What's the fastest way to type up a handwritten essay in Word?

How to type up a handwritten essay

1. Photograph page 1. Flat on a table, shot straight down, with the title and the page edges in the frame.
2. Upload it in the box on this page. A JPG, PNG, WEBP or HEIC photo, or a one-page PDF, up to 5 MB.
3. Download the Word file. Your essay comes back typed, with the title on top and each paragraph where you started it.
4. Add the other pages. Convert each page and paste it under the last, or scan the essay into one PDF and upload it to the LoreAI app for one Word file.
5. Format it for hand in. Set the font, line spacing and margins your course asks for, add your name and the date, and save.

Do my paragraphs and line breaks stay right?

Yes. On paper, each line ends where the page runs out. In Word, a paragraph should run on and wrap by itself. LoreAI joins the lines you wrapped at the edge of the page into one paragraph, so the text reflows when you change the font size or the margins, and a new paragraph in your handwriting starts a new paragraph in Word.

Lines that run to the edge of the page

Joined into one flowing paragraph

A new paragraph or an indent

A new paragraph in Word

Title and section headings

Word headings above the paragraphs

A poem, a quote set apart or an address

Short lines keep their line breaks

Numbered points in an answer

A numbered list

That matters when your teacher wants double spacing or 12 point type. You change it once for the whole document and every paragraph follows, with no stray line breaks to delete.

How do I check the word count after converting?

Open the Word file and look at the status bar at the bottom. Microsoft says the status bar shows how many words are in a document, and when you highlight text first, it shows the count for that selection and for the whole document[1]. Highlight the body without the title and the reference list to count only what your essay limit counts.

In Google Docs, click Tools, Word count[2]. Check Display word count while typing to keep the count on screen in the bottom left as you edit[2]. Google counts everything except headers, footers and footnotes unless you select part of the document[2].

Without Word or Docs, drop the .docx into the free PDF word counter. It counts DOCX and TXT files as well as PDFs, with words, characters with and without spaces, and lines. It also reads a scanned PDF of the handwritten pages directly, if you only want the count and not the typed file.

A whole essay or assignment at once

Scan the pages into one PDF in order, with your phone's scan function or with JPG to PDF for photos you already took. Upload the PDF to the LoreAI app with OCR Only selected. It reads every page and returns one Word file with the essay from the first line to the last. Your first document is free, up to 3 pages and 3 MB.

An essay written in another language for a language course can be translated in the same step. Choose OCR + Translate and one of 105 languages, and the Word file comes back in that language.

Why convert instead of retyping?

• A page of handwriting takes a few seconds to convert and several minutes to retype.
• You keep your own wording, so the typed essay says what you wrote in class or in the exam room.
• A spell check runs on typed text, never on a photo of a page.
• You can paste quotes from your notes, add references and keep drafts as files.
• A typed copy is easy to share with a tutor or a study partner before you hand it in.

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