The Windows Text Communications Personal Information Manager(tm) may be described as presenting several distinct major features enhancing easy access to your programs and documents on the one hand, and access to and organisation of information on the other. Several specialist features enhance management of your personal information. The WintextCom user interface is unique and innovative, with all major features tying together neatly. The software is useful to users with all levels of technical ability, offering a basically simple set of productivity-enhancing functions with much more advanced capabilities for those who make more elaborate use of the computer.

The most immediately obvious feature is the directory, so called because its original purpose was to store telephone numbers for dialling. The directory is the default startup interface and is displayed when you first run the software after installation. It presents a completely customisable and searchable list of entries with a name, optional description, and action when the entry is clicked or ENTER is pressed while it is highlighted. The possible actions include dialing telephone numbers, sending SMS and e-mail messages, visiting web pages, opening documents and programs, and an advanced capability is to control other application. Extensive inboard editing of the directory is provided, enabling you to insert, add, delete and modify entries, copy, cut, paste, and arrange in paragraphs, but you can also edit the directory with another program of your choice.

Lifting the telephone receiver before automatically dialling a number stored in the directory enables you to take over the call as soon as you hear the ringing tone as if you had manually dialled it on the telephone pad.

The e-mail support is comprehensive, enabling you to create templates and automated messages, and control your membership of mailing lists and groups, even with basic e-mail clients like Outlook Express. You can also set up to use two different e-mail programs if you want to use a more advanced client for the bulk of your mail but use Express for certain traffic to keep it separate, for example.

You can send and receive SMS texts with a mobile 'phone or wireless device connected to your computer. You can send a text to any 'phone number in the directory or dial it, or set up entries that allow you to fill in an SMS from a template, send a message from file, or send an automated text with the contents specified in the directory entry itself. The last-mention ed feature enables you to easily use and manage services provided via SMS, in particular, request your credit balance. A separate WintextCom feature enables you to read your received messages.

Support for the Internet enables you to chose between two web browsers to display a page (useful if you have a personal browser that you prefer to use instead of the system browser for certain pages), and to request the page to be sent to you in an e-mail message. The features of the WintextCom Reader make it possible to easily capture and store information from both web pages and e-mail messages.

In addition to the directory's use as a menu of choices, it can also store complete postal addresses and notes, and be linked to another document such as a database for more advanced usage. Street addresses and contact details can be grouped together in paragraphs, and related contact or other information stored in sub-paragraphs, enabling the directory to serve as an address book. Paragraph information, including individual lines and 'phone numbers, etc., can be printed out, pasted into applications, or just placed on the Windows clipboard. Some integration with the Windows personal address book is provided, including automatic dialling and information retrieval.

The directory is also the platform from which the WintextCom diary and notes features are invoked, and the internal document and reading list features, all of which are special directories. The diary and notes commands can be customised to invoke external applications, so that you can still use the WintextCom commands, in particular, the global commands that invoke these features from any application, but still use your preferred programs for these facilities.

Many features of WintextCom can be invoked with directory entries by "embedding" them in the action field, as well as being available on the drop down menus, toolbar, and/or via accelerator keys. This is an advanced feature that adds considerable versatility to the use of the directory as a launch platform for virtually all of your computer activities. WintextCom can be used as a central platform to your computer, instead of or in addition to the Windows desktop and start menu. The use of embedding can greatly streamline project management and work organisation.

You can quickly store new information in the directory by copying it to the windows clipboard and pressing WindowsKey+V (for paste to directory), or just selecting the information and pressing Control+WindowsKey+C (for copy to directory) will work in many applications. It is also possible to set up keys that will retrieve specific information for storage in the directory. This is a very advanced procedure. Currently, the Application Details key, WindowsKey+F2, will work in certain circumstances to store the sender's name and e-mail address of a message in Outlook Express, or the title and address of a web page in Internet Explorer, but is not yet fully supported. Pressing WindowsKey+ENTER and Control+WindowsKey+ENTER on selected text in a document "executes" it as the action of a directory entry, enabling you to use contact information without having to store it, including sending emails and SMS texts, opening web pages and making 'phonecalls.

