Top 9 Handwriting to Text Converters in 2024

Even in the digital age, many of us are comfortable jotting ideas using pen and paper. But what if you need to convert these handwritten notes to text that can be edited later? Manually writing it down is okay if you have a short note, but if you find yourselves doing it frequently, it’s time to use a handwriting to text converter.

Handwriting to text converter tools use OCR technology to convert handwritten documents into editable text within seconds. Making it easier to organize and share your ideas. Handwriting to text converter tools can save you time and effort while opening up new possibilities for collaborating on ideas.

In this blog, we'll explore the different handwriting to text tools and how you can use them to streamline your workflow and enhance your productivity.

Convert complex handwritten notes to text format instantly using Image to Text converter. Try it for free.

Why use OCR to convert handwritten notes to text?

Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology interprets and recognizes text from images and scanned documents. OCR can convert any information stored in digital documents into machine-readable and editable data. These images may contain handwritten notes that the OCR software can convert into machine-readable text. Hard copies and paper documents can thus be converted into computer-readable file formats suitable for further editing or data processing.

When implemented along with AI, OCR technology can be used for even more advanced methods of Intelligent Character Recognition (ICR), such as identifying different languages or even handwriting styles.

By eliminating manual data entry, OCR helps save time, reduce errors, and lower costs.

Top 9 Handwriting to Text Converter Software

1. Nanonets

Nanonets is an AI-based document processing software that can recognize handwritten text in over 40+ languages. Nanonets uses advanced OCR technology to convert handwritten documents into text format. Just feed any unstructured handwritten document into OCR API and immediately see the results. You can also automate handwriting to text conversion using no-code workflows.

Besides handwriting to text conversion, Nanonets can also automate all manual data entry processes. You can automate data extraction, document processing, and verification processes to improve efficiency.

Nanonets is trusted by 500+ enterprises and over 30,000+ people worldwide to extract text from images.

Pros

• Easy to use
• Free plans
• Modern User Interface - Intuitive interface
• No code platform
• 5000+ integrations
• 24x7 support for everyone
• Professional OCR services
• Auto-import files from email, cloud storage, and other business systems

Cons

• Does not export in docx format

2. Microsoft OneNote

Microsoft OneNote is one of the best apps for recognizing, digitizing, and converting handwritten notes to text, and it works with all devices. This app uses excellent OCR technology and provides plenty of features for smooth functioning to convert handwritten notes to text. This app's OCR technology is very simple and helps you use your precious time and energy dealing with other worlds while leaving the task of converting handwritten notes to text to the app itself.

Pros:

• It helps to organize notes in a simple and segmented way
• It tags the handwritten notes that need to be addressed or reviewed
• Sharing and collaborating notes with team members

Cons:

• Difficult to integrate with other external platforms
• There is a lack of elements that could be included in the notes
• Lack of advanced features like embeds, linking, complete page elements, etc.
• Need of free space storage
• The UI can be enhanced a little better.

3. Office Lens

Office Lens, developed by Microsoft, works only for android devices. This app is integrated with the Office suite apps.

Office Lens can convert handwriting to text using images from a camera. This handwriting recognition app is easy to use. The handwriting to text conversion is smooth and intuitive. It is also free of cost, so there is no need to worry about ads.

Pros:

• Easy to scan any type of image
• You can save the files or convert them into PDF or Word.
• User-friendly UI.

Cons:

• Need to save the documents first.
• It is difficult to attach the file without copying it to Acrobat.
• Limited editing options are available.

4. PhotoScan

Photoscan app is available for Windows and is free of cost. It helps to convert handwriting to text. It can also convert handwritten text into files and documents. It has many features, such as a QR Code Scanner, barcode scanner, etc. It also enables users to use the camera of a PC for quick text recognition.

Pros:

• Easy to use
• Excellent search functionality feature
• Simple yet attractive interface

Cons:

• It does not enable changing text format.
• Not able to undo changes.
• No notifications are sent when tasks are added.
• It should contain more formatting options.

Need to convert multiple scanned documents to text? Schedule a demo with our automation experts to learn how to optimize your processes with the help of Nanonets OCR software.

5. Adobe Scan

Adobe Scan OCR app on the Android platform. It is used to convert handwriting to text using OCR technology. This app is easy to use and is one of the most famous apps that helps scan documents and store them on the device.

