Integration Spotlight: ritePen Pro

March 25th, 2009

ritepen

Did you know that Evernote has a sister company that only works on digital ink and handwriting recognition products for pen-enabled devices? They’re called Ritescript, and they just released a major new version of their ritePen Pro 3.1 software. If you use Evernote for Windows and have a pen tablet or tablet PC, then ritePen might completely change the way you use your computer; and they’re offering a big discount for Evernote users!

In their own words

ritePen is an advanced handwriting recognition software for Microsoft Windows-based pen-enabled computers. Users of ritePen can write anywhere on their screen or other input surface and have their handwriting instantly converted to text for use in any Windows application, including Word, Excel, Outlook, and numerous others.

ritePen + Evernote

ritePen turns your entire screen into a canvas, so your writing is never constrained. You can jot notes, grab and annotate screen content, even launch applications, all without ever reaching for a mouse. The best part is how well it works with Evernote.

Feature: Handwriting recognition

There seems to be an inverse relationship between time spent at a computer and clarity of my handwriting. Luckily, ritePen can deal with whatever you throw at it. Whether you have your third grade teacher’s perfect penmanship or something more akin to a monkey doctor (either interpretation), ritePen will recognize it and place the text right where you need it regardless of where on the screen you write.

Feature: Annotation

See something interesting on the web? Quickly annotate what you like using ritePen’s markup tool, then click the Send to Evernote button to send the image directly into Evernote on your desktop. Since ritePen is designed to be an extension of natural handwriting, you won’t find any bounding boxes or region selection options. Instead, ritePen automatically creates an invisible box around the area that you annotate, so you get only what you want. If you want to capture a larger area, simply draw four dots around the area you wish to capture and ritePen does the rest.

Feature: Macros

ritePen allows you to assign handwritten shortcuts, which perform predefined actions. For example, you can assign a circled “w” to launch Wikipedia or have a circled “en” open up a blank note in Evernote. Does it get any simpler than that?

Feature: Smart Navigation

When you’re working with a pen computer, nothing breaks your productive groove faster than having to switch your brain from “now I’m writing some text” to “now I’m navigating around the system.” With ritePen, you don’t have to think about it. When you move your pen in ritePen, it automagically figures out whether you meant to write text, grab a scrollbar, click a button, resize a window, or fire off a macro. Pen navigation becomes almost invisible, and you can concentrate on the work at hand!

Get 40% OFF

For a limited time, Evernote users get ritePen Pro 3.1 for 40% OFF the regular price. Hurry, this offer won’t last. To purchase, go to the purchase page, select ritePen Pro 3.1, and enter the following coupon code during checkout: ritePenPro31En3Special