Global Accelerator Keystrokes

A major function of WintextCom is that it automatically makes many common Windows and program tasks available by pressing accelerator key combinations at any time while you are working in any application. To minimise the risk of conflict with keystrokes used by other programs, these global accelerators use either of the Windows Logo Keys (start menu keys) as part of the combination. Ordinarily, WintextCom is designed to be permanently running in the background when not being used, so that the directory and other features are only a keystroke or mouse click away. When WintextCom is running, other facilities like your word processor are also only a keystroke away at any time. These global accelerator keystrokes include the following:

Open your word processor: Control+WindowsKey+W.
Start your e-mail: Control+WindowsKey+E, Shift+WindowsKey+E to select recipients of new message from address book.
Start your Internet program at your home page: Control+WindowsKey+H.
Google search: Control+WindowsKey+G.
Quickly print text: Control+WindowsKey+P. Type in the text you want to print ad press Control+ENTER, Escape to cancel.
Diary: Control+WindowsKey+D.
Lists and Notes: Alt+WindowsKey+Space.
WintextCom library of reading material: Control+WindowsKey+O, then chose a file, or Control+WindowsKey+Space for the directory-based list of shortcuts that you have created.
WintextCom File Manager: Control+WindowsKey+X, Control+WindowsKey+R to return to File Manager at last folder, Control+WindowsKey+M to open Windows Explorer in My Documents.
Re-open last document that you opened with File Manager: Control+WindowsKey+Backspace.
Notepad: Control+WindowsKey+N.
Spreadsheet program: Control+WindowsKey+S.
Database program: Control+WindowsKey+B.
Check for received SMS texts, if facility is set up: Control+WindowsKey+F9.

Most of the global accelerators have simpler

keystroke equivalents when WintextCom is the active application, often by dropping the Windows Key. The actions of most of the keystrokes can be customised, so you could refine how your word processor opens, for example, to start in a certain folder. You can change the actions completely, so for example, if you do not use spreadsheets or databases, you can have those commands do something more useful to you, such as start a news reader or books program.

WintextCom Library and Reader

The library and reader features of WintextCom provide a very simple but comprehensive mechanism for storing and accessing material that is intended primarily for reading as opposed to editing or other processing.

The library provides the repository for storing reading material, similar to a folder structure and accessed via a WintextCom feature called Library Manager (Control+WindowsKey+O). You can save documents in the library by whatever means appropriate to a particular situation, but WintextCom offers the Read Document Command, WindowsKey+F9, which can be invoked at any time in any application to retrieve the contents of the current document, web page or e-mail message, and quickly store it in the library for future reading. The Read Document Command, and WindowsKey+F8, which captures the contents of the Windows clipboard or selected text, furnish a generic means of capturing information from programs and saving it in the WintextCom Library or alternative location, independent of the capabilities of those applications. These commands work with Microsoft Internet Explorer and standard Internet windows displaying web pages, The Webbie Text Browser, Outlook Express, Microsoft Outlook, Windows Mail and other e-mail programs to capture messages, word processing applications such as Microsoft Word, and many other types of text application. You can also set up directory entries and other facilities to capture information from a scanner and virtually any data source. You can save the information in a new document, replace an existing document, or append it to existing material. You can also open an existing document of any type with the captured text on the clipboard in order to insert it into that document, be it a text document (.txt), word processor document (.doc), database or any other kind of editable file, making the save in library technique applicable to many other situations in which you want to quickly snap information to another storage location.

