Forty pages of handwritten meeting notes. The client wants the action items in writing by tonight. Re-typing every page is not happening.
Photographs of the pages plus OCR is faster — but OCR on handwriting is hit and miss. Worth setting expectations.
Photograph in good light
Use your phone in bright, even light. Position the page flat. Avoid shadows from your hand or phone.
Most phone camera apps now have a "document" mode that auto-corrects perspective and contrast. Use it. The cleaner the input, the better the output.
Combine into one PDF
Drop the photos into Flint's image-to-PDF tool in page order. Each photo becomes one PDF page. The whole notebook becomes one document.
If any pages are rotated or skewed, rotate and deskew before continuing.
OCR with realistic expectations
Run OCR on the combined PDF. Handwriting OCR is far less accurate than print — expect 60-80% accuracy on neat handwriting, less on hurried scribbles.
Use OCR as a search aid, not a literal transcript. "Action items" will be searchable; "the exact phrasing" probably isn't.
Optimise for archival
Compress the result — photos compress well. Add metadata — date of the meeting, topic, attendees.
Name the file usefully: `2026-05-12_meeting_notes_acme.pdf`. Searchable filename + searchable content = findable archive.
FAQ
How good is OCR on handwriting?
Variable. Neat printed handwriting: 80-90%. Mixed cursive and print: 60-70%. Hurried scribbles: 40-50%. Always check critical content manually.
What if my photos are crooked?
Deskew before OCR. Straight pages improve OCR accuracy significantly.
Can I edit the OCR text?
Yes. The text layer is editable in the editor. Useful for fixing key terms OCR mis-read.
Should I use a flatbed scanner instead?
Better quality than phone photos, but slower. For 5+ pages, a phone in document mode is usually fast enough.
Handwritten notes become a real archive with photos, merge, and OCR. Start in Flint's image-to-PDF tool and you'll be done in minutes.