How to get handwritten notes into Google Docs

How to turn handwritten notes into a Google Doc

1. Photograph the page. Flat, straight down, in good light, one page per photo.
2. Convert it in the box on this page. Upload the photo, up to 5 MB, and download the Word file. The handwriting comes back typed, with headings and lists.
3. Upload the .docx to Google Drive. On a computer, open drive.google.com, click New, then File Upload, and choose the file[2]. Dragging the file into a Drive folder works too[2].
4. Open it in Google Docs. Double click the file in Drive and it opens in Google Docs[1].
5. Save it as a Google Doc. Click the File menu. If it shows Office Compatibility Mode, you can save the file to Google Docs from there[1].

Why go through a Word file?

Google Docs opens Word files. Google lists .docx among the file types you can convert to Google Docs, and you can save a document back to Office only as .docx[1]. So a .docx is the one format that moves between Word and Google Docs both ways.

Google Drive also has its own OCR. You right click a photo or PDF and choose Open with Google Docs. Google asks for files of 2 MB or smaller and says lists, tables and columns are not likely to be detected[3]. Lecture notes are mostly lists, which is why the Word file from LoreAI makes a better start. Its bullet points arrive as a list in the Google Doc, ready to indent and reorder. The Google Drive OCR page covers Drive's own route in detail.

Formats Google Docs converts

.docx, .doc, .odt, .rtf, .txt and others[1]

Format Docs saves back to Office

.docx[1]

Drive OCR file limit

2 MB[3]

Lists in Drive OCR

Not likely to be detected, says Google[3]

Charts embedded in a Word file

Converted to images in Docs[1]

Can Google Drive convert every Word file to Docs automatically?

Yes, with one setting. On a computer, go to drive.google.com/drive/settings and check the box next to Convert uploads to Google Docs editor format[2]. Google says this setting can only be changed from a computer[2]. After that, each .docx you upload arrives as a Google Doc, so a semester of converted notes lands in Drive ready to edit.

Notes in a shared Google Doc for a study group

Google Docs lets several people edit an Office file at the same time when you open it directly in Docs[1]. That suits a study group. One person converts the lecture, uploads the .docx and shares it, and everyone adds their own notes under the same headings.

• Convert the whole lecture as one PDF in the LoreAI app, so the shared Doc holds every page. Your first document is free, up to 3 pages.
• Tick Include images in results in the app to keep diagrams from the notes as pictures in the file.
• Use the headings from your notes as the outline, so each member knows where to add.

On a phone

Take the photo with your phone camera and upload it in the box on this page, which works in the phone's browser. Then upload the Word file to Google Drive and open it in Google Docs. Notes taken on a tablet with a stylus are a different case. For those, see iPad handwriting to text.

Questions people ask