Solved! Interfacing drawing tablet to MS Word

[alessio.lampis]

I study chemistry at university, and I take notes using my computer. I occasionally need to draw chemical formulas, and don't have time to draw them on ChemSketch during the lesson. I was thinking that a drawing tablet could solve my problem. I use MS Word to take notes (latest version). I know I probably cannot transform the chemical formulas I draw directly into a vector formula (if you know of any software that does that please let me know). I am quite confident, though, that I can send the drawing to my computer in real-time and embed them directly into the document. Is that right? Is it possible to insert a drawing directly from a drawing tablet into MS Word? Does the drawing tablet need to have certain specifics, or anyone will do?

 

[Alabalcho]

One of the key developments in Windows 25 years ago, and Office in particular, was OLE - Object Linking and Embedding.
Open your Word, go to Insert menu, and select "Object". Most of these objects is a canvas from another application.

So - go to a Microsoft store, sit in front of a Surface tablet, and play with it. ANother option is to use OneNote as note taker, it has built-in pen support.

 

[alessio.lampis]

One of the key developments in Windows 25 years ago, and Office in particular, was OLE - Object Linking and Embedding.
Open your Word, go to Insert menu, and select "Object". Most of these objects is a canvas from another application.

So - go to a Microsoft store, sit in front of a Surface tablet, and play with it. ANother option is to use OneNote as note taker, it has built-in pen support.

What object should I choose from the unending list to achieve what I need?

 

[Alabalcho]

The list of "Objects" depends on what else you have installed. Explore, you might have to install an app which supports both a pen, and is embeddable.

 

[alessio.lampis]

The list of "Objects" depends on what else you have installed. Explore, you might have to install an app which supports both a pen, and is embeddable.

Could you suggest a specific app in this matter?

 

[Alabalcho]

I already did - OneNote.

 

[alessio.lampis]

I already did - OneNote.

I thought you were suggesting MS OneNote as a MS Word alternative. Alas, I haven't been able to find an object for OneNote in the MS Word object menu. And yes, both Word and OneNote are installed correctly. Any ideas?

 

[Alabalcho]

My point was "use OneNote instead of Word". This is what OneNote is marketed for - as a note taking application.
Keep in mind that there are two versions of OneNote - one that comes with Windows 10 as standard, and another one that comes with some versions of Office 2016.

Edit: Actually, you made me finally get a pen for my Surface, and whenever I open Word 2016, a new menu "Draw" appears, next to "Insert", letting me put whatever scribbles I want there.

 

[alessio.lampis]

My point was "use OneNote instead of Word". This is what OneNote is marketed for - as a note taking application.
Keep in mind that there are two versions of OneNote - one that comes with Windows 10 as standard, and another one that comes with some versions of Office 2016.

Edit: Actually, you made me finally get a pen for my Surface, and whenever I open Word 2016, a new menu "Draw" appears, next to "Insert", letting me put whatever scribbles I want there.

Thanks for the info, I will look for the Draw menu once I actually buy the drawing tablet. Main reason why I don't switch to OneNote is that I've been using MS Word since the 2000 version and I'm kinda lazy to learn how to use OneNote.

 

[Alabalcho]

There's always more than one way to skin a cat - "Insert", "Shapes", "Scribble"
http/www.solveyourtech.com/draw-microsoft-word-2013/

 

[alessio.lampis]

There's always more than one way to skin a cat - "Insert", "Shapes", "Scribble"
http/www.solveyourtech.com/draw-microsoft-word-2013/

I tried that, but the fact that every time you finish one scribble you have to start over to create a new one makes it very hard to sketch chemical structures. Thanks anyway, you have been very helpful!