The PalmPilot as Word Processor

Because of its lack of keyboard, the PalmPilot actually makes a fairly lousy word processor. Sure, Graffiti makes brief notes possible. And a few word processing conventions are present: for example, you can drag across text to highlight it (in readiness for cutting, copying, or replacing by “writing over” it).

But otherwise, the PalmPilot’s text programming omits nearly all standard word processor niceties.

Fortunately, shareware fills in some of the holes in the PalmPilot’s text programming. Consider these add-ons, for example, to make your editing life easier. (All of these programs are included with this book and are described more fully in Appendix A.)

SelectHack

Lets you “double-click” a word to highlight the entire word, just as on your Mac or Windows machine. You can even triple-tap to highlight an entire paragraph.

MiddleCaps

Generates a capital letter when you write on the dividing line between the Graffiti writing areas for letters and numbers exactly as when using the Jot alphabet described earlier. You save one penstroke every time you make a capital letter. (Despite the lack of the word Hack in its title, MiddleCaps requires HackMaster to be installed as described in Appendix A.)

DragAndDrop

Lets you edit by dragging highlighted text into new positions, exactly as you can in “real” word processors.

ScreenWrite

Instead of confining your writing in the Graffiti area, this hack lets you write directly on the screen.

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