Answers to Frequently Asked Questions

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General Questions

How can I crop, rotate, or edit images inserted into a document?
To crop or remove portions of an image in Write, use the Free Erase tool.  For more advanced editing, first import the image to a third party editor such as Android Photo Editor and then send to Write when done.

How can I display a cover for each document?
Use the first page of each document for your cover design, and enable "Use first page for thumbnail" in Document List preferences.

What are the units used in the Page Setup dialog?
The units in the Page Setup dialog are (1/150) inch.  Write attempts to detect the DPI of your device's screen so that pages are displayed actual size, but it is possible to force a specific DPI in the Advanced section of Preferences.

How can I sync my files between devices?
Write stores documents as plain files accessible by other applications, so any application that allows the user to specify which folder(s) to sync will work.  On Android, users have reported success with DropSync.  Another option may be FolderSync.  The default folder for Write documents is /sdcard/styluslabs/write

How can I restore the backup zip file created by Write?

Use a file manager such as ES File Explorer to extract the contents of the zip file to /sdcard/styluslabs/write. Then, go to Preferences -> Advanced -> Import existing documents (if using Write Beta, this option is not need - the documents will be found automatically).

Problems opening documents

Even if Write itself were perfect, your documents could be lost due to your device being lost, stolen, or damaged.  Documents can also be become corrupt if your device suddenly loses power.  Therefore, it is absolutely essential to have automated backups of all documents.  The easiest backup method is to sync documents to a cloud storage service, as described above in "How can I sync my files between devices?" 

If Write is unable to open documents, the first thing to do is check the /sdcard/styluslabs/write folder using a file manager app.  If the folder contains .svg files but the .html files are missing or corrupt (for example, have a size of 0), Write Beta (see next section) may be able to open the documents because it has improved handling of damaged documents.  If the folder is empty, or only contains recent documents, a third-party application may have deleted the documents.  Because Write documents are accessible to other applications, backup is easy, but it is also possible for other applications to delete Write documents.  Unfortunately, it may not be possible to recover the lost documents in this case.  If you recently used a "cleaner" application to free up storage space, it may be the culprit.  Please email sup...@styluslabs.com with details of the cleaner application used.  A previous version of a popular cleaner application erroneously deleted Write's documents but was fixed after the issue was reported to the application's developer.

Write Beta
Development versions of Write are released as a separate, more frequently updated application, Write Beta.  Although important documents should always be backed up, it is especially important to have regular backups of documents if using Write Beta.

How can I customize the toolbar on Android?
The easiest way to customize the toolbar on Android is to download a desktop version (Windows, Mac, or Linux) of Write, customize the toolbar there, send the write.xml configuration file to your Android device, and use a text editor on Android to copy the line beginning with
  <string name="toolBars"... '
to the Android configuration file, replacing the previous value.

Where can I find Write's configuration file?

• Windows: %APPDATA%/styluslabs/write.xml
• Mac and Linux: ~/.config/styluslabs/write.xml
• Android: /sdcard/styluslabs/.write.xml

Commonly requested features

Typed text

Many, if not most applications similar to Write support typed text in addition to handwriting.  However, this often results in a more complicated user interface and a neglect of handwriting features.  Instead of aiming to be a general "scrapbooking" application, Write is more narrowly focused on providing unique features for editing and organizing handwriting.  For now, there are no plans to add typed text to Write.

PDF import

Write's unique features are most useful when working with large amounts of handwritten text, as opposed to the short annotations that would be more common when marking up a PDF.   For this reason, and because there are many other applications that support PDF annotation, including Adobe's Reader, PDF import has not been a priority for Write.  That said, support for page background images will be added soon, which will make it possible to import PDFs by converting to images with an external application.

Devices

What stylus is recommended?
If your device did not come with a stylus, it likely does not support an active stylus.  The only option in this case is a capacitive stylus, often sold as an iPad stylus and featuring a large, soft rubber tip.  Although these may be more comfortable to use, they do not work any better than writing with a finger.  The basic limitation is the touchscreen itself, not the stylus, and there is little or no difference in performance between different capacitive stylii.

Which devices are recommended for use with Write?
The overall recommended device for using Write is the Lenovo Thinkpad X1 Yoga.  There are now many Windows/Linux and Android devices with stylus support - those with Wacom or N-trig digitizers are best.

Can Write be used without an active stylus?
Yes, although it will be necessary to write 2 to 4 times larger than normal.  We recommend zooming in rather than changing the page size or ruling.  Be sure the "Pan from edge" option is enabled in Input preferences, as this makes it easy to move the page by dragging in a single touch from the screen edge, eliminating the need to switch between one and two fingers.