Enter text using a handwritten input app and pen on the iPad

If you use a high -performance pen input device such as Apple Pencil, you can write quite detailed letters on your iPad.Handwritten notes and texts can be said to be a big point in using the iPad more familiar.However, if you want to modify the content you wrote later, copy, paste, or search, it would be more convenient to save it as a text instead of handwritten characters.

In such a case, if you use a keyboard that supports handwritten input, you can save the input contents as text while keeping the convenience of handwritten as it is.Therefore, this time, I will introduce the iPados genuine handwritten input function "Scribble" and the third -party handwritten input keyboard "Handwritten keyboard".

Handwritten input function "Scribble" mounted on iPados 14

In iPados 14, released in September 2020, a new feature called "Scribble" was added.If you enable this function while using Apple Pencil, you will be able to use Apple Pencil to input and edit text on text fields in the app instead of keyboards.

However, at the time of writing this article, scribbing is only in English or Chinese, and does not support Japanese input.Scribble is a function dedicated to Apple Pencil, so it cannot be used on a third -party pen input device.

To enable scribbing, open the "Apple Pencil" menu in the configuration app and set the [Scribble] item as shown below.

If you tap [Try Scribble] below, you can try the text input of text using Apple Pencil.When handwriting the alphabet and numbers in the central box, the written characters are recognized and entered as text.

If the scribbing is enabled, you can always handwrite in the text field in the app with Apple Pencil.The following figure shows an example of opening a search page of Google in Safari and inputting it in the search field with Apple Pencil.When the input hand is stopped, the character recognition is automatically performed, and a conversion to a text is performed.The accuracy of character recognition is high, and it is almost accurately recognized even if you fill it out quite roughly.

Scribble handwriting input can be used in the memo app.If the scribble is enabled, the pale of "A" is displayed on the pallet of the memo app as follows.If you select this pen and write letters in a vacant place on the screen, it will be automatically converted into text and entered into the memo.

In addition, the spreadsheet application "Numbers" and the document creation application "Pages" are individually shaped.

The scribble also has a function to edit the texted text in addition to text input using Apple Pencil.With this function, you can operate text selection, deletion, and character binding with Apple Pencil alone without having to use a keyboard.Specifically, it is possible to operate as shown in the following table.

Scribble text input does not support Japanese, but the editing function can be used for Japanese text.Therefore, depending on how you use it, there will be situations where scribbing can be used when writing Japanese sentences.

A third -party app that can be handwritten input

At present, it is necessary to use a third -party app to input Japanese textbooks.There are two representative text input apps that support Japanese.

A handwritten input app equipped with a high -performance handwritten recognition engine "MyScript" and has a reputation for highly accurate character recognition.The input character can be converted to kanji with inline.The conversion uses Mozc, a kanji conversion engine of Google Japanese input.

It is a handwritten input app that has been released since 2011, and has been adopted in other apps such as 7notes.It is characterized by a "cross -writing conversion" that can be correctly converted even if you mix kanji and hiragana, and if you have a difficult kanji, you can write it easily because you can write it with hiragana.It also has a character registration function that allows you to register your own abbreviations.Also, if you sign up for "Mazec Plus" for in -app -in -app -based billing, you will be able to use additional functions such as dictionary synchronization and conversion from katakana to English words.

"Handwritten keyboard" and "Mazec" are both offered as a kind of software keyboard, so they can be used for general purpose, regardless of the target application.Although it is a paid app, it can be said that it is worth more than the amount because the accuracy of character recognition is high and it can be used without stress.In this article, we will introduce the detailed usage of "Handwritten keyboard".

Text input using "handwritten keyboard"

To enable "Handwritten keyboard", you need to register the keyboard from the configuration app after installation.For keyboard registration, proceed to [General] → [Keyboard] → [Keyboard], and tap [Add a new keyboard…] on the screen below.

Then, select "Handwritten" at "Keyboard made by other companies".

There are two types of handwritten keyboards: "English keyboard", which can only be entered in English, and "Japanese keyboard" that supports Japanese input.English keyboards can be entered in English, so if you don't need it, you can only enable Japanese keyboards.

If you press [Complete], "Japanese -handwriting" will be added to the list of keyboards that can be used as follows.

Now you can use a handwritten keyboard as a software keyboard.When the software keyboard is displayed, a long tap the lower left globe mark to select the keyboard as follows.The handwritten keyboard is "Japanese -handwriting" in it.

When the handwritten keyboard is launched, the screen of the software keyboard is as shown in the following figure.The wide blank space in the middle is the input area.The icon in the upper left allows you to switch in Japanese, English input, and numbers input.For example, it is not possible to enter alphabets or numbers with Japanese input selected.

The figure below is an example of handwritten input in Japanese in the notebook application OneNote.While writing, a candidate for text recognition and a kanji conversion candidate will be displayed at the top of the keyboard.The feature of the handwritten keyboard is that it can be performed up to kanji conversion with the same feeling as using a normal software keyboard.

If you want to change the character recognition for each word, tap the pop -up displayed under handwritten characters and select another recognition candidate.Press the [Confirmed] button to confirm the input.

The input of the alphabet is the same as in Japanese, but the numbers are not handwritten, but input in the numeric keypad as shown in the figure below.Tap the icon of the upper left finger to return to the original handwritten keyboard.

In the setting menu, detailed settings such as the number of seconds to the automatic confirmation, the size of the input area, the thickness of the input line, and whether or not Apple Pencil is exclusive.The handwritten keyboard also supports handwritten input by finger, so if your finger hits the screen during the pen input, you may be misunderstood.If you set it only for Apple Pencil, it will literally respond only to Apple Pencil, so it is possible to prevent such misunderstandings.

Interesting functions are character binding.For characters recognized as two individual characters as shown in the following figure, drag one pop -up with a pen and bring it to the other pop -up.It recognizes it again.

In addition, if you paint the top of the character once written with a pen as follows, the character can be deleted.It is convenient because you do not have to do anything to decide and then erase it in the back space.

Handwritten text input makes pen more convenient

When you can input text by hand, the pen input device becomes a more powerful weapon and raises the convenience of the iPad.If you just enter a little text, such as a meeting note, you can do it all with a pen without using a keyboard.If it is a handwritten input, the iPad will quickly change to the strongest memo tool, as it can be quickly filled out even in situations where there is no desk.

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