How to combine textblocks with a pen only?

[Michael Moser]

I would frequently like to combine two adjacent text blocks into one.

The online help describes:
1.. Move the pointer over a paragraph of text in the note container that you want to merge with another.
2.. Hold down SHIFT.
3.. Click the move handle of the first note container, and then drag it over any other note container on the same page.
4.. When the contents of the note containers are merged, release the SHIFT key.
But - using a PEN only and having no keyboard on my slate - I find it *extremely* difficult to press the shift key while dragging something.
Is there some other way to achieve that using a pen only?

Michael

PS.: Seems like another case of not having really thought through the tablet concept. Similar to some hassle I had with misc. BIOS settings that require Shift and Ctrl key combinations to be pressed in a phase when there is no on-screen keyboard available, yet... ||-(

 

[Michael Moser]

And even the process described in help doesn't work as expected!

I tried the merge thing as described (using Shift-key) on a laptop, but dragging a note onto another doesn't really *merge* the notes, it *embedds* it in the other! I.e. the old note is still an individual item in the combined note, i.e. it can still be grabbed and moved around and also back out again.

And worse: if one then wants to merge such a merged note with yet another one then for some odd reason it picks only the first (now embedded) note and inserts it into the target, but not the entire, combined note.

Full of bugs! :-(

Michael

 

[Rainald Taesler]

I would frequently like to combine two adjacent text blocks into one.

The online help describes:
1.. Move the pointer over a paragraph of text in the note container
that you want to merge with another.
2.. Hold down SHIFT.
3.. Click the move handle of the first note container, and then
drag it over any other note container on the same page.
4.. When the contents of the note containers are merged, release
the SHIFT key.

This is correct.
It works this way.

But - using a PEN only and having no keyboard on my slate - I find it
*extremely* difficult to press the shift key while dragging
something.

Nicely said!
Not "difficult" at all. Simply impossible!

As you might have noticed, I am with you on complaining about several
shortcomings of ON's features for using a pen.
Although ON most often is neglected and put into the corner of "a niche
product for TabletPCs" the developers obviously were not fully aware of
the needs to make ON *fully*usable* for TabletPCs and pen and ink usage
..
I seriously complained on the fact that every here and there the pen
users just were forgotten and there were tons of postings of mine in
this very newsgroup (you might have a chance to find some when searching
in Google's archives of this NG) as well as in Connect during the Beta.
This was ways to late for getting the developers to implement
forgotten/neglected features. {siiiiigh}

One of quite many issues is what you describe here.
The "normal" way of combining the contents of two containers - as you
quoted from the Help - is not workable for TabletPC-users working with
a pen.
This does really bother me as on my "hybrid" TabletPC HP tc1100 (the
pioneer model form good old COMPAQ with the detachable keyboard) I
mostly work in the "slate" mode.

Is there some other way to achieve that using a pen only?

I'm using at two workarounds:
a) Sounding rather primitive but easy and efficient:
- Just mark the container to be moved by clicking on it;
- use the "Cut" icon,
- paste the cut stuff into the target container.

b) Use the OnScreenKeyboard (OSK) in addition to ON:
- Open the OSK: All Programs | Accessories | Tools for easier
Usability"
(I'm sorry for my translation, my Windows speaks German);
the OSK will stay resident in top;
- press the "Shift"-key, it will stay activated/pressed (contrary to the
keyboard of the TIP);
- mark the container to be moved and move it with the pen over the
target container.

PS.: Seems like another case of not having really thought through the
tablet concept. Similar to some hassle I had with misc. BIOS settings

that require Shift and Ctrl key combinations to be pressed in a phase
when there is no on-screen keyboard available, yet... ||-(

You seem to have a really strange BIOS!!
On *my* tc1100 the Intel-BIOS-setup is laid out absolutely perfect for
pen usage:
- Startup with a password-/login screen optimized for pen usage;
- "Jog-Dial wheel" for entering the BIOS-setup;
- each and any function/option reachable with the pen.

But at tomes it counts which product from which manufacturer one bought
<bg>
BTW: Which type of TabletPC have you got?

Hope this might help a bit.

Rainald
P.S. Your name certainly sounds as if you were if German origin. Where
are you from?

 

[Rainald Taesler]

And even the process described in help doesn't work as expected!

I tried the merge thing as described (using Shift-key) on a laptop,
but dragging a note onto another doesn't really *merge* the notes, it
*embedds* it in the other! I.e. the old note is still an individual
item in the combined note, i.e. it can still be grabbed and moved
around and also back out again.

That's seriously wrong as far as *containers* are concerned.
Obviously you are ding something wrong.

Merging containers works without any problem as described in the Help.
Shift+dragging pits the *lower* container into the upper one.

The chaotic way I'm working, I have to use that day by day.

