Teachers and students who use a tablet to prepare their classes, do work or study can find in the applications that digitize the text that is written by hand on their screens a very practical tool in their day to day. These apps can help you transfer your handwritten text into regular typeface. The following apps can automatically recognize and digitize your handwriting.
Handwriting to Text Apps
When attempting to turn handwritten words in a picture into text on an iPhone or iPad or Android, converting handwriting to text has never been more simple with the mobile apps that utilize OCR technology. These apps use a technique similar to OCR - optical character recognition, in English - and consists of detecting which characters have been written by hand to transform them into the desired typeface. A good handwriting to text app can be used for capturing an image and converting the text in it into a digital text file.
Here is the list of the best handwriting to text apps that will convert your handwritten notes or documents into digital text.
- 1. Handwriting To Text Recognizer
- 2. Evernote
- 3. PDF Converter OCR
- 4. GoodNotes 5
- 5. Notes Plus
- 6. Pen to Print
- 7. Notability
- 8. Microsoft OneNote
- 9. PDFelement
- 10. Text Scanner (OCR)
Handwriting To Text Recognizer is an app that can convert scanned handwritten documents into editable, searchable digital text that can be stored on your device or in a cloud service. Handwriting To Text Recognizer allows you to turn handwriting to text on the iPad or iPhone without an Apple pencil.
The app uses optical character recognition (OCR) to extract text from paper documents, like letters, school notes, meeting notes, and grocery lists, allowing those who prefer to write in longhand the freedom to continue.
Features
- Supports different types of writing instruments, including pencils and different colors of ink
- Add photos from mobile or tablet
- Share it via email or copy to clipboard or save to Google Drive
Pros
- Very accurate handwriting recognition, even for messy handwriting
- Free version is sufficient for most users
Cons
- Delayed customer service
Price: Free with in-app purchases
Devices: iPhone, iPad and Android
If we missed any of the Best Handwriting to Text Apps, tell us about them!
Evernote is an app that allows you to capture all your handwritten ideas and notes while automatically converting the text into a searchable format. Evernote uses OCR (optical character recognition) to recognize the typed or handwritten text in images or scanned PDF documents that are added into Evernote notes and make the text (such as words, letters and numbers) searchable. Evernote's OCR system can index 28 typewritten languages and 11 handwritten languages.
Features
- Packed with several advanced features such as OCR, team management, document scanning
- Advanced search modifiers and syntax make its search capabilities more powerful and flexible.
- Can integrate with many tools such as Google Drive, Outlook, etc.
Pros
- Easily annotate images and PDFs with drawings, texts, etc.
- Identify multiple languages
Cons
- Can't export OCRed text to any format
- OCRing on PDFs can be tricky
Price: Freemium (Basic version is free, premium version costs $7.99/month)
Devices: iOS, Android, Windows, Mac, Web app
Cisdem PDF Converter OCR will try its best to retain texts, images, tables elements and keep the original formatting, layouts as accurately as possible. Cisdem PDF Converter OCR cannot only batch process scanned PDF and image files fastly by enabling the OCR feature, but also allow fine-tuning OCR applied areas by manually marking texts, images and tables for more accurate recognition.
Features
- Cutting-edge OCR technology
- OCR PDFs or images to be searchable PDF or editable
Pros
- Perform OCR on scanned PDFs, JPG, PNG, TIFF, BMP and SVG
- Recognize multiple languages
- Batch converting mode
Cons
- Not available on iOS or Android
- Mac and Windows versions support different input and output formats
Devices: Windows, Mac
Price: Based on Individual License
If you are looking for a powerful app with handwriting recognition, try the updated GoodNotes for creating searchable notebooks and documents. GoodNotes is a powerful tool for students and business professionals to capture handwritten notes and compile detailed documents.
It is perfect for drawing and illustrating, and it can even convert your handwritten notes into digital text. GoodNotes also has a built-in search engine, so you can easily find the information you need, whether it's in your handwritten notes or in digital documents.
You can search your handwriting to find exactly the notes you need.
Features
- You can quickly access any of your shared documents or bookmarked documents
- Integrate PDFs, Powerpoint or eBooks
Pros
- Recognize multiple languages
- Handwriting search is quite accurate
Cons
- Indexing the pages to use the search feature
- Generative AI that trains using your notes
Devices: iPad, iPhone, Mac. Beta version for Android and Windows.
Price: Limited free plan available; $8.99, one-time purchase
Notes Plus is a great app if you want to quickly convert handwriting to text, record audio notes, and annotate documents. Notes Plus is a gesture-based writing app for iPhone and iPad that supports more than 50 languages and delivers fluid handwriting capabilities.
In addition, it facilitates the integration of photos directly from the gallery or the camera in the documents that are being edited. This handy tool lets you record audio, hand-write notes, insert images, and import or export your notes.