It is used to convert handwriting to text that is editable through the click of a button.

Pros:

• It helps to combine several PDFs into one document.
• Enables sending documents securely
• Scaling documents for easier viewing.

Cons:

• The fonts do not match while editing.
• Formatting issues
• While converting the text from Word, it often needs to improve its formatting.
• There are layout issues while creating documents.

6. Google Docs

Google provides multiple tools that can help convert handwritten notes to text. Using Google Drive and Google Docs, one can easily convert handwritten text stored in PDF to text format in Google Docs.

A scanned PDF containing handwritten notes can be easily converted to editable text with Google Docs. Upload the file to Google Drive, right-click on the file, and select Open With > Google Docs. This will open the PDF file with handwriting in editable form on Google Docs.

Pros:

• It is compatible with all devices.
• Requires no space on a desktop or mobile device.

Cons:

• Cannot customize handwriting to text conversion requirements.
• Limited editing options.
• Formatting issues.

7. CamScanner

CamScanner is another popular Android OCR tool to convert handwriting to text. But the OCR feature comes with the pro version only.

Camscanner is a famous document-scanning software application, but the OCR feature is available on the paid version. CamScanner can extract text from handwritten scanned PDF images easily. With an easy-to-use interface, it is a great choice for handwriting-to-text conversion.

Pros:

• It uses less space.
• It is compatible with all devices.
• Has advanced color fonts and a cropping option.

Cons:

• The users can't access functions not upgraded to the pro version.
• It takes more time to transform files.
• In old devices, the files may be crashed.
• Ads in the free version.

8. PDF Scanner

PDF Scanner comes with an inbuilt OCR feature that is available free of cost. It can also be used offline. It converts handwritten text to text in more than 100 languages. It also lets you edit the handwritten text before saving it.

Pros:

• Easy to use
• It can work on all devices
• Delivers best-optimized quality with a feature of text and graphics auto-enhancing.

Cons:

• It comes with a lot of ads
• Requirement of a premium subscription for converting an image to a text
• For removing watermarks also, there is a need for a subscription
• Cloud-sharing features are challenging to use.

9. Pen to Print

Pen-to-print converts handwriting to text easily.

It helps create searchable and editable text that can be saved on any device. Furthermore, it helps in restoring the texts into more than 50 languages. The texts in the form of documents and files can also be converted from images.

Pros:

• Excellent OCR document scanning
• Helps in refining the scanned text
• Has sophisticated and flexible OCR settings
• It comes with high-quality editing and document comparison tools

Cons:

• While converting the handwritten notes to text in MS Word or MS Excel format, formatting accuracy issues may occur
• The versioning system could be improved
• Need to integrate a preview feature, which could help edit the documents

Convert complex handwritten notes to text format instantly using Image to Text converter. Try it for free.

Why use handwriting to text converter software?

• Converting your handwritten notes to text allows you to store and organize them easily.
• Manually converting handwriting to text can be a time-consuming process. Handwriting to text converter can save you time and effort using intelligent automation.
• Handwriting to text software uses advanced OCR technology to recognize handwritten characters accurately and reduces errors in the conversion.
• Handwriting to text converters can recognize characters in multiple languages.
• Many handwriting-to-text converters integrate with other productivity apps. Allowing the incorporation of your handwritten notes into your existing workflow seamlessly.

Conclusion

Now that you understand the best handwriting to text converters, you may choose the app that best suits your requirements. However, when selecting a handwriting to text converter for your company, it is essential to understand your requirements first.

If you need to convert many scanned documents to text, you can reach out to our automation experts, who can help you optimize the process. Feel free to try the free trial and see how Nanonets works.

Automate manual data entry using Nanonet's AI-based OCR software. Instantly capture data from handwritten notes, reduce turnaround times, and eliminate manual effort.

<< Find out how to batch convert JPGs to text here >>

In addition to converting Handwriting to Text, Nanonets can support multiple data extraction use cases for all kinds of business tasks, such as,

• PDF to Excel
• PDF to CSV
• Searchable PDF
• PDF to JSON
• PDF to Text
• PDF to XML
• PDF Bank Statement Converter
• PDF OCR
• Barcode Scanner
• QR Code Scanner
• Website Scraper
• Image to Excel

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