Windows Phone Thoughts: Speed Up Text Entry With TapText

DeJa Vu Text, Anyone?
I don't know about you, but there are often times when I'm using my Pocket PC to create emails, reports or spreadsheets where I find myself entering the same text over and over again. There are lots of programs and utilities to help speed up entering those kinds of strings, but TapText accomplishes this with a new little wrinkle. Like other similar utilities, such as DeveloperOne's AccessPanel, it allows you to configure “canned” text so you can quickly plug it in whenever you need it. The great thing about TapText is that its features are accessed by tapping a small icon at the top of your Pocket PC screen; other utilities require you to switch back and forth between input modes, and that can waste a lot of time.

Lots of Customization
TapText allows you to set up your own categories and organize your entries your way. With a little bit of creative thinking, you can come up with a lot of ways to put TapText to work. To customize TapText, all you have to do is select the OPT button on the lower right-hand corner of the drop-down panel.


Figure 1: Building custom categories.

TapText includes several different categories to help organize your entries. Here, though, I’ve created several different categories to organize my entries. I’ve built email signatures and templates, lists of email recipients, common phrases for appointments, date and time stamps, and so on. I might've liked to see a slightly larger selection of icons, because I think graphically, but that's really a very minor complaint.


Figure 2: Editing phrases.

Once you've created all of the categories you want, editing the phrases you want to include is easy; you just type them into the bottom part of the panel. TapText comes pre-loaded with lots of "canned" phrases. Here, for example, is a "Standard Reply" that I can use when responding to emails.

The icons on the right part of the panel are for changing the order of entries, moving them between categories and creating/deleting entries.


Figure 3: More examples.

There really is no limit to the kinds of information you can input using TapText. This screenshot shows some of the various date formats you can use. The types of phrases or text you set up is limited only by your own need and creativity; you can even create entries for things like spreadsheet equations or text you use regularly.