Features
- Converts handwritten notes to digital documents in .doc and PDF formats
- Compatible with iOS devices and Apple Pencil
- Has a built-in browser for quick research
- Supports left-handed writers
Pros
- Versatile tool for note-taking, writing, drawing and annotating
- Allows users to annotate PDF and DOC documents
Cons
- Only available on iOS devices
- May require some practice to get used to handwriting recognition
Devices: iPhone, iPad
Price: $9.99
Pen to Print is another specalised handwriting to text app that can recognize different types of handwriting, such as block letters, cursive, and regular script. This makes it a versatile tool for scanning and converting a variety of handwritten documents, such as letters, recipes, study notes, and diaries.
The tool allows you to scan school notes, diaries, recipes, meeting minutes, and other handwritten documents. If you are looking for a reliable and affordable handwriting to text app, Pen to Print is a great option.
Features
- Handwriting recognition system works with block letters, cursive and script.
- Export to any word processor or note-organizing app
- Offer an API service for businesses and individuals
Pros
- Fast and pretty accurate
- Intuitive interface
Cons
- Export and share require a premium subscription
- Quite expensive
Devices: iPhone, iPad, Android
Price: Free with in-app purchases
Notability is a perfect iPhone and iPad app for converting handwriting to text. Notability uses optical character recognition (OCR) to read your handwriting and will offer your handwritten notes in search results if you search for written phrases. You can also use the search function to find your notes, which features handwriting recognition in the full version, to locate items.
Features
- Offers versatility for information capture by supporting a range of input techniques, such as typing, handwriting, and sketching
- Offers exceptional note-taking & sharing flexibility
- Personal customization options, and the robust document editing capabilities
Pros
- Seamlessly sync across different iOS devices
- Easy cloud storage integration
Cons
- Search function is limited
- Only available on iOS devices
Devices: iOS, Mac
Price: Free plan available; $12.99 per year for the premium plan
Microsoft OneNote is a powerful handwriting recognition app for iPad and iPhone. It allows you to take handwritten notes, which are then converted to text. OneNote is part of the Microsoft Office suite, and it also allows you to create drawings, diagrams, and illustrations. Your digital notes are stored in the cloud, so you can access them from anywhere.
Features
- OneNote OCR supports PDF, image file and handwritten files
- Allows users to search for specific text within a document
- Offers the ability to protect important sections within a notebook with passwords
Pros
- Available on all platforms, including MacOS, Windows, iOS, Android, even online free
- User interface is easy to use & works amazingly well in split-screen mode
Cons
- Extremely vulnerable to crashes and data loss
- Only available on iOS devices
Devices: iPhone, iPad, Android
Price: Freemium (Basic version is free, premium version costs $6.99/month)
PDFElement is a powerful PDF editor and converter that also has a built-in handwriting recognition (OCR) feature. This means that you can use PDFElement to convert scanned PDF files containing handwritten text into editable or searchable text.
Features
- Easily edit text and tables in pdf documents
- Function to highlight sentences and search keywords in articles
- Batch convert handwriting text with OCR to make them searchable and extract data
Pros
- High quality and accuracy
- Recognize 20+ languages
Cons
- Some of the editing features aren't intuitive and/or easy to access/figure out how to use
Devices: iPhone, iPad, Android, Windows, macOS
Price: Free with in-app purchases
10. Text Scanner (OCR)
(iPhone, iPad)
Text Scanner is an app that translates handwriting into text using OCR in few seconds.
Features
- Crop images before OCR
- Save scan history
Pros
- Fast and accurate
- Recognize more than 30+ languages
Cons
- Too may ads
Devices: iOS
Price: Free with in-app purchases (to remove ads)
Thanks to the high-power computational power that today's mobile devices and desktop computers harness, handwriting to text apps can help digitize a person's unique handwriting style.
If you’re looking for a document scanner app with built-in handwriting text recognition features, we’d suggest the PDF scanner app. If it is a note-taking app you’re looking for, then you could try Noteplus, Nebo, or Penultimate.
How to convert handwritten notes to text?
By utilizing app using OCR technology, you have the ability to transform your handwritten notes into digital text. The simplest approach to accomplish this is by employing sophisticated OCR app such as Handwriting to Print. With Handwriting to Print, you can effortlessly convert handwritten text into digital format by capturing images of your handwritten notes and uploading them onto the OCR platform, allowing for seamless text extraction from images.
Can you convert handwriting to text?
Certainly, it is possible to transform handwriting into text using online OCR apps or OCR mobile applications. These OCR software solutions have the capability to identify the text within handwritten notes and convert them into editable digital text format. Notable examples of such applications include PenToPrint, Notability, GoodNotes, OneNote and so on.
Is there an app for iPad that converts handwriting to text?
Notability converts your handwriting to text directly on your iPad, so your writing stays private. It is easy to convert your handwritten text and equations to hi-res images.
Is there an app for iPhone that converts handwriting to text?
Pen to Print converts your handwriting to text directly on your iPhone. You can then using the digital text for editing, searching and storage on any platform.
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