Selecting a document with Library Manager opens it in the WintextCom Reader or an alternative reader program of your choice. The WintextCom Reader is a built-in feature of WintextCom, providing simple and comprehensive reading facilities, including:

Automatic bookmarking to enable you to resume reading where you left off at a later stage just by re-opening th document.
User bookmarking of particular locations that you might want to return to.
Click web and E-mail addresses in the text for immediate use when you come across them, as well as being able to dial a 'phone number or send an SMS text to it.
Store webpages, e-mail addresses and 'phone numbers in the directory as you come across them while reading.
Capture contact information or blocks of text to another document or the clipboard.
Displays your position in the document and percentage read at all times.
Directly opening Adobe PDF documents, HTML and XML documents, and Microsoft Word documents will soon be supported, as well as clicking internet links in captured web pages.

You can replace the WintextCom Reader by an external program if you use a reader program that you would like to be invoked when using the library. It is still possible to open a document with the WintextCom Reader, and the information capture capabilities are still available. The actual reading functionality will depend on your preferred program, but WintextCom's ability to retrieve and directly execute selected text in other applications means that immediate usage of contact details and directory storage are also still available.

In addition to browsing the library, WintextCom offers a directory-based list of links to library documents and other files that you want to be able to quickly access, called the reading list. The reading list enables you to organise reading material in groups or a particular order, such as by priority. You can create a reading list link to new information as soon as you have saved it, enabling you to easily capture and organise new material as you work in your e-mail and other situations, with minimal interruption to what you are doing.

Document Features

WintextCom offers several features that streamline the use of documents and make many features easier to access.

The WintextCom File Manager (Control+WindowsKey+X) is similar to Windows Explorer, allowing you to browse around your computer's disks and folders to open documents. It has some additional features, however, such as the ability to open a document in a specified program if it does not have A program associated with it, and the capability to re-open the last folder that you browsed (Control+WindowsKey+R). The WintextCom Reader is available to open a document in File Manager, and you can specify a secondary program to open a document, which can also be used as a reader or to perform a specific operation on the file. Advanced File Manager entries in the directory can be used to provide file listings with multiple file operations available, facilitating administration tasks and project management.

As well as File Manager and the ability to create directory entries that open documents WintextCom offers its own personal workspace. The workspace is similar to the library except that it is designed for working documents such as correspondence and papers, projects, etc. You can automatically create a document in th workspace associated with information in the library, which is especially useful for work involving the gathering and processing of data, or responding to questionnaires, etc.

You can browse th workspace folder structure in File Manager (Alt+WindowsKey+K), or you can create and open documents in the workspace using the WintextCom Documents List (Control+WindowsKey+K). The documents list supports the use of templates, enabling you to set it up so that, for example, if you are using it to write letters, a newly-created document will already have your address filled in at the top, or if you are using a more specific list for correspondence to a particular recipient, each new document has the recipient's address and date filled in as well. you can set up as many documents lists as you need, using different kinds of document and template. By using documents list, you can organise your files in groups or a particular order of your own choosing, such as by priority for work purposes. As with the diary and notes functions, a special feature of WintextCom that automatically adds a time stamp to the name of a new document enables you to create documents with the same name, a capability that can be very useful for applications where it is convenient to keep creating new documents with the same base name, such as a shopping list or letter to the same person.

You can open your word processor at any time and from any application by pressing Control+WindowsKey+W when WintextCom is running in the background, or jut Control+W when it is the active application. This feature is preconfigured, it does not need setting up. However, you can customise it so that your word processor defaults to documents in the WintextCom workspace, for example. Other preconfigured document commands enable you to start your spreadsheet program (Microsoft Excel by default) or database program (Microsoft Access by default), or just a text editor.

Personal Menus

As well as the directory providing a comprehensive and extensible platform for presenting personalised menus, which can be integrated with information such as contact details, WintextCom offers the "personal start menu" feature for smaller, folder-oriented menus. The software also includes a utility program enabling you to set up single-lett3r menus of choices and process user text input with Windows NT script (.cmd files).

