Meanders' Annotator for Microsoft Office

Contents

1. INTRODUCTION
2. WHAT IS NEW IN THIS VERSION
3. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
4. SETUP AND CONFIGURATION
    4.1 Installation Instructions
    4.2 Uninstall Instructions
5. USER'S GUIDE
    5.1 Start and Stop Ink Session
    5.2 Floating Panel
    5.3 Use Floating Panel to Change and Define Ink Properties
    5.4 Writing and Erasing Ink
6. GETTING HELP
7. VERSION HISTORY
8. KNOWN PROBLEMS OR LIMITATIONS
9. REGISTERING THE SOFTWARE

 

1. INTRODUCTION

Welcome! You have chosen a powerful utility that works with Microsoft Office to allow you many new options. It lets you write directly in Microsoft Office (97/2000/XP/2003) documents with its intuitive ink and handwriting support. There are many things you can do, such as:

  • Review, comment on Office documents, draw and annotate tables, charts, diagrams, etc directly with your handwriting inside Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel and Microsoft PowerPoint.

  • Write and sign handwritten messages inside Microsoft Outlook when using Microsoft Word as your e-mail editor.

  • Write anything in any language. Sign a document with a personal touch.

  • Write difficult illustrations with ease, such as musical symbols, molecular formula or structural formula in chemistry, complex mathematical notations or equations, electrical and electronic circuits and so on.

  • Fill forms and questionnaires quickly inside Microsoft Word with digital ink.

  • Take notes intuitively and smoothly for a meeting. Alternate typing and handwriting at your will. Share the notes with others in native Office file formats without compatibility problems.

  • Comment directly on Microsoft Excel worksheets when reviewing data and charts.

  • Prepare handwritten Microsoft PowerPoint slides for clearer and faster illustration.

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2. WHAT IS NEW IN THIS VERSION

  • Refined tablet and pen support for smoother writing.

  • Refined support for point-type ink (eg. dot, ellipsis, i, j, etc).

  • Added eraser by rectangle selection.

  • Added support for flipped eraser (available from some hardware).

  • Added support for simultaneous inking across multiple Office applications.

  • Enhanced user interface for more intuitive control of ink.

  • Fixed ink shifting problem in Word.

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3. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

In order to run the Annotator Pack, your system must meet these specifications:

  • An IBM PC or compatible that meets the minimum hardware requirements for your version of Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Office.

  • Microsoft Windows 9x/Me/NT/2000/XP is installed and configured on your system.

  • Microsoft Office 97/2000/XP/2003 is installed and configured on your system.

  • A mouse or other pointing device. A tablet with pen and eraser function is strongly recommended.

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4. SETUP AND CONFIGURATION

4.1 Installation Instructions

The installation requires the latest version of Windows Installer (MSI). It is the latest Microsoft installation technology and already integrated in Windows Me/2000/XP but also available as upgrade for Win 9x/NT. Newer programs such as Microsoft Office 2000 automatically install Windows Installer so you may already have it installed. This installation package therefore does not include them in order to save the distribution size. If they are not installed on your machine, you can find and download the latest version from Microsoft.

We have also intentionally omitted the inclusion of another huge dependency file in this installation package, namely Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 run-time library (MSVBVM60.DLL, 1.32MB), which is required on your machine but usually installed. If you do not have it yet, you can find and download VBRUN60.exe to install it.

The Annotator Pack installation program ANNOTATE.MSI is a standard Windows Installer package (.msi) file. To install the product, perform the following steps:

  1. Double click on the ANNOTATE.MSI file.

  2. Follow the instructions given by the setup wizard for proper installation of the product.

  3. Note that you need to select "Just me" when being promoted "Install Meanders Annotator for Microsoft Office for yourself, or for anyone who uses this computer" on NT-based machines.

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4.2 Uninstall Instructions

If after installing the Annotator Pack, you find it necessary to remove the software from your computer, perform the following steps:

  1. Go to the Windows Control Panel.

  2. Open the Add/Remove Programs applet from Control Panel.

  3. Select "Meanders Annotator for Microsoft Office" from the list of applications that can be uninstalled by Windows.

  4. Click on the Remove button and follow instructions.

  5. Click Yes or OK to confirm that you want to remove the program.

  6. Click OK when the removal is completed.

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5. USER'S GUIDE

5.1 Start and Stop Ink Session

After successful installation, when opening Microsoft Word, Excel or PowerPoint, you will notice a new toolbar with two buttons.

The first button is to turn on/off the Annotator, the second button "Undo" will undo a previous ink stroke and activate the next ink stroke that can be undo. This complements the direct erasing method by using an eraser from the floating panel (introduced in 5.2) as ink can be erased sequentially.

Clicking on "Ink On" will start a writing session, and the toolbar becomes

You can stop the writing session by pressing "Ink Off".

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5.2 Floating Panel

After "Ink On" is pressed, a floating panel will appear as

Active Profile The name of the active user/application profile is displayed on the caption of the panel.
Pen
  • Select a user-definable pen from a dropdown list (click on the arrow) or
  • Switch to the last selected pen (click on the button).
Highlighter
  • Select a user-definable highlighter from a dropdown list (click on the arrow) or
  • Switch to the last selected highlighter (click on the button).
Eraser
  • Select a type of eraser from a dropdown list (click on the arrow) or
  • Switch to the last selected eraser (click on the button).
Width This is used to adjust the width of ink from a dropdown list (click on the arrow). No effect for clicking on the button itself.
Color This is used to adjust the color of ink from a dropdown list (click on the arrow). No effect for clicking on the button itself.
Profiles This is used to create new user/application profiles or maintain existing user/application profiles. You can create new profiles either for new users or for new scenarios of using certain application.
About/Help This will display the About information of the Annotator, from which you can also access the user's guide and find support information.
Exit This will stop the writing session and is equivalent to pressing "Ink Off" on the Toolbar.

