Managing Livescribe Notebooks
Livescribe sells notebooks, journals, sticky notes, and various other paper products for your smartpen. These products are all described generically as Livescribe notebooks.
About Livescribe Dot Paper
To perform its many operations, your smartpen requires Livescribe Dot Paper.
This paper is standard paper with printed microdots on its surface. These dots are nearly invisible to the human eye. However, the smartpen can easily see these dots and uses them to know which page you are writing on and the exact location on that page. The smartpen can even see these dots through the ink you write on your pages.
The microdot pattern on each page is based on technology from Anoto AB. This dot pattern consists of small dots (100 micrometers in diameter) arranged with a spacing of approximately 0.3 mm. The dot pattern overlays an imaginary square grid. The dots are slightly displaced from the grid, with each dot in one of four possible positions, forming the proprietary Anoto dot pattern.
The dot pattern identifies the specific page and locations on the page of the notes you write. Your smartpen uses the dot pattern in a way similar to a geographical positioning system (GPS). But, instead of identifying locations on land, it finds locations on paper and stores your writing as digital ink using those locations. Using this patented dot-positioning system (DPS), the smartpen precisely tracks its own movement on paper. As a result, anything you write - words, numbers or drawings - can be stored, recognized, and intelligently responded to by the smartpen.
The area of the entire Anoto dot pattern is huge, and represents a piece of paper the combined size of Europe and Asia. Livescribe Dot Paper is based on a portion of this dot pattern.
Usage guidelines for Livescribe notebooks
When using a Livescribe Dot Paper product, follow these guidelines.
- Do not start a new notebook without checking whether you are already using one with the same dot pattern (same type and number). If you use two notebooks with the same dot pattern, the smartpen cannot tell the two notebooks apart and will combine the notes and audio. The results will be very confusing.
- If you need to use a new notebook with the same dot pattern as an existing one, first archive the one you have already used. Be aware that archiving cannot be undone. Please read about archiving first.
- When purchasing Livescribe notebooks, buy notebooks that have different numbers than the ones you are currently using.
Archiving notebooks
When you have finished using a Livescribe notebook, you must archive it before using a new Livescribe notebook that has the same type and number.
- Enables you to use a new Livescribe notebook that has the same dot pattern as the one you archived. Livescribe notebooks with the same type and number have the same dot pattern.
- In Echo smartpen:
- Archiving deletes your notes and audio from your smartpen. After archiving a notebook, your smartpen will no longer interact with the pages of that notebook. When you tap notes in the physical pages of your archived notebook, they will not play back any audio.
- Frees up storage space on your smartpen.
- In Livescribe 3/ Aegir/ Symphony:
- Archiving ensures that you can use a new Livescribe notebook that has the same dot pattern as the one that you archived
- Moves your notes to an archived
For more details about how to archive, check the respective software application section in this support portal.
Note: Do not archive a notebook unless you are finished using the physical notebook and are ready to set it aside. After you have archived a notebook, do not go back to its physical notebook and start writing on it again, unless you have unused pages and want to treat them as a part of a new notebook.
For example, you could archive a notebook that is partially completed, and then use the remaining pages as a second notebook. If you are using multiple computers to manage your smartpen data, be sure to archive your notebooks on all of these computers.
About Livescribe Dot Paper Naming
Livescribe identifies a Livescribe Dot Paper product by a type (such as Lined Notebook) and a number (from 1 to 8). Any two Livescribe Dot Paper labeled with the same type and number have the same dot pattern.
Each Livescribe notebook belongs to a group based on its format (lined, unlined, grid...) and form factor (notebook, journal, notepad …).
Livescribe further identifies each notebook with a number. Within a group, Livescribe notebooks labeled with the same number have the same dot pattern. Livescribe notebooks labeled with different numbers have different dot patterns. Currently, numbers in a group run from 1 to 8.
Using Livescribe notebooks with the same names and numbers
If you own two Livescribe notebooks with the same Group and Number (such as two Lined Notebook #3s), follow these guidelines:
- Use only one of the Livescribe notebooks at a time. Do not use the two paper products at the same time.
- Before starting on the second paper product, archive the first one with the software application.
For example, do not use two Lined Notebook 1 paper products at the same time. Instead, use another lined notebook with a different Number, such as a Lined Notebook 2 or Lined Notebook 3.
If you have used all the Numbers in the Lined Notebook group, you may wish to start a second, unused Lined Notebook 1.To do so, archive the first Lined Notebook #1. Then you can use your smartpen on the second Lined Notebook #1.
Livescribe notebooks sold in a pack are from same group. For example, Lined Notebooks come in packs of four (Notebooks 1-4 and 5-8).
When you buy two or more packs of Lined Notebooks, verify that the Numbers on the Notebook covers are different. For example, buy and use Notebooks 1-4 and Notebooks 5-8 before buying another pack of 1-4 or 5-8. If you have purchased two packs with the same numbering, the packs have the same dot pattern. In this case, follow these guidelines:
- Use all the Livescribe notebooks in the first pack before starting on the second pack.
- When you have finished with the first pack, archive each Livescribe notebook from the first pack and then start using the second pack.