reMarkable Handwriting to Text: What Conversion Does
By Schema LawPublished Updated
A reMarkable paper tablet can turn handwriting into text. reMarkable's support article says conversion gives you editable, typed text on the device, on a new page that leaves your handwritten page as it was. You need Wi-Fi and a reMarkable account, and you can email the typed result afterwards.
Every statement about the tablet in this post comes from reMarkable's own support pages, opened and read for it. None of it rates how well the tablet reads any particular hand. Your writing decides that, so run the test on a page of your own notes.
Can a reMarkable tablet convert handwriting to text?
Yes. reMarkable's support article on how to convert handwritten notes into text says handwriting conversion turns handwritten notes into editable, typed text on the tablet. The same article says both block letters and cursive are recognized, and that a Connect subscription adds conversion in the desktop app.
The article also sets out what is and is not converted:
| Content on the page | What the support article says |
|---|---|
| Handwritten notes in notebooks | Can be converted |
| Block letters and cursive | Recognized |
| Bullet points and some smiley faces | Supported |
| Symbols such as mathematical notation, and diagrams | Not converted |
Conversion does not sit behind the subscription. reMarkable's page on using the tablet without a subscription lists handwriting conversion among the features that come with the device.
Two limits follow for legal notes. A sketch of an intersection in your accident notes, or an arrow linking two names, is a diagram and stays behind. And "recognized" is the vendor's word for what the feature accepts. It is not a promise about your hand. The post on whether software can read handwriting at all explains why results differ so much between writers.
Keep the names, the date, any amount, and your initials readable in the ink on accident notes, and leave the sketch as a sketch. The handwritten page is your documentary evidence. Authentication stays straightforward when that page remains. If the file syncs, write the chain of custody down. Judge probative value from the lines you compared with the ink.
Convert to text on a reMarkable page, per the support article
On a reMarkable page you convert from the Document settings menu. The support article gives three steps, and the result is a new page of typed text.
- Open your notebook, ebook or PDF to the handwritten page.
- Tap the Document settings icon in the toolbar.
- Tap Convert to text in the menu that appears.
Set the language first
The article lists a language setting for conversion and says to choose it "to get the best results". The path it gives is Menu, then Settings, then Language and keyboard under Personal, then Handwriting conversion. The supported languages it names include English for the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada, French for France and Canada, German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Polish, Greek and more than twenty others. If you take notes from a Spanish-speaking client in Spanish, check the setting before you convert that notebook.
Editing the typed page
According to the same article you can edit the typed version with the on-screen keyboard, with the Type Folio keyboard cover, or in the reMarkable mobile and desktop apps if you have Connect. The article describes no review step and no marking of words the software was unsure of. Read the typed page against your handwriting before the text goes into a file note.
Why does reMarkable handwriting conversion need Wi-Fi and an account?
reMarkable states the requirement and does not give the reason. The conversion article says, before you start, to make sure the device is connected to Wi-Fi and that you are logged in with your reMarkable account. The subscription page repeats both conditions. Neither page says why they exist or where the conversion is carried out.
One more detail is documented. reMarkable's article on handwriting search says: "We use MyScript, the same technology that powers the handwriting conversion tool in your documents."
That leaves questions a lawyer should put to the vendor before converting notes of a privileged meeting, because the support pages opened for this post do not answer them:
- Does the handwriting leave the tablet when you tap Convert to text?
- If it does, who receives it, and is anything kept afterwards?
- Does the answer change with a Connect subscription?
You can also see the requirement for yourself. Turn Wi-Fi off, try to convert a page of harmless notes, and read the message the tablet gives you. For what to ask any service that handles client material, see the post on whether it is safe to upload client documents to an OCR tool.
Converting several reMarkable pages and what happens to the handwriting
Several pages convert together from the Page Overview, and the handwriting survives only if you choose the right method. reMarkable's article says conversion through Document settings leaves the original handwritten notes unchanged, while conversion with the Selection Tool removes the handwriting it converts.
The multi-page steps, as the article gives them:
- Tap Page Overview in the toolbar.
- Long-press the first page, then tap to select additional pages.
- Tap Convert in the action bar.
- Tap the new text page to open and edit it.
The Selection Tool swaps ink for type
The other route works on part of a page. You tap the Selection Tool, select the handwriting, and tap the handwriting conversion icon, which the article describes as a lowercase letter A. The typed text is pasted onto the same page. The article's own note on this method is blunt: it "does not preserve handwriting, it swaps it for text (cut-paste) on the same page instead." For conversion that keeps the ink, it recommends Convert to text under Document settings.
For legal notes that difference matters. Your handwritten page is the record of what you wrote at the time. If the typed version has a wrong date or a misread name, the ink is what you check it against. Use the Document settings route for attendance notes, witness interviews and anything else you may need to go back to, and keep the Selection Tool for scratch pages.
Sending converted reMarkable text to email or a computer
You can email converted text from the tablet, move it into another notebook, or upload it to cloud storage. The conversion article lists three exports: move converted notes into other notebooks, send by email as a PDF, PNG or inline text, and upload to services such as Google Drive or Dropbox.
reMarkable's separate article on how to send by email words the formats a little differently. It lists PDF, PNG and SVG files, and says you can send typed or converted text in the body of the email "if that text is all the document contains". The option is labelled "Text in email". The two pages do not match on SVG, so look at the format list on your own device.
A worked example. Marisol Ortega takes four pages of notes at a client meeting about a boundary dispute. Back at her desk she:
- Converts the four pages from Page Overview, so the ink stays in the notebook.
- Reads the typed page against the handwriting and corrects two surnames and a parcel number.
- Long-presses the page in Page overview, taps the three dots (More) in the action bar and chooses Send by email.
- Picks "Text in email" and sends it to her own address.
The email article says the message arrives from my@remarkable.com, that the tablet must be on Wi-Fi and paired with an account, and that the tablet keeps no history of sent emails. It also warns that business addresses may require whitelisting the @remarkable.com domain, so send yourself a test before you rely on it the evening before a hearing.
Email from a vendor's address is its own confidentiality question. If your firm's policy rules it out, the conversion article's other routes are moving the notes on the device and uploading to a cloud storage service your firm already uses.
Where a tablet stops
The conversion article lists handwritten notes in notebooks as what can be converted. It does not describe reading handwriting that arrives as a scan. Handwriting that already exists on paper, such as a client's letter or a witness's diary, has to be scanned and read by OCR software. Schema Law reads uploaded PDF, PNG and JPEG pages into text and exports them as Word, searchable PDF, plain text and the other export formats listed on the homepage. Its recognition is strongest on clean print and weaker on handwriting, and nothing marks a passage as uncertain, so check the result against the page.
For how paper tablets compare with other devices, see the post on tablet handwriting-to-text apps. For reMarkable beside the note apps that do a similar job, see the comparison of note-taking apps that convert handwriting to text.