We often want to turn our handwritten text into digital format for different purposes. We may want to archive old notes, make our writing searchable/accessible, or share meeting minutes with others in a more readable format. The best way to do so is optical character recognition (OCR). An OCR from handwriting can detect handwritten text and convert it into editable text.
The important thing to consider is to use a reliable OCR solution that can intelligently detect and convert handwritten text into digital format with high precision. Therefore, stick with this guide to learn about the five best OCR for handwriting tools in 2024.
Part 1. Can OCR Detect Handwriting?
OCR tools have become a lot more advanced lately. For instance, UPDF's OCR feature can recognize text in 38 languages due to its AI-powered OCR technology. So, theoretically, OCR can detect handwriting. However, practically it may face challenges in detecting and interpreting handwriting.
OCR scans depend on text uniformity to easily read and convert the text. So, the most important factor is how neat the writing is. If your handwriting is super neat and easy to read, OCR should be able to detect and convert it.
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Part 2. What Is the Best OCR for Handwriting? - Check Out Top List
Simply Google search "handwriting to OCR", and you will find dozens of online and desktop tools to choose from. So, should you choose any of them randomly? Absolutely not!
To save you time, we have shortlisted below the five best tools to perform OCR from handwriting. We are highlighting their features, compatibility, pricing, and other details. Simply go through them and choose the one that best aligns with your needs:
1. Adobe Acrobat
The first and obvious one to perform OCR from handwriting is Adobe Acrobat. Adobe Acrobat is not only used to view or edit PDFs; it can also assist in performing handwriting to OCR conversions.
Adobe Acrobat offers three ways to have OCR for handwriting. You can use its Adobe Scan mobile app to take a picture of the handwritten notes and perform OCR for free (up to 25 pages). Alternatively, you can upload the file to Adobe Acrobat online or use its desktop version to get the OCR scan. However, all three options offer a seamless way to get OCR if your handwriting is neat.
Compatibility: Web, Windows, Mac, Android, iOS
Pros:
- Powerful handwriting to OCR conversion
- Easy to use
- Wide compatibility
- Ability to edit the OCR-scanned file
Cons:
- May struggle to OCR unclear handwritten texts
- Require the use of capital letters to help OCR identify different symbols
- 25 pages free limit with Adobe Scan app
Pricing
Adobe Scan:
- Free: 25 pages OCR
- Premium: $9.99/month (100 pages OCR)
Adobe Acrobat
- Acrobat Standard: $22.99/month
- Acrobat Pro: $29.99/month
Rating
Adobe Scan:
- App Store: 4.9/5
- Play Store: 4.7/5
Adobe Acrobat
- G2: 4.5/5
- Capterra: 4.7/5
2. Pen to Print Handwriting to Text
Pen to Print is another well-known tool for performing OCR from handwriting and getting an editable file. It can easily scan and convert handwritten images or PDFs to searchable PDFs or even convert to other formats like Word or Excel. You can also use it to process handwritten forms and extract data from them into a single data table automatically.
Compatibility: Web, Android, and iOS.
Pros:
- Easy to use
- Intelligent handwriting to OCR scanning
- Conversion to PDF, Word, or Excel
- Smart data extraction from handwritten forms
Cons:
- Require subscription to use the OCR output
- Limited languages
- May struggle to detect some handwritten phrases
- Slow processing
Pricing
- Pen to Print Monthly Plan: $4.99
- Pen to Print Annual Plan: $19.99
- Pen to Print Lifetime Plan: $44.99
Rating:
- App Store: 4.4/5
- Play Store: 4.3/5
3. Aspose
Aspose is an online tool to conduct OCR for handwriting. It offers the simplest interface for uploading, recognizing, and getting results. As a web-based tool, it allows you to upload the file directly from your device, URL, Google Drive, or Dropbox. Afterward, it can perform OCR from handwriting and turn the text into an editable one.
The main limitation of Aspose is that its support is limited to the English language. In contrast, many other tools now offer multi-language OCR capabilities. For example, UPDF is an AI-powered OCR tool that can convert scanned or image-based PDFs (non-handwritten files) into editable PDFs in over 38 languages.
Therefore, if you need to perform OCR on a PDF file (non-handwritten content) in a language other than English, get UPDF for high-quality results with its AI-powered OCR technology.
