Scrivener ($45) is a Windows and Mac app that gives you a single place to dump all your ideas and writing. It includes tools to keep notes, collect research, outline, and organize your writing.
With the world's obsession with apps and smartphones, it's easy to forget how a simple handwritten note is sometimes the easiest way to jot down your thoughts. Luckily, you can still get the benefits of a searchable, syncable database with handwritten notes and get the best of both worlds.
Handwriting Isn't Dead
If you need to make a note of someone's phone number, it makes perfect sense to type it directly into your phone rather than using paper as a middleman. However, if you're talking on the phone or don't have your phone around, you may grab the nearest pen-like implement and scrawl the information down on any available flat surface, the back of your hand, or whatever else is within reach. Heck, some of you even prefer pen and paper for managing their to-do list.
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There are many advantages to writing longhand. Over the years, there have been numerous studies that suggest that it is easier to remember information if it is written out in longhand rather than typed. Students the world over are all too familiar with this concept—who hasn't spent hours writing and re-writing lecture notes when cramming for an exam?
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Opting for the more brain-intensive process of writing greatly improves the scope for data retention. Typing can be a passive process reliant on memory-muscle, while writing is more involved. The medical community, learning specialists and undergraduate studies all support the idea. Plus, your pen will not run out of battery, and a writing surface is nearly always available—even if its just the back of your hand.
Handwritten notes aren't perfect, of course. For one, they're difficult to search through—few people are willing to carry a stack of paper-based notes around with them on the off-chance they might need to refer to them! Digital notes also have the advantage of syncing between devices, so you always have them with you—no need to carry around something extra.
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So what's a gadget-obsessed geek to do? Get the best of both worlds: convert your handwritten notes to digital when you need to store them for later. There are a lot of ways to do so.
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Four Ways to Capture Your Handwritten Notes
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Your Smartphone: If you have your phone on hand, you already have a way to convert handwritten notes into a digital format. Evernote and OneNote both do this well. In Evernote, add a new note using your camera, and it'll process your handwriting to make the note searchable (though this may take awhile if you aren't a premium subscriber). OneNote's handwriting recognition is arguably better, though it takes an extra step or two: just create a note with a photo, then in the desktop app, right-click the image to make it searchable.
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A Document Scanner: You might feel that snapping photos of notes is a little fiddly, and it's certainly not ideal in every situation. A portable scanner like the Doxie Go provides a couple of ways to scan documents. The scanner is small and light enough to be slung in a bag and carried around, and has rechargeable battery. It can be used in the traditional way, connected to a computer, but the rechargeable battery and built in memory means you can also store scans on the scanner until you are able to connect to a PC or Mac.
It's not suitable for scanning books, but if you have sheets of printed or handwritten notes to scan, it's great. Doxie's OCR only converts printed documents, so if you want to make those handwritten notes searchable, you'll want to import them into something like Evernote or OneNote after scanning them.
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Read more ReadA Smart Pen: Of course, you don't have to scan at all if you don't want to. Smart pens like the from LiveScribe 3 (which costs around $150) can record handwriting in digital form as you write. LiveScribe requires you to use special 'dot paper' (starting at $15 for 198 pages), but when you're done, you'll have an ink copy of your writing and a digital copy saved to the pen's memory which you can then synchronize with your computer, phone or tablet.
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Digitizing text in this way is preferable for some people since it keeps hard copies of notes neatly organized in notebook, while also providing the added benefit of a computer-based copy. Compared to a scanner, using a pen to create an analog and digital copy at the same time is very efficient.
A Tablet and Stylus: Of course, if you have a tablet, they work just as well. Despite the name, graphic tablet and stylus combos are not solely for drawing—they handle writing equally well. Wacom is one of the most renowned names in this field with tablets at various price points (starting at $99), and the styli work with the likes of Microsoft Office and Windows 8's built-in handwriting recognition. The writing-to-text conversion is impressive, and while you may have to spend a little time training Windows to recognize your style, it's something that will pay off.
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On a touch screen device such as the Microsoft Surface, Windows will detect that a touchscreen is present. You should see a large keyboard icon in the system tray, but if this is not visible just right click the taskbar and click Toolbars > Touch Keyboard. To get started with handwriting recognition, click the keyboard icon and then click the keyboard button to the lower right of the onscreen keyboard that appears. Click the third icon in the popup menu to switch to handwriting mode.
Use your stylus to write on screen and your handwriting will be converted to printed text as you write. There's no need to print, either, since it can also convert cursive writing.The more you use handwriting recognition, the more accurate it becomes.
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Writing is not dead—far from it—but it has changed change massively in recent years. The act of writing is something many of us are simply out of the habit of doing. Rather than abandoning it altogether in favor of writing solely with a pen, or going to the other extreme and fully embracing paper and ink, combining the two could be way ahead.
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Handwriting Recognition Software – Convert Your Handwritten Documents into Digital Text Documents
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Having a lot of handwritten documents in your business can be really confusing if you want to digitize your business. Typing all the documents manually can take a lot of time to complete. Thus, handwriting recognition software is necessary for you to automate all the process. This software helps you to convert your handwritten documents into digitized text documents, which make them more readable and easier to store.
This is useful if you want to convert all of your paper documents into digital documents. Not only paper documents, this software can also be used to recognize handwriting input from various sources, including touchscreen devices and photographs.
