of the strokes or marks as handwritten characters. The characters are then input as text, as if from a keyboard.

Different systems switch between the modes (pointing vs. handwriting recognition) by different means, e.g.
* by writing in separate areas of the tablet for pointing mode and for handwriting-recognition mode.
* by pressing a special button on the side of the stylus to change modes.
* by context, such as treating any marks not recognized as text as pointing input.
* by recognizing a special gesture mark.