And worse: if one then wants to merge such a merged note with yet
another one then for some odd reason it picks only the first (now
embedded) note and inserts it into the target, but not the entire,
combined note.

No!
Totally wrong!!

I have no idea *what* you are doing, but you are dong something wring,
definitely.

Full of bugs! :-(

Definitely in so far not a bug in ON.
Obviously a BSAKB (bug sitting at the keyboard) <gd&rf>

Rainald

 

[Erik Sojka]

It does work, you may need to be careful with how quickly you drag.

Regarding your original question, you can bring up the TIP and tap Shift
and then drag the container(s) to merge.

 

[Michael Moser]

Hi and sorry - haven't looked into this forum for a while...

...

That's not Microsoft's fault <gbg>.

That's absolutely true! And I didn't want to imply that this was MS' fault. Obviously that's the manuf's fault or shortcoming.

BTW: Which type of TabletPC have you got?

Motion computing LE1700. The machine is very nice, esp. the display is the best (or at least the one with the highest resolution I have seen on a tablet so far). I like it a lot for reading (and annotating). The first display on which I read even longer texts on. Probably saved a few trees already... But for any "deeper" management tasks like migrating a running system to a larger hard disk (restructuring the harddisk and its partitions), or e.g. the necessary enabling/disabling of boot devices for that migration they obviously assume, that one has the keyboard that they sell as an optional extension.

P.S. Your name certainly sounds as if you were if German origin. Where are you from?

Not quite. I am an Austrian living in Switzerland.

Cheers,
Michael

 

[Michael Moser]

That's seriously wrong as far as *containers* are concerned.
Obviously you are ding something wrong.

In the meantime I found, that I had grabbed the wrong handle. Moving slowly over the text with the mouse I noticed, that some handles appear very close to each other and when I had tried to do a few "test-merges" on my desktop which *does* have a keyboard and thus a shift key I apparently had always grabbed the handle for a part only and not the entire block. That caused unexpected results and hence my confusion.

Michael

 

[Rainald Taesler]

In the meantime I found, that I had grabbed the wrong handle. Moving
slowly over the text with the mouse I noticed, that some handles
appear very close to each other and when I had tried to do a few
"test-merges" on my desktop which *does* have a keyboard and thus a
shift key I apparently had always grabbed the handle for a part only
and not the entire block. That caused unexpected results and hence my
confusion.

Thanks fro the reply.
I had really been wondering on what you might be doing.

Rainald

 

[Rainald Taesler]

Michael Moser wr :

That's absolutely true! And I didn't want to imply that this was MS'
fault. Obviously that's the manuf's fault or shortcoming.

The situation with my good old HP tc1100 and the Phoenix BIOS used there
is quite good.
Everything available there can be set without a keyboard.

Motion computing LE1700. The machine is very nice, esp. the display
is the best (or at least the one with the highest resolution I have
seen on a tablet so far). I like it a lot for reading (and
annotating). The first display on which I read even longer texts on.
Probably saved a few trees already... But for any "deeper" management
tasks like migrating a running system to a larger hard disk
(restructuring the harddisk and its partitions), or e.g. the
necessary enabling/disabling of boot devices for that migration they
obviously assume, that one has the keyboard that they sell as an
optional extension.

Thanks for the interesting information.
I would like to get a successor for my tc1100 with mire power and speed
but I could not yet find a model that I really would like to have.

Not quite. I am an Austrian living in Switzerland.

Interesting

Grüezi
Rainald

 

[Cliff Allen]

I have finally confirmed the bug that may have initiated this thread.

Turning on the Shift key in the TIP only works when the TIP is docked. When
the TIP is floating, turning on the Shift key (turning it dark) does not
allow the combining of two containers.

I've lost my bookmark of where to report bugs, so I'd appreciate a reminder
so I can post this problem.

 

[Ben M. Schorr - MVP (OneNote)]

http://connect.microsoft.com.

--
-Ben-
Ben M. Schorr, MVP
Roland Schorr & Tower
http://www.rolandschorr.com
http://www.officeforlawyers.com
Author - The Lawyer's Guide to Microsoft Outlook 2007:
http://tinyurl.com/5m3f5q

 

[Rainald Taesler]

I have finally confirmed the bug that may have initiated this thread.

Turning on the Shift key in the TIP only works when the TIP is
docked. When the TIP is floating, turning on the Shift key (turning
it dark) does not allow the combining of two containers.

AFAICS this is no bug.
It's just the normal behaviour of the TIP. The special keys do not stick
when the TIP is not docked.
As posted earlier in this thread, using the OSK might be a viable
alternative.

I've lost my bookmark of where to report bugs, so I'd appreciate a
reminder so I can post this problem.

AFAICS you mean "Connect", the place for submitting suggestions and bug
reports to the developers team:
http://connect.microsoft.com/onenote/

When done, pls drop a note with the URL in here so that we can jump in
and vote for your suggestion.

Rainald