ActiveWords Overview

Now that Buzz has essentially made activewords free to all tablet users (link)[Correction: The free ActiveWords offer expired on 12/31/05. ActiveWords does offer a generous 60-day trial, and the program is WELL worth the money], now’s the time to check it out. I also figured that there would be a lot of new activeword users, and I wanted to help get them up to speed and introduce them to some of the more powerful functions of activewords. More after the jump…

What is ActiveWords?

As Marc Orchant says, activewords is one of those applications that makes your computer smarter. Anything you can accomplish with a keyboard on your computer you can accomplish with activeword.

Additionally, ActiveWords is context insensitive. You can use ActiveWords in any application; you can use it in DOS, on the web, in your word processor, in excel, wherever.

Types of ActiveWords

ActiveWords can accomplish just about any task you can accomplish using the keyboard alone, but faster. Using an activeword you can trigger any number of actions. ActiveWords can really be broken down into 3 main categories

• Substitutions
• Launching and Opening
• Scripting

Substitutions

Substitutions are one of the easiest ways to see AW in action. Essentially a substitution can take any piece of text and insert another in its place. You can use this for names, e-mail addresses, URLs, form emails, etc. I’ve used it very successfully to send out personalized emails to a large number of companies (like MailMerge) I also have things like my Tivo Media Access Key (a 20 digit number) stored so it’s easily recallable when I need it.

Probably the most impressive use of substitutions is the Misspellings Activeword Application. Essentially this inserts over a 1000 misspelled ActiveWords into your wordbase. For example if you are trying to spell "disappear" and you spell it with one "s" AW will automatically correct it for you from dissappear to disappear.

In addition to misspellings, some of the most common typos are also automatically corrected like "teh" becomes "the."

Another good use for substitutions is to replace big words with small activewords. When I was transcribing psychology lectures I had to write the names of mental disorders a lot! So I took the abbreviation for each disorder, like PTSD (posttraumatic stress disorder) and made it an activeword. By adding a confirmation flag to each abbreviation I can control whether I get the abbreviation or the full disorder. If I make one space after the abbreviation I get the abbreviation, if I do two spaces afterwards, I trigger the activeword. I even used it for smaller words that I ended up writing all the time like disorder (dsd).

Finally you can also customize substitutions using the <inputbox> command. When the substitution activeword is triggered, a dialog box pops up allowing you to enter in more information. I used this when doing headers for a newsletter. Activating the activeword would ask me for the date, newsletter #, and title of the newsletter. All the other information that remained constant would then be added.

Launching

You can also use activewords to launch or open just about anything including files, folders, web sites, and programs.

One thing I do each semester is setup a series of activewords for each class. For example, Undergraduate Business Administration 103 - Introduction to Finance, was a class I took last semester. There were a number of things that I wanted easy access to, so I created a set of activewords for it.

• Open the BA103 folder on my computer
• Open the class syllabus
• Open the discussion section syllabus
• E-mail the professor
• E-mail my study group
• Open the discussion leader’s website
• Open the course materials (Catalyst) website

That’s a lot of stuff! I also need to do this for basically every class. So I have a system in place, 103 opens the folder, 103s, opens the syllabus, 103ss is the section syllabus, and so on.

However! You can also map all these functions to the same activeword! When you do that, triggering the 103 activeword brings up this handy menu for you to select from.

You can also use activewords to launch programs and files. One tip from another blogger was to use the file extension, ppt or doc as the activeword to open up the corresponding program. It’s not one that I do personally, but it definitely makes things easy to remember.

Scripting

Scripting is the final way to create an activeword. The activewords scripting is very powerful and pretty easy to use. There are plenty of examples of how to use scripts already within your activewords wordbase.

I’m hoping to do a follow up article with some basic scripting and some scripted activewords. Here’s a script I made to release and renew my IP address:

Just remember, if you can do it with a keyboard, you can do with an activeword!

Using ActiveWords

Using activewords is not particularly difficult. Initially the hard part will be customizing the application to fit your usage pattern, creating words to automate your work, and remembering all the words you create.

As you progress with activewords, you will come to realize the AW is almost entirely transparent in your workflow, and you’ll come to feel seriously hampered when working on a non-AW computer.