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5.3 Use Floating Panel to Change and Define Ink Properties

Clicking on those buttons with dropdown arrows on the floating panel will expand more choices, as illustrated below. You can select them to change ink properties at runtime during writing, or pre-define ink properties and customize your own dropdown lists. All customizations will be conveniently saved to the current active user/application profile.

Pen

 

Click on "Customise..." to edit pre-defined pens and their respective ink properties.

Important: Whenever there is double click arrow , you can double click on such an item (not the arrow itself but the control besides it) to edit its associated value. For example, besides the list box indicates that you can edit the friendly name of the pen that you will see from the dropdown menu by double clicking inside the list box. Similarly, near the color box indicates that you can select a new color through activating the color selection dialog box by double clicking inside the color box.

 

Highlighter

 

Click on "Customise..." to edit pre-defined highlighters and their respective ink properties.

 
Eraser

 

Width

 

Click on "Customise..." to edit pre-defined width items.

Click on "More Widths..." and you will be able to perform a runtime selection of width, just dragging the slider on the popped up dialog box.

A runtime selection is for quick access to arbitrary widths or any width which is not pre-defined.

 

Color

 

Click on "Customise..." to edit pre-defined colors.

Click on "More Colors..." and you will be able to perform a runtime selection of color, just picking up the desired color from the popped up color selection dialog box.

A runtime selection is for quick access to arbitrary color or any color which is not pre-defined.

 
Profiles

To allow customisation of the floating panel, you need to have a valid user/application profile.

Click on "Add..." to create a new user/application profile, which starts with default settings for the floating panel.

Click on "Remove" to delete an existing user/application profile.

Click on "Copy..." and you can create a new use/application profile, which starts with the settings of the profile being copied.

You can press "Apply" and "OK" to activate a profile. After the profile is activated, you can start your customisation by clicking on the dropdown arrow of a particular tool and click "Customise..." from its menu.

 
About/Help

The popped up dialog box displays the About information of the Annotator, from which you can find product website and support information. You can access the user's guide for help or start your registration of the product.

 

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5.4 Writing and Erasing Ink

The active pen or highlighter during writing or the active eraser during erasing will be reflected from your cursor inside Microsoft Word, Excel or PowerPoint. You can write freely.

Pen Mode

 
Highlighter Mode

 
Eraser Mode

 

 Mode 1: By Rectangle Selection

You can switch to erasing mode by clicking on the eraser tool of the floating panel. Alternatively, you can stay in pen or highlighter mode and just flip over your pen (if your hardware supports eraser tip) as shown.

Erasing by rectangle selection works by selecting an area with a tracking rectangle and every ink stroke that overlaps with the final rectangle will be erased.

You can complement such selection-based erasing by "Undo" button on the toolbar, which is sequence-based.

 

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6. GETTING HELP

Meanders Software is committed to providing reliable, high-quality products that are easy to use. If you have any problem installing or using this product, we want to know about it!

You can contact Meanders Software by mail or from web for fast response.

For news, updates and FAQs, check out

For technical support

In any communication with us regarding a problem with the product, please clearly state the following:

  • The product name and version number.

  • Your name, address, e-mail address and telephone number.

  • Your hardware (esp. the pointing device) and software configuration.

  • A description of the problem, and what you were trying to do when the problem occurred.

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7. VERSION HISTORY
  • v1.1.0 - 16 Jun, 2003
      Added complete support for Office 97.
  • v1.0.0 - 27 May, 2003
      This is the first public release.

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8. KNOWN PROBLEMS OR LIMITATIONS
 

  • Pressure-sensitive drawing is not supported yet.

  • There is a loop problem with Microsoft Excel if you try to switch to another worksheet when the ink is turned on. Try to turn off inking first, switch, then turn it back on.

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9. REGISTERING THE SOFTWARE

This product and its associated files are part of an evaluation package copyrighted by Meanders Software. This software must be registered if it is used beyond the 15 day evaluation period.

If you find it useful, please register. Registering will remove all the reminder screens, give you support for queries and problems, update notices about enhancement and the ability for us to keep the enhancement coming.

  • Single-User License       $25

  • Multi-User License        Open for negotiation

The multi-user license entitles the licensed organization to install multiple copies of the software. Please visit visit the following URLs for the latest information on registration and pricing.

You need provide us information required by the registration, i.e. Name and Serial and you will receive Unlock Code subsequently. The Unlock Code immediately removes all registration reminder screens.


If you have any additional questions or comments, contact us by e-mail at support@themeanders.com or mail_meander@yahoo.com.cn.

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Meanders Software R&D,
Shanghai Rongcheng System Integration Co. Ltd.,
Blk 2, Rm 202, Pudong Software Park,
No. 498 Guo Shoujing Road,
Shanghai, People's Republic of China
 


Ó2002-2003 Meanders Software. All rights reserved. Meanders Software and Meanders' Annotator for Microsoft Office and Annotator
Pack are registered trademarks of Meanders Software. Microsoft and Windows are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. All
other trademarks are the property of their respective holders.