1. A computer-readable storage device having computer-executable instructions which, when executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform: receiving digital ink from a user as input to an input panel having user-selectable modes that implement different input functions, the user-selectable modes comprising at least a text input mode and a shape input mode that is different than the text input mode; providing the digital ink to a recognition service that is capable of recognizing the digital ink; receiving a recognition result from the recognition service, the recognition result comprising recognized text or a recognized non-textual shape; in a first instance when the user has placed the input panel into the text input mode before the digital ink is received and the recognition result comprises the recognized text, providing the recognized text to a text processing application; in a second instance when the user has placed the input panel into the shape input mode before the digital ink is received and the recognition result comprises the recognized non-textual shape, providing the recognized non-textual shape to a non-textual shape processing application that is different from the text processing application; and in a third instance when the user has placed the input panel into the shape input mode before the digital ink is received and the recognition result comprises the recognized text, providing the recognized text as a keyword to the non-textual shape processing application to use in a keyword search to locate another non-textual shape that is related to the keyword.