Invoking ActiveWords

Invoking an activeword is the action of triggering the action associated with an activeword. There are two kinds of activewords, those with confirmation flags and those without.

If an activeword has a confirmation flag then it will only be activated if you specifically do so. There are a number of ways to do this, which will be covered later.

If an activeword does not have a confirmation flag then the word will be activated regardless as soon as you hit a delimiter keys. The default delimiters are things like space, enter, punctuation marks, etc. These are customizable so if you find activewords activating without your intent, you can change this in the activewords settings.

Depending on the function of the word you will decide whether or not to put a confirmation flag on your activeword.

AWs I have a flag for

• Jargon abbreviations
• Outlook contacts
• Class shortcuts

AWs I don’t have flags for

• Misspelled words
• Some word substitutions
• Some personal abbreviations

The ActionPad

The action pad is my preferred method of invoking activewords. Yes, activewords can be activated anywhere, but sometimes you find that typing into thin-air occasionally causes problems. For example hitting a double space may cause a document to scroll. While the activeword, when invoked, is removed from the text, there are occasionally effects that are not removed. For this reason I use the actionpad.

Invoking the action pad can be done with a number of customizable keys. For me I use double control. Tapping the control button twice brings up the actionpad where I can enter any activeword of my choosing.

Space-Space

In addition the to ActionPad you can also use the double space method. The double space mehtod allows you to activate an activeword by performing two spaces after the word. This will activate any activeword with a confirmation flag (AWs without a confirmation flag would be activated after one space).

This is a great method for using text substitution activewords such as the aforementioned abbreviations for psychology disorders. Use one space for the abbreviations, and two spaces for the full word.

You might run into problems with this method if you still use the archaic method of using two spaces after a period. Yes, it IS archaic, and you should stop doing it.

ActiveWords Key

The ActiveWords key is, by default, F8. Typing an activeword the pressing F8 will activate an activeword. You can customize the key to be about anything, but F8 is a pretty good key as it doesn’t interfere with much. This is good for invoking activewords that launch programs or files.

ActiveWords InkPad

The AW Inkpad is where activewords gets really interesting for the Tablet PC. I’ll talk more about it later.

AW Monitoring Bar

You’ll notice when you first install activewords that you have a bar on the bottom (or top) of your screen. This is the ActiveWords monitoring bar.

Once you get comfortable with activewords you’ll probably remove it from your screen. Real estate on a tablet is definitely at a premium. I’d also recommend downloading the AW Controls application for activewords, which allows you to basically control all ActiveWords’ functions with activewords. Find it here: http://www.activewords.com/downloads/awzips/AWControls.awzip

You can also do an autohide with the AW monitor bar so it only pops up when you mouse near it (like autohiding the start menu).

It’s your choice, but I prefer it gone.

ActiveWords Applications

One of the coolest features of ActiveWords is the community and the developers actively extending it with ActiveWords applications. These are specialized wordbases that make a series of tasks much easier.

You’ve already heard about the misspellings application, but there are many more. You can see all of them here: http://www.activewords.com/applications.html.

Some of the other useful applications are:

• Google
• Outlook
• Inplace
• Contractions
• Hyphenations

Most of these are fairly self explanatory. The google application adds a bunch of activewords for searching with Google. For example if I trigger the activeword "g" then a dialog box pops up allowing me to search google. I can do the same with google images (images), google local (local), and others.

The Outlook application is very robust. The coolest feature is that it allows you to synchronize your Outlook contacts with your activewords.

After you install the application, trigger the AW "settings" Now set up your synch preferences. Now trigger "synchronize" and you’re on your way. In the future you can use "resynchronize" to keep your activewords up to date.

Now finding your contacts is extremely easy. Just type in their first name, last name, or the company they work for. If I type in Microsoft, I get a list of all the people I know from there:

You can also use the Outlook application to search your Outlook. Triggering words like "find inbox" or "find contacts" lets you locate text within various areas of your Outlook.

Inplace allows you to do a number of cool functions with activewords. You can do a timestamp by typing in date, 01/1/2006. You can convert numbers into text by using ntt, 33 - > thirty-three

Also, a very cool feature is that you can do mathematical expressions with the activeword, which saves you the trouble of opening up calculator or using a real one. Just type the expression and follow it with "eval" + the activewords key or a double space. 12/73 = ? .164. Easy as pie.

