Using Windows Journal

Windows Journal Tools

Windows Journal can be used for taking notes and/or making hand drawings on a Tablet PC with the provided stylus pen. The following will document the fundamental tools you will want to use while using Windows Journal to take notes or make drawings. The various tools discussed below can be found on the toolbar inside the Windows Journal application.

The pen is the primary tool that you will use to take notes with Windows Journal. From the pen selection menu, you have two main pen tip types. There is the ball point and the chisel type endings. There is also a marker selection which has a thicker ball point ending. You can also select Pen Settings from the pen menu and customize your pen type to a custom color, thickness, and tip type as show below.

You also have the option of highlighting text in your notes with the highlight pen. From the highlighter selection menu, you can choose from several different highlighter colors and thicknesses. By default, the highlighter pen ending type is chisel, but this can be changed from the Highlighter Settings window. In Highlighter Settings, you can customize the color, thickness, and tip type as you could with the pen as shown below.

You can use the eraser to remove things that you have drawn with the pen or highlighter tools. From the eraser menu, you can change the eraser size and type. By selecting Stroke, you will get an eraser that will allow you to erase a complete pen or highlighter stroke. The other eraser types simply remove parts of a stroke.

You can use the Lasso tool to select a group of pen strokes. Simply select the Lasso tool and draw a circle around those pen strokes you want to select. After you have selected a group of pen strokes, you can drag them to another location on the note page as you normally would.

The Insert/Remove Space tool can be used to either insert a new page below the selected text or increase the height of the current page. To insert a new page, select the Insert/Remove Space tool from the toolbar and drag the cursor across the text which you want moved to a new page. The strokes that will be moved to the new page will appear in grey. Then select the new page option from the dialog box. You can also choose to insert space and increase the page height from this dialog box. This option will shift the selected pen stokes below the inserted space.

Flags can be inserted into your notes as markers for important information that you might like to quickly find. You can also use the find feature to find flags that have been placed in your notes. To use the find feature to lookup flags, go to Edit -> Find, then click on the More button, check the Look for flags box, and click Find.

Exporting A Document to Windows Journal

Exporting a document to Windows Journal can be useful for several reasons. Primarily, you can export any document that you would normally be able to print to a normal printer. You can then use your own handwriting with the Tablet PC pen to annotate that document. For example, you could insert hand drawings electronically into various documents and still have a digital copy versus the printed and drawn on version only. You could also make an outline with blank sections to be filled in later by a group listening to your presentation or lecture.

Open a document to be exported on your Tablet PC.
Go to File->Print (or wherever the Print option might be located in this application) from inside your Document.
Select Journal Note Writer from the Printer Name drop-down menu.
Customize any options that you might like to change as for any other print job.
Click the OK button.
Browse to the location where you want to save the exported Windows Journal file in the Save As window that should appear.
Click Save after browsing to the proper folder.
Your exported document should now automatically be opened inside Windows Journal.