TopOCR
TopOCR is an OCR software developed for document cameras, which is a new way to scan documents with the best accuracy. Thus, this software can be used to scan books and magazines and convert them into digital documents easily. It can output to PDF text and PDF image files, making it easier for you to keep and organize the digital documents in your drive.
FreeOCR
FreeOCR offers a handwriting recognition technology that allows you to scan handwritten documents and convert it into text format, which you can then export as a Microsoft Word document. The software can also scan your handwritten documents and convert it into a JPG image file or PDF. The software is only available for Microsoft Windows.
Neuroph OCR
Neuroph OCR is an open source handwriting recognition tool that is developed to recognize various handwritten letters and characters. The software is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux, and it can be used as a standalone software or as a plug in. It is a simple software the gets the job done to recognize the handwritten letters and convert it into digital document formats.
PenOffice
Handwriting Tool For Mac
PenOffice provides an accurate handwriting recognition software with the extensive set of pen-based collaboration tools. It features new user interface, multi-monitor systems, multi-language support, new handwriting recognition engine, built-in dictionary, inline gestures, and customizable on-screen keyboard. This software can be integrated with Microsoft Office and OpenOffice software.
WritePad Pro
Chinese Handwriting Tool For Mac
WritePad Pro is a word processing app with handwriting recognition engine embedded in it, allowing you to recognize your handwriting as you type on the iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch devices. The app can save your file in HTML format, in which you can view in any web browser. It features handwriting recognition, document import formats, text formatting, multimedia, document sharing, translator, and a file manager.
AceCad DigiMemo
DigiMemo is a software that allows you to take and organize digital memo. It is embedded with memory and handwriting recognition. It features the user interface that is available in various languages, send to OneNote function, and online writing function. The handwriting recognition software provided by DigiMemo can help you to recognize handwriting, diagrams, tables, and shapes, and convert them into Microsoft Word format.
Other Handwriting Recognition Software for Different Platforms
Some handwriting recognition software is available only for the Microsoft Windows platform, but some others are available for other platforms as well. Aside from that, there are some mobile apps that allow you to convert your handwriting into digital texts, and save the file as a Word document.
Windows Journal
Writing Tool For Mac
Windows Journal is a built-in application that is available on Windows, which you can use to convert your handwritten letters into text documents. You can find this small utility by searching with the keyword “Journal” in your Windows search box. It offers the text correction feature, allowing you to keep the accuracy of your converted text.
Handwriting Tool For Mac
inkBook for Mac
inkBook for Mac facilitates the old way of taking notes, allowing you to write your note as if you are writing it on a paper. Using a digital pen and tablet, you can easily create notes with your handwriting, and with the help of this software, convert it into text files accurately. It features multi-notebook style interface, customizable tabs, gestural input, handwriting recognition, and freeform layout.
Google Handwriting Input
This simple app allows you to convert your handwriting into digital texts, with support for emoji. Aside from typing your handwriting directly on your Android phone or tablet, you can also covert printed and cursive writing into digital texts as well. It features touchscreen typing, voice input, emoji drawing, and support for all types of handwriting.
Ink2Text Handwriting Recognition System
This is a simple open-source software that allows you to convert your printed and cursive writing into text documents. This software is available only for Linux system. It can also recognize the gesture input that you give via your keyboard, handwriting input panel, or tablet computers. It should be used in collaboration with S/HIP (Stylus/Handwriting Input Panel) project.
ABBYY FineReader – Best Handwriting Recognition Software of 2016
This software allows you to convert paper documents, PDF, and digital photos into editable text documents. The software’s main feature is that it provides the output text documents with a high level of accuracy, which helps you to reduce the amount of time needed for you to edit and format the output documents. The text recognition engine embedded in this software can recognize up to 190 different languages. This handwriting recognition software is available for Windows and Mac.
What is Handwriting Recognition Software?
Handwriting recognition software, often called OCR software, is the type of software that allows you to convert your handwritten documents into digital documents. Not only that, the software can also convert the handwriting done on a touchscreen interface, using digital pen and stylus. You can convert your handwritten documents or texts into various formats, such as Microsoft Word, PDF, and JPG formats. Some handwriting recognition software can also recognize drawing, shapes, tables, and diagrams and convert them into digital formats as well. Whereas you can usually use this software with a stylus, digital pen, or any touchscreen device, you can also use your scanner and camera to scan your paper documents and convert them into digital documents with the help of this software.
How to Install Handwriting Recognition Software?
Some handwriting recognition software is only available for specific platforms. So, you should make sure that your platform is compatible with the software before you start installing it. To install the software, you need to download the installation file to your device and run the installation process by clicking the downloaded file. To use the software, you need to have the associated accessories, such as touchscreen panel, digital pen, and stylus. Some handwriting recognition software is also available for mobile devices.
Handwriting Tool For Pc
Converting paper documents into digital documents can take a lot of time to do if you do it manually. OCR or handwriting recognition software can help you to convert multiple paper documents into digital documents at the same time. This will save your time in the process. As the handwriting recognition technology is advancing day by day, the accuracy of the handwriting recognition software is increasing. Nowadays, you can accurately convert printed and cursive handwriting into digital text files without much editing needed. All the formatting is done by the software so that you don’t need to spend your time fixing errors due to bad accuracy in the handwriting recognition system.