[Athen] Converting Hand-Written Documents to an Accessible Format

[Steven Bianco via athen-list]

I don't know if it is just math-focused handwriting, it was not initially clear to me in the original post, but you may want to try a LLM (AI) approved by your institution. Usually, the AI models can try to extract handwriting and provide a text transcript. I have had great luck with just real images of math and conversion to LaTeX or MathML.

There is another free tool for Math,  it is worth a try since it is free https://mathkicker.ai/. You sign up for a free Mathkicker account and it will send you a personalize conversion link which you can reuse.

For convenience I tested an inaccessible handwritten math PDF document shared in the CLAC April 3, 2025, meeting on converting documents to an accessible math format and have Word Document outputs from MathKicker, SensusAccess, and ChatGPT-5.

The one that looked to have the best output was MathKicker. The formulae were proper Word equation objects, it noticed the therefore symbol and output it in the equation and was a more one-to-one conversion. It recognized the regular non-math handwritten well, some spelling errors, but I can see why. It noticed the image figure correctly and placed it as an image, however, there was no alt text provided.

SensusAccess did not OCR the images, just placed them in the Word Document as images.

ChatGPT-5 did provide a good output but did not get the formulae converted to Word Equation objects, it did provide a visual description of the diagram image. It was not a one-to-one conversion as it placed in it's own logic writing out "therefore" and added extra context from the prompt "can you convert this to an accessible format that is screenreader friendly".

I hope this information is helpful.

Steven Kolberg, MA

Florida SouthWestern State College
Office of Information Technology
Senior Coordinator, Accessibility and LMS Administration
Phone: (239) 432-6774 or X16774
Email:  Steven.Bianco at FSW.edu<mailto:Steven.Bianco at FSW.edu>

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________________________________
From: athen-list <athen-list-bounces at mailman22.u.washington.edu> on behalf of Vanessa M Ayala via athen-list <athen-list at u.washington.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, November 4, 2025 11:20 AM
To: Access Technology Higher Education Network <athen-list at u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: [Athen] Converting Hand-Written Documents to an Accessible Format

CAUTION: Please Be Aware - This Email Originated Outside of FSW


Hello,

I've been really impressed with the tool Mathpix: https://mathpix.com/handwriting-recognition. It's a STEM focused tool, and uses LaTex code, but I picked it up quickly without prior knowledge. It's not perfect, but it's much better than anything else I've tried. I sometimes use it on stubborn PDFs when I can't get a book to scan, and the OCR outmatches Acrobat every time.

Kind regards,
Vanessa

Vanessa Ayala (she/her)
Digital Accessibility Center Manager | The University of Texas at Austin |  Enterprise Technology



-----Original Message-----
From: athen-list <athen-list-bounces at mailman22.u.washington.edu> On Behalf Of David Andrews via athen-list
Sent: Tuesday, November 4, 2025 6:38 AM
To: Megan E Hall <MEHall at francis.edu>; Access Technology Higher Education Network <athen-list at u.washington.edu>; athen-list at u.washington.edu
Subject: Re: [Athen] Converting Hand-Written Documents to an Accessible Format

I could be remembering wrong, but I think Seeing AI from Microsoft can do this.

However, I think you will find that it is a problematic process at best.  I am sure it will get better with AI, but .....

Dave






>Hello,

>

>A colleague and I have been searching and testing various technology

>tools that would convert a hand-written document to an accessible file

>format. So far, we have found several tools that will use OCR in the

>conversion process, but it seems it still recognizes the handwriting as

>an image. This is also happening in my Adobe Acrobat Pro account; it

>labels them as "figures."

>

>Does anyone have any recommendations for a tool that can do this

>correctly? We are coming up short.

>

>We would also appreciate some insight into how other institutions are

>handling this. Tips, best practices, etc. are welcome.

>

>Thank you in advance,

>

>Megan Hall

>Senior Instructional Designer

>Saint Francis University | Center for Excellence in Teaching and

>Learning

>814.472.3933 | Library Room 110A

>_______________________________________________

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