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Compatibility: Web
Pros:
- Click-based interface
- Fast handwriting to OCR scanning
- Upload files in multiple ways
- Built-in spell checker
- Free to use for 10 files
Cons:
- Low OCR quality
- Only detect English languages
Pricing
- Free (Unregistered): 5 MB | 5 files
- Free (Registered): 10 MB | 10 files
- Premium: $7/month (50 MB | 50 files)
- Business: Custom
Rating
- Capterra: 4.4/5
- G2: 4/5
4. Transkribus
Transkribus is another online OCR for handwriting tool that provides a drag-and-drop interface to upload handwritten text images and get editable text. It provides an AI-powered OCR to accurately extract text from images. Secondly, it allows you to edit and refine OCR outputs with the transcription editor.
Compatibility: Web
Pros:
- Drag-and-drop interface
- AI-powered OCR
- Transcription editor to edit OCR output
- Save OCR output as PDF or DOC
Cons:
- Takes longer to upload and convert.
- Costly subscription plans
Pricing
- Individual: €0
- Scholar: €14.9
- Team: €59.9
- Organization: Custom
Rating
- N/A
5. Handwriting to Text Converter
Handwriting to Text Converter is an Android app by Apptico with over 500K+ downloads. As the name implies, this app allows you to perform OCR from handwriting directly from your phone. You can use your camera or select the image from the gallery to convert it into editable text. Afterward, you can save it as a text, PDF, or DOC file.
Compatibility: Android
Pros:
- Easy to use
- Crop for selective text area OCR
- Save the OCR file as text, PDF, or DOC
- Detect multiple languages
Cons:
- May not detect all handwritten text
- Struggle with some languages
- Letters and numbers changed or omitted
- Inconsistent performance
Pricing
- Free: 10 scans
- Premium: $7.99/lifetime
Rating
- Play Store: 4.5/5
Part 3. Bonus Tip: Which Software Supports OCR in the Most Languages?
UPDF is the best software solution that supports OCR in 38 languages. Its powerful OCR technology can recognize PDFs in 38 languages and make them editable and searchable. Whether the PDFs are in scanned or image-based format, UPDF AI-powered OCR can scan and convert them into editable PDFs accurately. However, the only downside is that it does not support OCR from handwriting.
The key features of UPDF's OCR feature are as follows:
- Up to 99% Accuracy: Its AI-powered advanced OCR technology offers up to 99% accuracy.
- High-quality Output: It generates smaller-sized files with top-notch quality.
- 38 Languages OCR: It can detect over 38 languages, including English, Italian, German, French, and more.
- Fast OCR Speed: It can perform OCR within seconds, regardless of the PDF size.
- Customize Layout Options: You can choose from three layouts: text and picture only, text under the page image, or text over the page image.
- Various Output Formats: It can perform OCR on scanned or image-based PDFs and allow you to export the output file in other formats, like Word, Excel, PPT, text, etc.
- Reverse OCR: It can also execute reverse OCR, i.e., convert editable PDF into an image-only PDF.
- Selective Page OCR: It can perform OCR on single, selective, or all PDF pages.
In short, UPDF's OCR feature offers the best experience for accurately recognizing text from documents. The best part is that OCR is just one feature of UPDF.
UPDF is an all-in-one PDF editor and converter tool. This implies that it allows you to do a lot more with PDFs as follows:
- Edit PDF elements, including text, links, images, backgrounds, headers/footers, and more.
- Annotate PDF using highlighter, underline, marker, strikethrough, or adding stamps/stickers/sticky notes.
- Convert PDF to Word, Excel, PPT, text, image, RTF, and more formats.
- AI assistant (UPDF AI feature) to get help in summarizing, explaining, and translating PDF content.
- Organize PDF pages by rearranging, cropping, adding, replacing, removing, rotating, splitting, or extracting.
- Fill and sign PDFs.
- Protect PDFs using passwords or redacting sensitive information.
- Compress PDF size as per your preferred quality.
- Merge multiple PDFs into a single file.
Overall, UPDF shines as one complete tool for your PDF needs. So, tell me why this feature-rich tool shouldn't be installed on your device. It is accessible on all four major platforms (Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android) with dedicated apps.
Therefore, download UPDF on your preferred device and get the most of this PDF tool in your day-to-day activities.
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Conclusion
Performing OCR from handwriting requires a powerful tool that can accurately detect and interpret the handwriting. Above, we have discussed the five best tools to perform OCR for handwriting easily and effectively. So, you can simply choose one of them that fits your needs. However, if your OCR needs are beyond handwriting and involve scanned or image-based files, then you should also install UPDF. UPDF offers 38 languages OCR and provides other top-notch PDF-related features, from editing and annotating to converting and organizing PDFs.
To wrap up, it's time to choose the tools wisely and become a pro in OCR.
