Create and Use Forms in Journal
Published: October 3, 2003
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Summary
If you need to fill out a form regularly, you can transform it into a document image in Journal and save the resulting note as a template. Then each time you need to fill in the form, a template is ready and waiting for you to use. Just fill out a copy of the template using your tablet pen and then send the form by fax or as an e-mail attachment.
Learn how to change forms into templates in Journal, and then place them on your desktop for easy access.
Creating and Using Forms
In today's workplace, some tasks require you to fill out the same form frequently, copy it, and send it on to others. You might need to fill out an inventory form, a real estate form, or a printing request.
If you want to shorten the process of printing, filling out, photocopying, and then sending forms by regular mail, you can speed things up by saving the forms as templates in Journal, and then sending them by fax or e-mail. When filling out the form, you can even convert your handwriting to text if necessary. To keep a copy for your records, you can save it in a folder on your computer. This not only saves you time, but it saves on paper costs too.
Transferring Forms to Journal
Transferring your form into a template is a two-step process. First, transfer a form to a document image in Journal, and save the document image as a template. Then use a copy of the template each time you need to fill the form out. It's as easy as that.
To create a document image of an existing form and save it as a template
1. | Open the file you want to save as a Journal template. |
2. | On the File menu, tap Print, and then select Journal Note Writer in the Printer Name list. Tap OK. |
3. | In the Save As dialog box, browse to locate the folder in which you want to save the document image. |
4. | In the File name box, enter the name of the new file, and then tap Save. When the new document image is ready, it appears automatically in Journal. |
5. | On the File menu, tap Save As. |
6. | In the Save As dialog box, in the Save as type list, tap Windows Journal Template (*.jtp). |
7. | In the File name box, enter a name for the template, and then tap Save. |
8. | If the Save as Template dialog box appears, specify the save option that you want. |
Notes
| • | You can save templates in any folder. However, if you regularly fill out more than one or two forms, keeping templates in the My Notes folder ensures that they are available in the file list when you tap the New Note from Template command on the File menu. |
| • | Journal allows you to create and then write on an image of a document from a Microsoft Windows–based program or an HTML page from Microsoft Internet Explorer. To create these document images, Journal uses the Journal Note Writer to "print" an image of the original file into Journal. |
Filling Out Your Form
You can write on your form with any Journal inking tool, such as the pen or highlighter, just as you do on any Journal note. But you cannot change the content of the template—just like you couldn't change content on a hard copy of a form. When you're finished, you can save your completed form as you would any other Journal note, and you can even send the note to coworkers through e-mail.
To fill out a form
1. | On the Journal File menu, tap New Note from Template. |
2. | In the Look in list, browse to locate the folder that contains the template that you want to use. |
3. | Tap the name of the template, and then tap Open. |
4. | Fill out the form as you want, converting handwriting to text if necessary. |
5. | On the File menu, tap Save As. |
6. | In the File name box, enter a name for the note, and then tap Save. |
Note
When you save a note based on a template, always be sure to tap the Save As command on the File menu. Otherwise your changes are saved to the original template.
Journal templates have a .jtp extension.
To create a shortcut to a template on the desktop
1. | Tap Start, open My Documents, and then tap My Notes. |
2. | Select the template you want to use. |
3. | Use a right-click equivalent to open the shortcut menu, tap Send To, and then tap Desktop (create shortcut). |
