PDA Women / The First Two Weeks With Your New Palm
by John Bowen
If you're a typical new owner of a Palm OS handheld, you've quickly realized that your device is more useful, powerful and user-friendly than you might have expected. During the first week you probably had fun becoming familiar with the basic built-in applications, loaded the desktop software, and began entering contacts, appointments, and reminders. Maybe you're getting a bit more comfortable with Graffiti. You may have even learned some shortcuts contained in the documentation or those found waiting for you in Memo Pad.
Now it's week two and you might be wondering what else you can do with your Palm handheld. To help you along I'd like to share some helpful tips and shortcuts that you may not have discovered yet, as well as some potential uses for your new electronic friend.
Datebook -- The Datebook button gets you into Datebook, but it also has other uses once you're there. Pressing it repeatedly cycles through today's Day, Week, Month, and Agenda Views. If you're looking at another day (or week, or month), pressing the Datebook button will take you back to the Today view. Further, the up and down scroll keys will move you ahead and backwards in time, in all of the Views.
Address Book -- Did you know you can skip quickly to any contact by writing the first letter(s) of the last name in the 'Look Up' space at the bottom left of the screen?
Also, be sure to check out the category function in the Address Book, which lets you organize your contacts into up to 16 different logical groupings.
Another useful Address Book feature to have a look at is Custom Categories, which allows you to create 4 different custom fields such as Birthday, Anniversary, Website across your entire contact list. To modify these fields look under the Options menu for 'Rename Custom Fields'.
Memo Pad -- The Memo Pad is one of your most powerful tools, because you can paste text into it using the Palm Desktop software. Use your mouse to highlight text from an e-mail or from a word processing document, then click on Edit, Copy (or right-click, Copy). Open the Palm Desktop software, open the Memo Pad module, and create a new memo. Paste the text into the memo, and click on Apply to save it.
When you do your next HotSync, the info will appear in your Palm handheld as a memo in Memo Pad. (The first line of the memo becomes its title.) Do this for all sort of non-sensitive information -- e.g. trip reservations (such as that confirmation e-mail from the airline), opening/closing times, auto maintenance records, gift ideas, and all the other things you normally write on slips of paper that you might later misplace.
However, Memo Pad has some limitations. It's like Note Pad in Windows -- it doesn't do fancy formatting (bold, italics, etc.) and each memo has a size limit of 4k. There are a lot of longer documents (and books!) available on the Web in Palm's 'Doc' format (which, confusingly, is not the same as Word for Windows' .doc format). In order to read those, you need a program to read Palm Doc files.
Your handheld may come with one installed (Palm Reader), or there may be one on your installation CD. If not, there are several you can download, ranging from fancy expensive ones to some free simple ones. Perfectly adequate (though bare-bones) free readers include RichReader and CSpotRun.
http://www.palmdigitalmedia.com/readerguide.cgi/toc
http://users.rcn.com/arenamk/RichReader.html
http://www.32768.com/bill/palmos/cspotrun/
If you have long documents of your own that you would like to move to your handheld, you will need to convert them to the Palm Doc (or other Palm-readable) format. If your handheld didn't come with a desktop program to create Palm Doc files, you can find several on the internet. Free document converters include MakeDocW for the PC, MakeDocDD for Mac OS 9, PorDBle for Mac OS X and Pyrite Publisher for Linux.
http://www.cognitiveroot.com/makedoc.htm
http://www.pluto.dti.ne.jp/~yoz/PilotSoft-e.html
http://pordible.ethelthefrog.net/
http://www.pyrite.org/publisher/index.html
To Do List -- You can schedule task reminders for different days by entering the date you want to do something under 'Details' and 'Due Date'. Tap 'Show', and choose 'Show Only Due Items', and your handheld will show you any task that needs completion or is overdue for completion.
Unfortunately, To Do doesn't allow you to schedule repeating tasks or to set audible alarm reminders; but you can upgrade To Do's capabilities by purchasing ToDo PLUS or other third-party enhancements like ReDo.
http://www.handshigh.com/html/todoplus.html
http://www.radiks.net/~rhuebner/redo.html
Look Up -- If you're in Datebook or Memo Pad, you can quickly add a reference to a contact of yours by entering the first letter(s) of the contact's last name, followed by an upward slash (lower left to upper right) then 'L' (for Look Up) in the Graffiti area. For example, in To Do List write 'Call Br/L' and your device will insert the name and phone number of your friend Joe Brown. (If you have more than one contact whose last name begins with Br, your handheld will display those contacts and ask you to choose one.)
Shortcuts -- Don't forget the built-in shortcuts, which are listed in the Prefs application. For example, writing a cursive lower-case 'L' followed by 'me' displays the word 'meeting'. You can also create your own shortcuts for long words, domain names, or other phrases that you need to enter frequently.
Calculator -- Not sure that you entered all the data correctly in the calculation you just performed? Tap the menu icon (in the lower left), then 'Options' and 'Recent Calculations'.
Also, remember that you don't have to use the Calculator's onscreen buttons to enter numbers -- Graffiti works fine too!
Menus -- Don't neglect menus! In most applications menus will open up several options and choices to you. For instance, while you're in the home screen of the applications launcher, you can see a list of your applications, and your available memory, by tapping the menu icon and then 'Info...'