The personal start menu is available at all times while you work, from any application, by pressing WindowsKey+F7. It is also referred to as the "F7 menu" because when the directory is active, you can get to it by just pressing F7. Unlike the directory, it is a read-only menu that has to be managed from outside WintextCom, by adding Windows shortcuts to a folder. You can still have WintextCom features on the menu, however, and items that dial numbers and open new e-mails, etc., using WintextCom's versatile command line interface. When you choose an item that needs WintextCom, the currently running instance of WintextCom executes it seamlessly by default, you do not start a new instance of the program unless this is explicitly required.

The F7 menu is a handy feature of WintextCom for providing quick, always-available access to a discrete set of options outside your information system (the directory), which are not likely to need changing very often. It is also an ideal facility for technical support personnel to make programs and features available to their users in a safe, uncluttered environment, just the required options being presented without superfluous choices that can lead the user into difficulty if invoked by accident. WintextCom can be configured to prevent access to the real Windows start menu and desktop, program and context menus, and run in a restricted mode that only allows the user access to appropriate features. You can set up extra personal menus that are accessed from the directory or via other keystrokes, and assign alternative actions to some system keys; in particular, you can use the Windows start menu keys to invoke your own personal start menu.

Daily Usage: Increased Productivity and Efficiency

If you keep a diary, the WintextCom diary will probably become a major application of the software as you conduct your daily work and recreational pursuits. It is available instantly at any time and from any application by pressing Control+WindowsKey+D. It is a directory-based utility where each entry is a diary record - appointment, booking, reminder, or whatever. You arrange the entries as you chose so that entries for a given date come to the top of the diary at the right time. As an entry becomes obsolete, you can either delete it or move it into an archive. Each entry can have a text file or more comprehensive document type associated with it so you can make unlimited notes or maintain associated information. For example, an entry recording the date and time when you are due to make a speech can be linked to the transcript of your speech so that you can access it by left clicking the entry or pressing ENTER when it is highlighted in order to compose the speech and print it out on the day. Additionally, the diary can contain standard directory links, enabling you to set a reminder to contact someone by 'phone on a certain date, for instance, and then just click the entry to make the call when the time comes.

WintextCom offers you a wide range of facilities for managing your information and documents in virtually any context, from just collecting information for a hobby to keeping customer details for your business and working with research data. This is integrated with simple but versatile communications capabilities, for the telephone, e-mail, SMS and interacting with Internet forms. WintextCom support for using the Internet is extensive and may be found especially useful in the following situations:

If you are using a relatively simple e-mail program like Outlook Express, WintextCom adds some extra capabilities like sending preformatted messages from the directory. These features may be particularly useful if you are on mailing lists or use e-mail services and need to frequently send control commands to them such as to temporarily suspend deliveries or change settings.
If you use web services like online shopping and other situations where you need to log in or fill in a form, you can keep the information you need in the directory along with the webpage address, and automatically insert it into the relevant form fields when needed.
You can easily save an entire webpage or e-mail message in the WintextCom Library or other location, including the addresses of all links that they contain, if any, or you can just snap up portions of the text.

WintextCom's support for SMS gives you similarly straightforward control over services that provide information via SMS, as well as sending and receiving personal and business texts. If you want to provide information by SMS yourself, you can compile it in a file and just click a directory entry to send it when ready, or even set up a scheduled task to automatically send out information by SMS or e-mail.

If you handle a lot of data using a word processor, spreadsheet, database or other software, the instant access keystrokes made available by WintextCom will be found invaluable. Other than the directory, WintextCom does not in itself present any particular data processing software, except for just reading. Instead, the WintextCom user interface is designed to enable you to attach whatever software you prefer for any particular purpose, which effectively becomes part of the WintextCom application through the directory and other features, and instantly available in all situations. The directory provides a few special lists for interacting with this software in specific contexts, such as the diary and notes features. The notes capability enables you to easily maintain to-do lists as priorities change, and temporarily store information for future processing; like the diary, each notes item can be linked to a document or just a text file for basic information, and can include stand directory entries to start additional tasks. You can create notes entries with the same name, which is very convenient for repetitively generating memos or reminders for the same person, for example; the current information is the entry nearest the top of the notes list, the rest have either been deleted or moved to archive, but you can use the same name each time you search for the entry or create a new one.

