Do you need to digitize handwritten notes to edit or index them? Or would you like to copy text from the picture show of a handwritten quote? What you demand is something called an optical character recognition (OCR) tool.

OCR tools analyze the handwritten or typed text in images and catechumen it into editable text. Some tools even have spell checkers that give boosted help in the case of unrecognizable words.

We've tested six of the best OCR tools to catechumen handwriting to text.

one. Microsoft OneNote

Availability: Windows, Mac, Web, iOS, and Android

Microsoft OneNote is a digital annotation-taking plan that doubles upwards every bit a pretty skillful handwriting OCR app.

Right-click on an imported picture and yous'll run across the option to Copy Text From Flick. Utilize this command to extract messages from the epitome and convert them to text you lot tin can edit.

This option works in seconds, and Microsoft OneNote is a free, cloud-based program that you tin can use across diverse devices, including smartphones, tablets, and computers.

Every bit with all handwriting OCR apps, the results tin can be patchy at times. On the whole, though, it works pretty well fifty-fifty with harder to read writing. Write your notes in capital letter and you'll find it to be a more than a serviceable tool.

Download: Microsoft OneNote for Android | iOS (Free)

2. Google Drive and Google Docs

google drive ocr handwriting

Google has a few tools that can turn handwriting into text, and chances are y'all've already got them.

The offset is Google Drive. Open the app on your telephone, hit the + icon in the bottom corner and select Scan. The PDFs it saves aren't editable in Drive itself, simply they are searchable. If you've got handwritten notes that you but demand to index, this is the ideal solution.

But when you do need to plow handwritten notes to editable text too, a combination of Drive with Google Docs is what you need.

Commencement up, scan your note to create a PDF doctor, every bit before. Then jump over to your desktop and open up Google Drive. Locate the scanned file, correct-click, and select Open with > Google Docs. This opens the PDF equally a text file in Docs, and you can edit, or copy and paste the text into another document. It also automatically saves the editable version into Drive.

In that location'southward a third option. The Google Lens app (it'due south role of Google Photos on iOS) lets you do search for real-world objects by pointing your camera at them. Information technology works with text, also. Hover your phone's photographic camera over some printed or handwritten text and wait a few seconds while it gets decoded. Then tap to complete the search.

With the ability of machine learning backside information technology, Google has some of the best OCR for handwriting tools.

Download: Google Bulldoze for Android | iOS (Complimentary)

Download: Google Lens for Android | iOS (Gratuitous)

3. Unproblematic OCR

simpleocr

Availability: Desktop only

This freeware tool recognizes approximately 120,000 words and allows you lot to add more than words to its lexicon. Boasting upwardly to 99% accuracy, SimpleOCR fifty-fifty identifies formatted text, and information technology's possible to set it to ignore formatting, too.

Use the despeckle or noisy document feature if the handwriting y'all're converting is messy.

SimpleOCR is a speedy tool, especially since you can prepare it to decipher whole documents, portions, or multiple documents in batches.

However, the aforementioned accurateness rating is clearly for printed text in pictures and less so for handwritten media. When comparison SimpleOCR with the Microsoft or Google tools, y'all'll probably find the latter work ameliorate.

Download: SimpleOCR (Free)

4. Online OCR

online ocr

Availability: Web

This straightforward website allows y'all to get through the process of uploading an image, choosing an output format, and downloading the completed file in less than a minute. Registration is non required for basic use of this free site. You'll just have to complete a captcha.

However, during a test of a PNG photograph of handwriting to TXT format, Online OCR spit out random gibberish that failed to match the handwriting at all, and then use this tool with a grain of common salt.

Because it's inexpensive and easy to use, there's no harm in seeing if you become ameliorate results. Ane possible perk of Online OCR is it recognizes many languages.

Endeavour: Online OCR (Free)

5. TopOCR

topocr

Availability: Windows merely

TopOCR is one of the best pieces of handwriting recognition software.

Using a sourced image captured by a scanner or digital photographic camera, TopOCR offers a dual pane format that displays the original image on the left and the conversion on the right. Expect it to work reasonably well if your handwritten text appears from left to correct. If information technology features columns, the program will likely not be accurate.

TopOCR is efficient, supports 11 languages, and has a PDF export feature. The free trial version is capable enough to enable you to hands verify whether it will work for your needs and make up one's mind about buying the full, feature-unlocked program. One limitation of TopOCR is it merely works on Windows computers.

Download: TopOCR (Gratis trial or $iv.99 for full program)

half-dozen. FreeOCR

freeocr

Availability: Windows simply

Made for the Windows platform, FreeOCR works with images and PDFs. Conversion time is very fast, but accuracy is dismal.

The original engineering that runs FreeOCR was never designed to convert scanned handwriting to text. However, some users say later they used the program for that purpose repeatedly and carefully followed instructions in users' guides and forums, accuracy got ameliorate.

Download: FreeOCR (Free)

Make Sure Your Handwriting Is Upwards to Scratch

When y'all need to scan handwriting to text, it's hard to expect beyond what Google has to offer. It isn't flawless and depends to a great extent on how clear your writing is in the first place, but is capable of producing some excellent results.

One surefire mode to get ameliorate results is to make sure your writing is easy to read. As such, consider brushing up on your handwriting—if you lot're more than used to typing, y'all're probably out of practice.

How to Improve Your Handwriting: 8 Resources for Better Penmanship

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