Again take a look at all the ActiveWords applications here: http://www.activewords.com/applications.html

My Favorite ActiveWords

These are some of my favorite ActiveWords

• IMDB - Triggering imdb opens up a dialog box then I enter whatever and it search IMDB for it. This one is great when I’m watching something on TV and I have to figure out who that actor is or where I know him from.

• book - Opens a dialog box and search whatever I input on Amazon. Great when someone recommends a book and you want to check it out quickly.
• g - Searches google.
• images - Searches google images
• d - Searches dictionary.com for whatever word I input
• buzz - Opens up TabletPCBuzz.com
• tpid - Fills out those comment things on Typepad blogs, name, e-mail, url in one fell swoop.

The InkPad

Finally we have the inkpad. This is the holy grail for tablet users. This allows you to trigger any activeword simply by writing it. The beautiful thing about this is that the recognition is nearly perfect because the recognizer is context-tagged. Essentially this means that the only words that the recognizer will spit out are entries in your wordbase. Cool, eh?

Here’s some pictures of the Inkpad in action:

Closing

I think that covers almost everything you’d need to know about Activewords. If I missed anything leave me a comment or two.

Enjoy a more productive life with ActiveWords!

9 Responses to “ActiveWords Overview”

1. Life On the Wicked Stage: Act 2 Says:
   January 1st, 2006 at 5:57 pm

   Great How-to Review Of ActiveWords

   Trevor Claiborne has posted an excellent how-to review of ActiveWords on The Student Tablet PC site. If you are new to, or considering Activewords check it out. Heck, if you are a longtime user you’ll find something new and of

2. RobiNZ CAD Blog Says:
   January 1st, 2006 at 6:40 pm

   Hooked on ActiveWords

   Trevor Claiborne has posted a great ActiveWords Overview on The Student Tablet PC Blog.

3. Wendy of All Trades Says:
   January 1st, 2006 at 6:41 pm

   Great Article on Activewords

   Trev of the Student Tablet PC has a great article on how to master Activewords. It is a great one. Hopefully…

4. Buzz Bruggeman Says:
   January 1st, 2006 at 10:07 pm

   Hey…

   Our offer expired yesterday!

   Buzz generously offers a FREE copy of ActiveWords to anyone listening to this show so listen carefully to see how to claim your free copy. This is a $50 value and we thank Buzz for his generosity for making this offer to our listeners. PLEASE NOTE- THIS OFFER EXPIRES ON 12/31/2005 so you better hurry!

5. Trevor Claiborne Says:
   January 1st, 2006 at 11:43 pm

   Argh!

   Bad timing! As noted in the corrected article, the free offer is no longer available, but ActiveWords offers a generous 2 month trial so you can really see if AW is something worthwhile to you.

   Furthermore, Buzz has been generous in the past with donating copies of ActiveWords for contests here so you might see a few copies given away sometime in the future, maybe.

6. Robert Burdock Says:
   January 2nd, 2006 at 3:38 am

   Trevor - Thanks for such a comprehensive overview. You’ve shared out a good number of ‘golden nuggets’ there to make all of our AW usage a lot better. Thank you for your time and effort!!

7. Achieve-IT! Says:
   January 2nd, 2006 at 12:31 pm

   ActiveWords Overview

   As I mentioned last year , I am trying Activewords on my PC. So far, it’s proven pretty helpful for replacing commonly used text, getting around Typepad’s busy interface, and navigating to websites and sub-webs I travel to every day.

8. eatasquare Says:
   January 2nd, 2006 at 2:58 pm

   Trevor - I could kiss you! I’ve been looking for an elegant way to bring up all the resources I use for a particular class. It was as simple as mapping them all to the same activeword. Slick! I’m such a happy gal.

9. Phillip Molly Malone Says:
   January 3rd, 2006 at 12:02 am

   thanks for this. I got AW for a while now but haven’t had time to look fully into it to get the most out of it. For this reason I wasn’t seeing the benefit that this was giving me over something like Slickrun that I was using before. I haven’t even read this article properly and I am already seeing places I can use it in my daily activities.

   Molly http://www.mollyzine.com

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