[Athen] Handwriting to OCR text

[Karen McCall via athen-list]

Here are a couple of resources from Microsoft Support

Take Handwritten notes in OneNote:
Take handwritten notes in OneNote - Microsoft Support<https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/take-handwritten-notes-in-onenote-0ec88c54-05f3-4cac-b452-9ee62cebbd4c>
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/take-handwritten-notes-in-onenote-0ec88c54-05f3-4cac-b452-9ee62cebbd4c

Introducing the Ink to Text Pen tool in Word, OneNote, and PowerPoint for Window
This technique turns your handwriting to text as you write.
Introducing the Ink to Text Pen tool in Word, OneNote, and PowerPoint for Windows<https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/microsoft365insiderblog/introducing-the-ink-to-text-pen-tool-in-word-onenote-and-powerpoint-for-windows/4222008>
https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/microsoft365insiderblog/introducing-the-ink-to-text-pen-tool-in-word-onenote-and-powerpoint-for-windows/4222008

Both tools have been around for a while but have been updated and put in a different place.

Cheers, Karen


From: athen-list <athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu> On Behalf Of Karlen Communications via athen-list
Sent: Wednesday, April 9, 2025 8:40 AM
To: 'Joshua Hori' <jhori at ucdavis.edu>; 'Access Technology Higher Education Network' <athen-list at u.washington.edu>; 'Travis Roth' <travis at travisroth.com>
Subject: Re: [Athen] Handwriting to OCR text

Have you checked OneNote’s ability to convert handwriting to text? Not sure it would work on a scanned graphic of both handwriting and print but might be worth a try.

I used to use it all the time for note taking. Even with my horrid handwriting, it converted accurately.

…and you’ve just given me a task to test this morning!

Cheers, Karen

From: athen-list <athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu<mailto:athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu>> On Behalf Of Joshua Hori via athen-list
Sent: Tuesday, April 8, 2025 8:59 PM
To: Travis Roth <travis at travisroth.com<mailto:travis at travisroth.com>>; Access Technology Higher Education Network <athen-list at u.washington.edu<mailto:athen-list at u.washington.edu>>
Subject: Re: [Athen] Handwriting to OCR text

The camera fails and throws errors now but if you hover over it, it will still try to OCR and read it aloud. We used to use SeeingAI back in 2018 to convert handwritten notes into digital text. It worked with good accuracy back then.

This is the Image Braille GPT (free): https://chatgpt.com/g/g-fXlS5yyJA-image-braille

It’s a little challenging navigating OpenAI with a screenreader since they don’t have ARIA live tags. I find Gemini more accessible to screenreaders. NotebookLM is accessible…with exception to navigating their chat responses.

Best,

Joshua Hori
Accessible Technology Coordinator
Information Educational Technology
Academic Technology Services
50 Hutchison Dr.
Davis, CA 95616
530-752-2439
Schedule a meeting via Calendly<https://calendly.com/d/ytt-hsj-vbn>



From: athen-list <athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu<mailto:athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu>> on behalf of Travis Roth via athen-list <athen-list at u.washington.edu<mailto:athen-list at u.washington.edu>>
Date: Tuesday, April 8, 2025 at 5:34 PM
To: 'Access Technology Higher Education Network' <athen-list at u.washington.edu<mailto:athen-list at u.washington.edu>>
Subject: Re: [Athen] Handwriting to OCR text
Hi Joshua,
On the Read tab SeeingAI does have a take Picture button which will still show the document view. But I’ve not tried handwriting with it, so if you are saying even the take picture mode is bad at handwriting that is unfortunate.
Can you share how I may find/try the Image Braille agent?


From: athen-list <athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu<mailto:athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu>> On Behalf Of Joshua Hori via athen-list
Sent: Tuesday, April 8, 2025 7:18 PM
To: foreigntype at gmail.com<mailto:foreigntype at gmail.com>; Access Technology Higher Education Network <athen-list at u.washington.edu<mailto:athen-list at u.washington.edu>>; lorraine at rcn.com<mailto:lorraine at rcn.com>
Cc: Access Technology Higher Education Network <athen-list at u.washington.edu<mailto:athen-list at u.washington.edu>>
Subject: Re: [Athen] Handwriting to OCR text

SeeingAI used to convert handwriting to text, but now it just attempts to read it aloud…and it’s not as good as it used to be. That’s a shame.

You can upload an image of the handwritten text to AI and have it converted to digital text.

Gemini: Best AI for image descriptions and handwritten text.
ChatGPT: Creates great images but can go wildly inaccurate unless using the “Image Braille” GPT. That’s some high-quality system prompting powering that customized GPT.

I have video examples of using Gemini and OpenAI on my mobile device to describe lecture content in a LinkedIn article: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/ai-musings-bridging-tactile-chemistry-lecture-audio-joshua-hori-kyglc/<https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/ai-musings-bridging-tactile-chemistry-lecture-audio-joshua-hori-kyglc/?trackingId=sKmgtHt1SPWYrhAnngJuVA%3D%3D>

Sorry, no video or audio editing tools available. I stream/record on a budget.

Best,

Joshua Hori
Accessible Technology Coordinator
Information Educational Technology
Academic Technology Services
50 Hutchison Dr.
Davis, CA 95616
530-752-2439
Schedule a meeting via Calendly<https://calendly.com/d/ytt-hsj-vbn>




From: athen-list <athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu<mailto:athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu>> on behalf of foreigntype at gmail.com<mailto:foreigntype at gmail.com> via athen-list <athen-list at u.washington.edu<mailto:athen-list at u.washington.edu>>
Date: Tuesday, April 8, 2025 at 8:37 AM
To: lorraine at rcn.com<mailto:lorraine at rcn.com> <lorraine at rcn.com<mailto:lorraine at rcn.com>>
Cc: Access Technology Higher Education Network <athen-list at u.washington.edu<mailto:athen-list at u.washington.edu>>
Subject: Re: [Athen] Handwriting to OCR text

I am unaware of any OCR software that can do both handwriting and text.

Susan's advice is the best: You'll have to do this in several steps. Use a good text based OCR software (Abbyy FineReader or OmnipagePro) for the text and insert (type up the handwriting manually) separately after removing it (by cleaning up) from the original.

No easy button for this one!

Wink

On Tue, Apr 8, 2025, 7:20 AM <lorraine at rcn.com<mailto:lorraine at rcn.com>> wrote:
Wink,

It is handwriting on a PDF.  It is the other software that I am looking for recommendations on.

Thanks

Lorraine
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