Handy Review / Testimonial

[topendediting]

Personally, I like to look at reviews or testimonials before I start using a software. This wasn't an option with Handy, but I did like the look of the website and at the time was desperate to find something with its capabilities. For anyone else looking into Handy, this is my review:

I have been using Handy for three months, and in that time have transitioned to primarily using Handy for the majority of my procedural typing, such as rote client responses, emails, and simple non-technical text. From my handle you will note that I am a professional editor, so let me add this disclaimer - I refrain from using Handy to directly copy-edit client works, however, do use it within the comments. This is where rote responses comes into play.

I am also a poet and creative writer, and have begun using it for poetry, and for some long-form articles. Though I don't currently use it for storytelling, where the intermediate speed of typing aids provides me time to think about future sentences, this is likely to change as I get more used to parsing sentences ahead of time. A caution here: I still need to proofread my work as hyphens are not automatically inserted and there are other punctuation issues. Select words may also need to be corrected, as I just noticed with the parsing, which transcribed as passing. Yes, I am using Handy to type this review.

I have also found Handy to be an extremely useful accessibility aid. I suffer from an illness that sometimes affects my motor function, meaning that while I may think and speak clearly, when I type, my fingers miss the correct keys, creating gobbledygook. So it was that I found Handy, during a particularly severe instance when I also had editing deadlines pressing. It was, if not a life, then certainly a job saver.

As an addendum, the support and development team is well versed in the product they are creating. I have had a couple of issues which have been speedily solved, and have been impressed by the continuing development of the product.

Thus, I highly recommend Handy as an offline transcription tool for use on both Windows and Linux (I don't know about Mac). I have used, or better said, attempted to use, many transcription tools over the years, including high-end models such as Dragon (when I was more financially solvent). This is by far the best, and I look forward to using it many years into the future.