iPad Pro Convert handwritten drawing to text in Google Docs

[anjanesh]

I have a 12" iPad Pro (2019) which my 60+ year old mother uses for zoom to take online classes for middle school goers.
She takes photos of hand-written notes using her iPhone and sends the photos to the kids for assignments.

I got her to use Google Docs to type in the assignment questions, but typing on a device post the age of 60 is way too much time-consuming and causing her stress.

I didn't get the Apple Pencil when I got the iPad Pro since I thought I would be the one using it.

So, I need to know what solutions (including paid ones, not Office 365) exist for writing on the iPad that can convert hand-written drawings to text instantly and embed the text into a document. Why isn't this there in Google Docs ?

Do I strictly need get a $120 Apple pencil ? Writing using the finger won't be detected by apps ?
Can I use another company's lower priced pencil for this purpose ?

There seem to be many drawing / graphics apps that can do this but you can't expect someone to use 2 apps at the same time, one being drawing and copy on app 1 then pasting it into a Document app 2.

I understand the default Notes app has some of this functionality but the Google Docs link is what's being sent as a link to the students who are mostly on Android devices or Windows laptops.

 

[LibbyLA]

I have a 12" iPad Pro (2019) which my 60+ year old mother uses for zoom to take online classes for middle school goers.
She takes photos of hand-written notes using her iPhone and sends the photos to the kids for assignments.

I got her to use Google Docs to type in the assignment questions, but typing on a device post the age of 60 is way too much time-consuming and causing her stress.

I didn't get the Apple Pencil when I got the iPad Pro since I thought I would be the one using it.

So, I need to know what solutions (including paid ones, not Office 365) exist for writing on the iPad that can convert hand-written drawings to text instantly and embed the text into a document. Why isn't this there in Google Docs ?

Do I strictly need get a $120 Apple pencil ? Writing using the finger won't be detected by apps ?
Can I use another company's lower priced pencil for this purpose ?

There seem to be many drawing / graphics apps that can do this but you can't expect someone to use 2 apps at the same time, one being drawing and copy on app 1 then pasting it into a Document app 2.

I understand the default Notes app has some of this functionality but the Google Docs link is what's being sent as a link to the students who are mostly on Android devices or Windows laptops.

I’m over 60 and type on iPads hours a day using both the ASK and the onscreen keyboard. Does she have a keyboard for the iPad? If not, she needs one. It doesn’t have to be an Apple keyboard although you might be able to get a refurbished ASK at a decent price if you don’t already have one.

if she doesn’t need pressure sensitivity (and she probably doesn’t), just get a generic pencil from Amazon. You should be able to find something with good ratings for under $20. The one I have is no longer available or I’d share a link. I use Apple pencils, but when I was grading papers and writing on two iPads, I bought both a Logitech crayon and a generic pencil because I could write on both iPads with the same pencil, which I could not do with the Apple Pencil.

I have no idea about getting anything into Google docs because I seldom use it. I don’t know whether she could take screen shots and copy/paste into a Google doc.

Can you post a screen shot or two of a typical document? That might net you some more useful answers than just a description.

 

[anjanesh]

Does she have a keyboard for the iPad?

Yes. This I got - not the newer one - but the previous generation - which doesn't have a trackpad. But it's still no use as she isn't used to a laptop in the first place - so typing on the iPad Pro's keyboard is also time consuming and hence neglected.

I don’t know whether she could take screen shots and copy/paste into a Google doc.

She doesn't paste screenshots to Google Doc - she is sending them via WhatsApp ! That's even more messy.

If she could hand-write the entire content onto a Doc app which eventually gets converted to text, that would be ideal.
(But that doc needs to be shared amongst Android / Windows / ChromeBook users, hence the reason for using Google Docs)

if she doesn’t need pressure sensitivity (and she probably doesn’t), just get a generic pencil from Amazon. You should be able to find something with good ratings for under $20.

How about this ESR from Amazon for $30 ?

Can you post a screen shot or two of a typical document?

Regular classroom lesson material like English, History, Geography, Science etc content for middle school goers.

 

[Slartibart]

if this pictures/photos are on the iPad the only thing she has to do is tap and select the text with a finger:

Natural materials found on the earth that
allow the existence of life and satisfy the
needs of living organisms are called natural
resources. Plants and animals are living
natural resources. Air, water, soil and minerals
are non-living natural resources. We get these
natural resources from:
the solid parts of the earth's crust.
the water bodies, such as seas, rivers and
lakes on the earth.
% the gases (air) surrounding the earth
known

I copied and pasted the above directly here from the photo - iPadOS 15.6.1. Don’t use Google Docs, but it pastes right into Pages or Collabora Office.

It shows that there is a small problem with the bullets - but in general this works pretty well for all supported languages. No pencil needed.

 

[anjanesh]

Wow - this is amazing. Thanks.

 

[LibbyLA]

Yes. This I got - not the newer one - but the previous generation - which doesn't have a trackpad. But it's still no use as she isn't used to a laptop in the first place - so typing on the iPad Pro's keyboard is also time consuming and hence neglected.



She doesn't paste screenshots to Google Doc - she is sending them via WhatsApp ! That's even more messy.

If she could hand-write the entire content onto a Doc app which eventually gets converted to text, that would be ideal.
(But that doc needs to be shared amongst Android / Windows / ChromeBook users, hence the reason for using Google Docs)


How about this ESR from Amazon for $30 ?



Regular classroom lesson material like English, History, Geography, Science etc content for middle school goers.

View attachment 2046188

That ESR is listed at something like $2,299. You should be able to find something highly rated for less than $20. There’s probably no reason to pay more than that.

 

[anjanesh]

That ESR is listed at something like $2,299. You should be able to find something highly rated for less than $20. There’s probably no reason to pay more than that.

Its not $2,299 - its in Indian Rupees - Rs 2,299 which is less than $30.

 

[LibbyLA]

Its not $2,299 - its in Indian Rupees - Rs 2,299 which is less than $30.

Thanks for the correction. I’m in the US on a US Amazon site so I don’t expect prices to be anything other than US dollars. I wouldn’t have looked at that one anyway because there are others that cost about half that much.

 

[anjanesh]

Ok - so I've been experimenting with this - copy pasting one page at a time from Notes to Google Docs is a time-consuming process.

Is there some option to handwrite (using the pen) many pages scrolling down (say like 10-20 pages) on a single Notes document and on the click of a button, convert that to text ? (So that I can take a multi-page printout of this text document in one go).

I don't mind if it's a paid software. I need this functionality real bad.

 

[Slartibart]

pasting directly in Google Docs isn’t an option? Why the Notes step? Google Docs is obligatory?