Use Notepad for quick phrases

UPDATE: The Grid 1 now has a dedicated 'message mode' for storing and retrieving phrases.  See this article  for more information.

There are sometimes situations where an on-screen keyboard user will want to prepare a number of phrases, questions and sentences as preparation for a conversation.

If these are for a one-off use, an easy way to do this is to write them on different lines in Notepad (or another word processor) and create a grid for selecting and reading phrases.

How it works

This is the grid you will create with these instructions:

To prepare for the conversation, the 'Notepad' cell launches and docks the text editor, and your favorite keyboard is then used to enter the sentences on separate lines.

• To choose a phrases, 'Previous line' and 'Next line' move the cursor up or down and then select the line with the Home key, followed by Shift-End.
• The line is then spoken with the 'Speak selection' cell, which copies the selection to the clipboard with Ctrl-C, and then uses a command to speak the clipboard.

Stage 1: Create the new grid.

Choose an empty cell for the link to the new grid, and right-click on it.

1. Choose the 'Jump...' button and then click on 'New Grid'.
2. Enter a name for the Grid such as 'Phrases'.
3. Choose a picture for the grid for the grid - I chose 'Talk' from the PCS sample pictures provided with the software.
4. Select 1 Row and 5 Columns.
5. Click on 'Ok' to make the grid, and then 'Ok' on the next two windows to make this cell jump to the new grid.

Stage 2: Set up the cells in the new grid

The six cells are created with the following properties.

Notes:

1. 'Quick text entry' and 'AutoFind as you type' are for creating vocabulary cells quickly. For creating other cells such as these it is easier to turn these features off.
2. The decription and prompt (text that appears in the cell) should be set to the text indicated below.
3. The spoken text and type text should be blank unless indicated.
4. The quotation marks should not be included!