Using a Tablet how can I annotate in an Office document?

[zoon24]

I bought a tablet (light pen) that normally has a program that allows
annotations on word forexample (they immediately became like a movable image
figure).. However the program is not available for Vista, they say instead
you can use the option from Word that will allow annotations. I didn't find
this. How can I annotate on Word?

 

[John Hanley]

I use Word 2007 with Vista. In Word 2007, it is Review|Start Inking. I do
not know about earlier editions of Word.

 

[bluespapa]

I was using it with Word 2007 and Tablet XP on both a Wacom enabled tablet
and on a UMPC with a touch screen. I've since updated the touch screen UMPC
to Vista Home Premium, and I have the TABTIP, I have inking in other Office
programs, notably OneNote, but the option on the Review ribbon to Start
Inking is gone, and putting all of the inking buttons on the QAT has them
grayed out, except that I can select a pen color that I can't use.

Any ideas?

It's also the case that whether I use my fingernail, the stylus, or a mouse,
when the cursor is over the TABTIP, it's ink, and the same in OneNote. But
there's no option to start inking in Word.

 

[John Hanley]

Not sure this will help you, but: I notice that if I turn off (by
unplugging the USB connector on) my pen inking device (which in my case is
an AIPTEK Slim graphics tablet), opening a Word document will be without the
Start Inking button and inking commands on the QAT are indeed grayed out.
So, when I plug it back in, the inking stuff is again available. Word 2007
has a different way of working from previous editions; for example, you
don't see the Picture Tools tab until you have actually inserted a picture.
It seems to be the same with Inking; if Word 2007 perceives that you do not
have an inking device, it doesn't bother you with the Start Inking button;
perhaps it does not recognize the mouse as such a device when the tablet is
unplugged? OneNote seems to be different: I can use my mouse to Ink in
OneNote even if my tablet is unplugged. I am still learning, but that is
what I observe so far. I do not have a tablet PC per se, so that may be
different.

 

[bluespapa]

Unfortunately, John, there's no "unplug" with a UMPC. It's hardwired inside
where I can't get to it.

Very frustrating.

Thanks, though.

 

[pixiecat]

I use a Wacom digital art pad, and I tried unplugging it and plugging it back
in, but the Start Inking tab is still greyed out. I've updated to the latest
driver and restarted my computer. Any more ideas? Also, how do I get the
Ink tools/pen tab to show up in my ribbon?

 

[ProfB]

THANK YOU, I spent the last hour looking for this information!!!!

 

[AlexInMI]

I desperately needed to bump up this thread. I'm using Office 2007
Professional Plus on a 2GoPC tablet (XP Home, Intel Atom). I also have no
"Start Inking" button on the Review ribbon in Word. It'll show up in the list
of commands for the Quick Access toolbar, but will be grayed out if I move it
to the toolbar. The stylus itself works fine for other functions, including
the handwriting recognition box.

John, thank you for that information about Word 2007apparently perceiving
that there's no inking device. I'm stumped as to why that happened, and was
wondering if anyone had any ideas. I'm guessing it's a software issue
somewhere (duh), but otherwise I'm at a loss.

This feature was pretty much the only reason for buying this otherwise good
machine. (We have another tablet in which Start Inking works fine, but it
weighs three times as much as this one.) Any help or suggestions would be
immensely appreciated.