Copy and Paste -- Some users overlook the fact that they can easily copy highlighted text within and between applications by writing an upward slash (lower left to upper right) and tapping the Copy or Cut icon or writing a Graffiti C or X character, then repeating the procedure and tapping on the clipboard icon to paste it with the Paste Icon or a Graffiti P.
Further, you can highlight text in your handheld by dragging the stylus across it or by tapping once for a letter, twice for a word, or three times to select a line. Many things can be copied on the desktop using the standard Windows or Mac procedures for selecting and copying.
Find -- The Find icon is one of your handheld's most powerful features. Include appropriate notes for your contacts, for example, and Find can quickly extract the list of contacts sharing that characteristic (golf, Scouts, church, etc.). You can enter a word or phrase into the 'Find' blank by highlighting it in an application as well as by using Graffiti or the built-in keyboard.
You can optimize your search by remembering that Find starts its search in the application that is currently open. Therefore, if you're searching for a contact contained in your address book, you should open the address book before tapping on the Find icon.
Graffiti Tips -- Remember that an upward stroke straight up the center of the screen (bottom to very top) will bring up the Graffiti cheat sheet by default. You may already know that you'll have better luck writing 'v' if you do it backwards. Other graffiti tips include:
j - straight down then straight right-to-left, no curves;
p- be sure to complete the loop;
y - do a cursive lower-case L upside-down (starting in the upper left)
d - start at the bottom and make a clockwise circle
? - a tap followed by the Graffiti stroke for 't'
3 - make sure the bottom stroke is long
Downloading and Installing Files -- If you haven't yet tried to download and install new programs, you will find that, like most things with the Palm operating system, it's relatively simple. To get programs off the internet you just download the program and save it to disk (generally somewhere on your hard drive such as a folder named 'Downloads'). A few of the more popular places to get Palm OS programs are listed below:
http://software.palm.com/
http://www.palmgear.com/
http://www.versiontracker.com/
http://www.eurocool.com/
http://www.handango.com/
http://www.freewarepalm.com/
These sites have THOUSANDS of programs in their libraries. Many are free, while others have free trial versions that are programmed to function for a few days or weeks. Go to any of these sites, and type a keyword into the software search box, such as "cooking", "football", "Bible," you name it...
To install files you will need to locate the new Palm program or file you've just downloaded onto your hard drive, or from a floppy or CD.
On a PC, use My Computer or Windows Explorer to locate the program and double-click it. On the Mac just double-click any Palm-related file anywhere on your hard drive, CD or floppy. The HotSync application will magically put a copy of the file into the queue to be installed to your handheld at next HotSync. Files suitable for downloading to your handheld will have a .prc (executable program) or .pdb (data or document) extension.
Installing e-Books -- Eventually you'll find yourself putting books on your handheld. Maybe you think you would never read a book on that small screen, but it can be handy when you're stuck waiting somewhere with nothing good to read. Besides, with 320 x 320 pixel, high-res screens becoming more and more common, e-books can actually look pretty good!
You can find a lot of books in Palm Doc format on Palm's website (mentioned above) as well as at MemoWare, which specializes in user contributed reference texts and even many classic texts in the public domain for PDAs:
The most extensive library of commercial e-books books is found at Palm Digital Media:
http://www.palmdigitalmedia.com/
Palm Digital Media (PDM) has all the best sellers available for download. Though these are not free, they are often a bit cheaper than bookstore prices, especially with coupons PDM e-newsletter subscribers receive. There are some older public domain selections available as free downloads.
Their books are in their own unique 'Palm Reader' format which you can only read with their program, Palm Reader. However, you can download this reader for free from their site and as mentioned above, it can also read Palm Doc files . It's quite possible Palm Reader is already on your handheld or on the CD that came with it. You can use the program's Options or Preferences to choose the font size that suits you best, or pick up the Pro version ($10-20) which adds many more hi-res fonts and an integrated dictionary.
http://www.palmdigitalmedia.com/product/reader/browse/pro
Another great site is FictionWise, specializing in short sci-fi stories, though their selection has greatly expanded lately to include novellas and novels and many different genres of books. Since these stories are small, they tend to be less expensive than full commercial e-books and are often available in many different e-book formats.
Conclusion -- Be sure to read your manual and speak to other users to pick up other tips. If your handheld did not come with a detailed 100-page manual, it's probably on your installation CD or can be found downloaded in PDF format from the support section of the Palm website:
http://makeashorterlink.com/?W1B334393
You may also enjoy visiting PalmPower.com and, of course, The Palm Tipsheet, two free on-line magazines for Palm users. If you go to Palm Tipsheets archive of past issues, you can find some nifty tips & tricks in issues 14 and 24:
http://www.palmpower.com/
http://www.palmtipsheet.com/html.texts/tipsht14.html
http://www.palmtipsheet.com/html.texts/tipsht24.html
Finally, if you find you're spending all your time downloading and trying out new programs and e-books, use your handheld's alarm features to remind you to eat, sleep, and go to work! :-)
***
After a career as an economic specialist in the U.S. Foreign Service, John Bowen has been dabbling in finance and technical writing. He can often be found riding his bicycle or playing with his Palm handheld -- but never simultaneously. Contact him at bowenj4@earthlink.net
Originally appeared in Palm Tipsheet 40, March 2003.