(Archived) Writing to text

[matthehat 1]

So I'm pretty new to EN and penultimate. I have started to try to go paperless and using a stylus which is working well. Now is there a way of converting my had written notes on penultimate to text?!?

Thanks in advance

[bahadir 2]

Hi Matthehat,

Penultimate can't convert handwritten notes to text. But Evernote lets you search your handwritten notes. EN can recognize your handwriting and lists the notes with the words your searched for. At least that is what EN claims. here is the truth:

1) If you are not a premium member it takes as long as a day or two for EN to catalog your handwritten note. but if you upgrade to premium it happens instantly.

2) In my experience handwritten note search works only half of the time(sometimes NEVER). You must have clear, accurate handwriting to get reliable results from that search. Which never happens because penultimate is not a very good tool for writing to begin with.

So what you can do is get a note taking app compatible with EN such as Noteshelf and either insert some typed text into the note or tag the note itself to make it possible for EN to find it. When I take a note in Noteshelf I tag the pages I select and send them to EN. This has worked perfectly for me. Until Penultimate makes a real effort to add tagging and text box option to their app this is the only way to go paperless. Unfortunately many people have been asking for these features for a long time but nothing has happened yet.

In short get a notes app with text input and/or tagging features and you are good to go.

Hope this helps.

[Andy S 3]

While not converting writing to text, MyScript Mobile Notes does a fantastic job of indexing your hand written notes and making these searchable. The ability in uncannily accurate. It provides the functionality Evernote promises but only 1/2 delivers.

 

That said, I personally don't find the note taking experience of MyScript to be as good as Noteshelf so it's not my 'goto' app.  If you are new to paperless notes you may love it!

[matthehat 1]

Hi Andy and Bahadir,

  Thanks so much for the response, some really useful points and info.

Much appreciated will give your ideas ago.

[financepro 2]

Laptop Magazine did a nice review of four note taking apps for the iPad.

You can find it here:  http://blog.laptopmag.com/best-note-taking-ipad-apps?slide=2

 

The review included Evernote, Notability, Note Shelf and one other. Very detailed descriptions of each and very helpful.

Try Notability, which has both handwriting recognition (script to text) and audio to text features.

I use that to take notes, convert them to text, and then move and store them in Evernote.

[Andy S 3]

Notability doesn't do writing to text.... Does it?

 

I've used it a lot, but haven't come across this feature.