Do you need to digitize handwritten notes to edit or index them? Or would you like to copy text from the picture of a handwritten quote? What you need is something called an optical character recognition (OCR) tool.

OCR tools analyze the handwritten or typed text in images and convert it into editable text. Some tools even have spell checkers that give additional help in the case of unrecognizable words. We've tested some of the best OCR tools to convert handwriting to text.

1. Microsoft OneNote

Availability: Windows, Mac, Web, iOS, and Android

Microsoft OneNote is a digital note-taking program that doubles up as a pretty good handwriting OCR app. Right-click on an imported picture and you'll see the option to Copy Text From Picture. Use this command to extract letters from the image and convert them to text you can edit. This option works in seconds.

As with all handwriting OCR apps, the results can be patchy at times. On the whole, though, it works pretty well even with harder-to-read writing. Write your notes in uppercase and you'll find it to be a more than serviceable tool.

Microsoft OneNote is a free, cloud-based program that you can use across various devices, including smartphones, tablets, and computers. If you're interested in learning more, our OneNote FAQ guide has all the information you need.

Download: Microsoft OneNote for Android | iOS | Desktop (Free, in-app purchases available)

2. Google Drive and Google Docs

google drive ocr handwriting

Availability: Web, Android, and iOS

Google has a few tools that can turn handwriting into text, and chances are you've already got them.

The first is Google Drive. Open the app on your phone, hit the + icon in the bottom corner, and select Scan. The PDFs it saves aren't editable in Drive itself, but they are searchable. If you've got handwritten notes that you just need to index, this is the ideal solution.

But when you do need to turn handwritten notes into editable text as well, a combination of Drive with Google Docs is what you need.

First up, scan your note to create a PDF doc, as before. Then jump over to your desktop and open Google Drive. Locate the scanned file, right-click, and select Open with > Google Docs. This opens the PDF as a text file in Docs, and you can edit, or copy and paste the text into another document. It also automatically saves the editable version into Drive.

There's a third option. The Google Lens app (it's part of the larger Google app on iOS) lets you search for real-world objects by pointing your camera at them. It works with text, too. Hover your phone's camera over some printed or handwritten text and wait a few seconds while it gets decoded. Then tap to complete the search.

With the power of machine learning behind it, Google has some of the best OCR for handwriting tools.

Download: Google Drive for Android | iOS (Free)

Download: Google Lens for Android | iOS (Free)

Google Lens comes pre-installed on most Android phones. Apple's iPhone has a built-in option, too. The Notes app can also work as a cursive reader, turning your handwriting into digital text. Create a new note, tap the camera icon, then select the Scan Text option to give it a try.

3. Adobe Scan

Availability: Android and iOS

Another of the big tech giants, Adobe, has a scanning app that can work with handwriting. To use it, tap the Camera icon, select Document (or you can try Whiteboard to see if that gives better results), and then line up and shoot the page you want to scan. You can also use it with images already in your phone's gallery if you want.

Open the image by tapping the thumbnail in the bottom right corner, then select the Recognizing Text button in the top right. The app will take a few seconds to try and decipher what you've written, then select Copy Text to copy it to your clipboard. You can now open any writing app—a notes app, Google Docs, a text message—and paste it in.

In our tests, the results were very mixed. It works well as a traditional OCR app with printed text but struggles with anything but the clearest handwriting. It does support exporting the scanned PDFs to Google Drive, though, so you can use it in conjunction with Google's text recognition instead.

Download: Adobe Scan for Android | iOS (Free, in-app purchases available)

4. Simple OCR

simpleocr

Availability: Desktop only

This freeware tool recognizes approximately 120,000 words and allows you to add more words to its dictionary. Boasting up to 99% accuracy, SimpleOCR even identifies formatted text, and it's possible to set it to ignore formatting, too. For added accuracy, you can use the despeckle or noisy document features if the handwriting you're converting is messy.

SimpleOCR is a speedy tool, especially since you can set it to decipher whole documents, portions, or multiple documents in batches. However, the aforementioned accuracy rating is clearly for printed text in pictures and less so for handwritten media. When comparing SimpleOCR with the Microsoft or Google tools, you'll probably find the latter work better.

Download: SimpleOCR (Free)

5. Online OCR

online ocr

Availability: Web

This straightforward website allows you to go through the process of uploading an image, choosing an output format, and downloading the completed file in less than a minute. Registration is not required for basic use of this free site. You'll just have to complete a captcha.

However, during a test of a PNG photograph of handwriting to TXT format, Online OCR spat out random gibberish that failed to match the handwriting at all, so use this tool with a grain of salt. Because it's cheap and easy to use, there's no harm in seeing if you get better results. One possible perk of Online OCR is it recognizes many languages.

If you prefer not to use an app, check out these other download-free OCR tools you can find online.

Try: Online OCR (Free)

6. TopOCR

topocr

Availability: Windows only

TopOCR is one of the best pieces of handwriting recognition software.

Using a sourced image captured by a scanner or digital camera, TopOCR offers a dual-pane format that displays the original image on the left and the conversion on the right. Expect it to work reasonably well if your handwritten text appears from left to right. If it features columns, the program will likely not be accurate.

TopOCR is efficient, supports 11 languages, and has a PDF export feature. A shareware app, the free version is capable enough to enable you to easily verify whether it will work for your needs and decide about buying the full, feature-unlocked program. One limitation of TopOCR is it only works on Windows computers.

Download: TopOCR (Free trial or $4.99 for full program)

7. FreeOCR

freeocr

Availability: Windows only

Made for the Windows platform, FreeOCR works with images and PDFs. It hasn't been updated for many years, so while the conversion time is very fast, the accuracy is dismal.

The original technology that runs FreeOCR was never designed to convert scanned handwriting to text. However, some users say after they used the program for that purpose repeatedly and carefully followed instructions in users' guides and forums, accuracy got better. It's worth a try if you don't get better results from the other options here.

Download: FreeOCR (Free)

Get Text From Handwritten Notes

When you need to scan handwriting to text, it's hard to look beyond what Google has to offer. It isn't flawless and depends to a great extent on how clear your writing is in the first place, but is capable of producing some excellent results.

One surefire way to get better results is to make sure your writing is easy to read. As such, consider brushing up on your handwriting—if you're more used to typing, you're probably out of practice.