is there an app that converts handwriting to text?

If you write with a pen on a tablet

MyScript Notes, formerly Nebo, is a handwriting note app for iPhone, iPad and Android, and it keeps the Nebo name on Windows. It converts handwriting and maths to typed text and drawn diagrams to clean shapes, recognises handwriting in 66 languages, and lets you edit with pen gestures as you write.

What you give up is a clear price. Full features need an in-app purchase once the 7-day free trial ends, though its store listings say you can keep a free limited version after that. Its Chat and study set AI features are iOS only for now, so Android users get fewer of the extras.

If you use a Windows pen device

Microsoft OneNote, Microsoft's free note app, has an Ink to Text button on the Draw tab in its Windows version. Select a block of handwriting with Lasso Select and it turns it into typed text on the page. It can handle other languages once handwriting for that language is installed.

The catch is that we only checked this feature on Windows, where Microsoft documents it. Microsoft says the option is not available in OneNote for the web, and that OneNote for Mac does not currently support converting handwriting to text. We found no Microsoft page on it for iPhone, iPad or Android, so do not count on it there. Microsoft says OneNote itself is free to download and use, with some premium features unlocked by an optional Microsoft 365 subscription, from £8.49 a month or £84.99 a year.

If you need to read old or historic handwriting

Transkribus is a web platform that reads scans of handwritten or printed documents in 100+ languages, including centuries-old scripts, with 300+ community AI models. Letters and archive records are the sort of material it is built for. The other apps here are for your own pen notes, which is a different job.

You pay per page. Text recognition costs 1 credit a page, and table or field recognition costs 1 credit more each. The free plan gives 50 credits a month.

If you want one notebook app on every device

Goodnotes is a digital notebook and PDF markup app that mixes handwriting and typed text, and it lists apps for iPhone, iPad, Mac, Windows, Android and the web. Its own site says you can write, cross out to erase, or convert to text, and its pricing page lists converting handwriting to text as a feature.

Once your handwriting is typed up, the next job is usually a PDF, and that's where people get stuck, like needing to tweak a form or fix a line or two without paying for anything. So I put together a guide on free online PDF editors: which ones need no sign-up, which have free tiers with limits, and the catch with changing a PDF's existing text.

There is one thing to check. The free plan is limited to 3 notebooks and 100MB of storage, and the pricing text we could read does not say which plans include conversion. On the UK App Store, Essential is £11.99 per year, Pro (Yearly) £35.99 and AI Pass (Monthly) £9.99.

If you want it free

Transkribus has a €0 plan with 50 free credits a month and no credit card required, which suits occasional pages. MyScript Notes lets you keep a free limited version after its trial. Goodnotes has a free plan, limited to 3 notebooks. Microsoft says OneNote is free to download and use, though it does not say whether Ink to Text is a premium feature. At 1 credit per page, Transkribus's free plan is 50 pages of text recognition a month.

When paying is worth it

The clearest case is Transkribus. Its Scholar plan, at €99 a year including 20% VAT (€8.25 per month), with 900 credits a year, is pitched at better results on difficult handwriting and adds what Transkribus calls its most accurate model, Text Titan II. If your documents are hard to read, that is the case it is aimed at. If you are digitising a handful of pages, the free plan covers them. Nothing here was tested, so try your own pages on the free plan before paying.

The pricing is the least clear part. MyScript Notes keeps a free limited version after its 7-day trial, but its UK App Store listing shows several in-app purchases from £1.99 to £29.99 without saying which unlocks what, or for how long.

Installing a new handwriting language for OneNote needs Windows 10 or newer and local administrator rights, per Microsoft. On a computer you do not administer, such as a work laptop, that may stop you.

OneNote itself is free to download, and Microsoft 365 plans from £8.49 a month or £84.99 a year unlock premium features, but Microsoft does not say whether Ink to Text is one of them.