DreamScribe Hints & Tips

Schedule Smart

We have provided some ideas on how to get the most out of DreamScribe. Visit this page regularly for updates. [Jump to tips.]

Hints

Creating a meeting

One of the most common uses for DreamScribe is to create a meeting with someone. Let's walk through how that is done.

Let's say your friend, Evette Oppenheimer, calls and asks to meet you for lunch tomorrow at one.

1.

Switch to DreamScribe. This is easily done with the Menu key.

From the Telephone screen, pressing the Menu key will take you to a new record in DreamScribe.

2.

 The meeting is with Evette, and since she is already in your Contacts database, use the Lookup feature under the Contact option. Select with the joystick to choose Contact.

3.

Press up to choose Lookup. This will bring up the Contacts List - a list of all the contacts stored in your Contacts database.

This view behaves like the Contact's application's list view.

4.

 The Contacts List works like the Contacts database, so you can enter letters which will reduce the list to those contacts containing matching text. So after typing "op" it will show two contacts (in this particular database).

5.

 Then you can press OK to add the contact to the record. (Back cancels out of the Contacts List without adding a contact.)

6.

 Now you need to add the meeting. Press the joystick right to choose Activity.

7.

 Press the joystick in to choose a meeting.

8.

 Now you can choose from a list of predefined types of meeting. Press the joystick up.

9.

There is a separate type list for each type of activity. Each type list can have new types added, and these types are saved for future use.

The types in the list are sorted by frequency of use, so the most frequently used type is at the top, followed by the second most frequently used, and so on. There are a maximum of fifteen types in a list — when a new type is added that makes the number of types more than fifteen, the least popular type is discarded to make way for the new type.

You can now scroll down to Lunch using the joystick and choose Lunch using OK.

10.

Notice that the meeting starts at 7:00PM (the current time) and finishes at 8:00PM (the standard meeting duration is one hour).

You can now change the start time to 1:00PM on the 2nd. Push the joystick left to choose Start.

11.

This is a standard form or dialog. You can use the joystick to navigate around it and the keypad to enter data. Once you have finished, pressing Done will store your changes and return to the Meeting page; if you have made no changes, then Done will just return without changing the record.

If you choose Options, you can choose Delete, which will return without changing the record, or Exit, which will exit the program without saving the record.

Make your changes and choose Done.

12.

 Now that the meeting is at the right time and date, you can add an alarm. Push the joystick down to choose Alarm.

13.

 To enable the alarm, you need to choose "Yes" in the "Has Alarm" line. You can do this just by pushing the joystick left or right.

14.

 Now you can move down and edit the alarm details. For meetings the alarm's details are relative to the meeting start time. Edit the alarm so that it is one hour before. Choose Done to save the changes.

15.

Finished!

Now we can save the record, and save its contents to the Calendar. Choose Options and select Save from the menu.

DreamScribe prompts you for whether you want to save any new or changed Contacts and any new or changed activities.

16.

Choose Yes. You will now be in the Records List.

From the records list you can create a new record, edit any existing records, or delete existing records. (Note that deleting a record only deletes the data out of DreamScribe - it doesn't remove the contacts or activities from Contacts, Calendar, or To-do.)

17.

 So what does the entry look like in the Calendar?

18.

As you can see, the Calendar entry's subject contains the type you chose, along with the chosen contact's name. And you didn't have to type a thing!

You can create Anniversaries and Memos using the same techniques.

 

Tips

Using a "Today View" utility

DreamScribe takes control of the Menu key of your phone, and adds itself into the applications that the Menu key normally cycles through. (The Menu key normally cycles between the Menu application and the Telephone application.) Once DreamScribe is running, briefly pressing the Menu key will cycle through the Menu application, Telephone application, and DreamScribe, then back to the Menu application.

If you are using a Today View style application (such as One2Go, Active Desk, or Handy Day) you may want the application to capture the Menu key instead of DreamScribe. Usually you will be able to quickly access DreamScribe by setting up the Today View application to create a shortcut to DreamScribe, so it is not so important for DreamScribe to capture the Menu key.

You can turn off DreamScribe's capturing of the Menu key simply by going to the Settings screen (from the Options menu in the Records List screen). The last option in Settings is Capture Menu key. If this shows Enabled, then DreamScribe will capture the Menu key and be included in its cycling. If this is Disabled, then DreamScribe will ignore the Menu key, allowing other applications to respond to it.
Note that DreamScribe responds to the changes in settings immediately - you do not have to restart.