Notes Plus – How to Convert Handwriting to Text

One of the nice features with Notes Plus, an iOS app used to collect your written thoughts and drawings, is the ability to convert your handwritten notes into text so you can search your notes. You can even copy and paste the text that has been converted.

There are two ways to convert text. First, you can write your notes. Next, circle the notes to convert. You will then be presented with a checkmark or shape. Tap on the check mark. Make sure to complete the circle when selecting the text to convert. [If you simply wanted to turn your circle into a circle shape, tap on the shape.]

You will then be presented with an x to cancel or three stacked lines. Tap on the three lines.

Tap on Convert to Text.

After tapping on convert to text, the handwriting will magically change to typed text.

If you want to change the language used by the app to recognize the text, tap on the > to choose from languages, some of which may need to be downloaded to work.

If you decide to see your handwriting again, select the text and choose Show Handwriting.

You can also tap on the squares on the top right and watch your text be converted so you can copy or email it while leaving your handwriting in tact.

The Notes Plus team also answers the following questions about handwriting recognition and other questions.
What recognition languages does Notes Plus support?
We support the following languages: Arabic, Armenian, Azeri, Basque, Bulgarian, Catalan, Chinese (Simplified & Traditional), Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English (Canada/UK/US), Estonian, Finnish, French (Canada/France), Galician, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Icelandic, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Kazakh, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, Malay, Norwegian, Polish , Portuguese (Brazil/Portugal), Romanian, Russian, Serbian (Cyrillic/Latin), Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish (Mexico/Spain), Swedish, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Urdu, and Vietnamese.
Is it possible to convert handwriting to text as I write?
Unfortunately no. We think on-the-fly conversion is not really efficient in terms of performance and convenience, since users would have to repeatedly go back to the time-consuming process of editing wrongly converted text.
What can I do to improve recognition accuracy?
Write in straight lines, leaving ample space between each line.
Avoid complicated layouts, multiple columns etc. Write in clear horizontal blocks of text.
And make sure the recognition language is intended (see a previous question).

Conclusion

With the ability to turn your handwriting into searchable text, Notes Plus is a great tool to capture and search your thoughts and ideas.

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