the most from the handwriting capabilities of your tablet computer.
As you use your Tablet PC, remember to employ the on-screen keyboard, speech input, and a standard keyboard where each is best suited. Of course, tools like Windows Journal and Microsoft Office OneNote 2003 let you use your handwriting without any conversion to text at all.
 | Jeff Van West is the author of over a dozen books, CDs, and training curricula about computers, technology, and aviation.
Titles include Microsoft Tablet PC Quick Reference (Microsoft Press, 2002) and
Illustrator CS Hands-On-Training (Peachpit Press, 2004).
His multimedia training programs are used in North America, Europe, Australia, and Japan. An advocate of what he terms "appropriate technology," Jeff focuses on applying the best solution to accomplish the task, rather than using cool features just because they're there. He can be reached at Van West Communications.
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