The WintextCom Reader presents a very simple but comprehensive facility for reading information, which you will find applicable to every situation in which you want to just browse through text. For leisure, the reader allows you to just continue reading through text of any length without complication, simply close the file by pressing Escape when you have finished, and when you open it again, carry straight on from where you were. You might like to use the library save features to copy information, articles, stories etc., from sources such as electronic books readers and the Internet if you have not already obtained them in a file format that WintextCom can directly open. For business use and more comprehensive applications, advanced reader features enable you to create a linked document or folder, associated with a library file or folder; this capability lends itself to advanced project management, but can also be a huge productivity aid in simpler situation like responding to a questionnaire. The capability to replace the reader by a program of your choice, but still access the internal reader and use the information capture features, adds an extra powerful dimension to this aspect of WintextCom for those who require even more flexible functionality.

Serial Communications

The serial communications capability of WintextCom is a specialist feature of the software designed to enable two people to communicate over the telephone. Although the facility can be used to connect two computers together for exchanging information via the keyboard, and in other ways, its primary purpose is to facilitate a 'phone conversation between people who cannot use the telephone directly due to hearing or speech impairment. It enables users to talk over the 'phone via their computers, by typing what they want to say on the keyboard and reading what the person at the other end of the line is saying (typing) on the screen. This procedure is called text-to-text communications. It is not necessary for WintextCom to be at both ends of the 'phone line; rather, WintextCom enables a hearing- and/or speech-impaired person to communicate over the 'phone with someone using any device or software that provides this capability.

WintextCom's implementation of text-to-text communications is unparalleled. Using the telephone is fully integrated with all of the other capabilities s of the software, enabling you to:

Send information from the directory over the 'phone to the person you are talking to. This includes contact details, full street addresses and notes.
Send information from the Windows personal address book and other applications.
Store information such as e-mail addresses and 'phone numbers received over the telephone in the directory.
Capture information received over the telephone to a disk file, save it in the library, or copy it to the Windows clipboard.
Immediately use an item such as an e-mail address received over the 'phone. This capability can come in handy once the call has ended and you want to send a message or make another call but do not envisage needing the same information again in the future, so do not want to store it.
As you conduct a 'phone conversation, you can bookmark particular information so that you can return to it later for storing or usage, rather than having to process it when it first arrives over the 'phone.
You can open a file in the WintextCom Reader while connected to the telephone. If you are reading a file and information comes in over the 'phone, the display automatically switches back to the 'phone conversation. This is a useful feature if you are being put on hold for lengthy periods of time, for example, it enables you to get on with some reading without risk of missing when the call resumes. Press Control+Tab to switch back to the opened file. Press Control+0 to open the document at the top of the reading list. Press Control+Shift+0 to open the last document for which the bookmark was saved. Press Control+F8 to open the last-accessed document.

WintextCom provides unique support for visually impaired users with an electronic Braille display. This enables people with combined sight and hearing loss (deafblind people) to communicate over the telephone and to use their Braille display as a means of one-to-one communication with another person typing on the keyboard. WintextCom presents the only application running on Microsoft Windows platforms that provides dedicated support for deafblind people to use the telephone in Braille. The software offers the options of Braille keyboard input instead of standard typing, and grade 1 or 2 Braille instead of computer Braille translation. All of the features for sharing information and reading are fully available to Braille users. In this context, the application can be used as part of Windows or it can be set up to turn the PC into a simple text-to-text telephone, not requiring any knowledge of Windows at all; it does not require special screen reading software to be running separately on the computer with certain types of Braille display, making it a relatively cheap option for providing this facility in some situations, as well as far and away the most effective.

More Information

Use the links below to find more information on the features of WintextCom:

See the next section for an overview of the documentation and information available to you while using this software, which also provides links to information of particular interest to Braille users.

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