A system consisting of a plurality of terminals connected through communication is sometimes used to acquire information input from the terminals to a host terminal and edit/arrange the information in the host terminal when information is exchanged by inputting handwritten characters from the terminals. In this case, the host terminal must recognize the handwritten characters and thereafter process the characters to arrange the handwritten character information. Each terminal can perform character recognition by a unique character recognizing method. The terminals also individually prepare dictionaries for recognition. The host terminal returns the acquired handwritten character information to the terminals and causes the terminals to perform character recognition. Alternatively, the host terminal concentratively manages the character recognizing methods and dictionaries of all the terminals and performs character recognition.