[Athen] [EXT] Handwriting to OCR text

[Norwich, Lorraine via athen-list]

Wink,

Thanks for sharing this.  I found a work around that I will share.

I used the free online version of Pen to Print that did an okay job of producing a text document.  We then copied information from text doc and put it into a word doc.  The word doc was from the original handwritten PDF had already been OCR’d with Abby and saved to word, so we were able to get a structured document to work on with a lot of gobbledygook on it.  By putting the text and doc together we had something we could work with something manageable, and test for the student and get it to her.

Thanks to everyone for your input.

Best,

Lorraine

From: athen-list <athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu> On Behalf Of foreigntype at gmail.com via athen-list
Sent: Tuesday, April 8, 2025 12:40 PM
To: ELIZABETH KILLINGER <elizabeth_killinger at fitnyc.edu>; Access Technology Higher Education Network <athen-list at u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: [Athen] [EXT] Handwriting to OCR text

Hi all,

MathPix has two options: snip option or full PDF option.

Snip option is good for selecting a block of math text and converting it to HTML, LaTeX, or math markup and creating page-by-page accessible alt text. The PDF version can do large volume PDF conversions, but excludes handwriting and anything in the margins. Any/all of the material excluded from the scan must be reinserted manually (typed).

Here’s more info from MathPix:
https://mathpix.com/blog/pdf-processing-new-pricing

It does have a cap on the number of pages per month you can scan.

Is it a good tool? Yes indeed! One we should have in our alt text toolboxes. Will it do what you need? I’d test it out for myself, but my inclination is to say that it won’t be the “easy button” you’re hoping for.

Wink

Wink Harner
Assistive Technology Consulting and Training
Alternative Text Production
Portland OR.

foreigntype at gmail.com<mailto:foreigntype at gmail.com>


On Tue, Apr 8, 2025 at 7:03 AM ELIZABETH KILLINGER via athen-list <athen-list at u.washington.edu<mailto:athen-list at u.washington.edu>> wrote:
Scan it with Mathpix. Great for words, equations, and even scanning text in other languages.


Elizabeth Killinger
Associate Coordinator
FIT-ABLE | Office of Disability Services
Fashion Institute of Technology
David Dubinsky Student Center, A570
Phone: 212.217.4090
Website: fitnyc.edu/fitable<http://fitnyc.edu/fitable>


On Tue, Apr 8, 2025 at 9:35 AM Norwich, Lorraine via athen-list <athen-list at u.washington.edu<mailto:athen-list at u.washington.edu>> wrote:

Good Morning,

Can anyone share a way you have taken a PDF with handwritten notes and converted it into OCR’d text.

Thanks in advance

Lorraine

Lorraine S. Norwich, BSME, MSIS

Assistant Director of Disability & Access Services

25 Buick Street 3rd Floor, Boston MA 02215<https://www.google.com/maps/search/25+Buick+Street+3rd+Floor,+Boston+MA+02215?entry=gmail&source=g>

lnorwich at bu.edu<mailto:lnorwich at bu.edu> (email)

617-353-3658 (vox)

617-353-9646 (fax)

www.bu.edu/disability<http://www.bu.edu/disability> (website)

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