Editing Keyboard technology (section)

== Alternative text-entering methods ==
[[File:OnBoardKeyboard.png|thumb|On-screen keyboard controlled with the mouse can be used by users with limited mobility.]]
[[Optical character recognition]] (OCR) is preferable to rekeying for converting existing text that is already written down but not in machine-readable format (for example, a [[Linotype machine|Linotype]]-composed book from the 1940s). In other words, to convert the text from an image to editable text (that is, a string of character codes), a person could re-type it, or a computer could look at the image and deduce what each character is. OCR technology has already reached an impressive state (for example, [[Google Book Search]]) and promises more for the future.

[[Speech recognition]] converts speech into machine-readable text (that is, a string of character codes). This technology has also reached an advanced state and is implemented in [[List of speech recognition software|various software products]]. For certain uses (e.g., transcription of medical or legal dictation; journalism; writing essays or novels) speech recognition is starting to replace the keyboard.  However, the lack of privacy when issuing voice commands and dictation makes this kind of input unsuitable for many environments.

[[Pointing device]]s can be used to enter text or characters in contexts where using a physical keyboard would be inappropriate or impossible. These accessories typically present characters on a display, in a layout that provides fast access to the more frequently used characters or character combinations. Popular examples of this kind of input are [[Graffiti (Palm OS)|Graffiti]], [[Dasher (software)|Dasher]] and on-screen [[virtual keyboard]]s.