Although everything is going digital at a fast pace, many of us still rely on typical and outdated methods such as using handwritten notes and paper receipts to manage day-to-day records.
Organizing and managing paper documents can be a real pain. Plus, there’s also the possibility that these physical documents could be lost or damaged due to unexpected events such as floods, fires, and other natural disasters.
Digitizing these documents offers numerous benefits, making record-keeping a breeze. In this blog post, we will discuss how one can convert physical paper documents into digital records and explore the benefits of going paperless.
How to Convert Handwritten Notes and Receipts into Digital Records
Converting paper documents into digital records is quite easy, thanks to the advancements in Optical Character Recognition or OCR technology. Users can perform such conversions effortlessly anytime, anywhere.
Optical Character Recognition uses machine learning to detect and extract textual material from an image. The tools employing OCR technology are used for picture-to-text conversions. Anyone can access such a tool online without completing any account registration or paying a single penny.
The use method is pretty much the same with all image-to-text converters. Users just need to follow the below steps.
- Access an OCR or image-to-text converting tool online
- Take a picture of the physical paper you want to convert into a digital document using a camera.
- Upload that picture into the tool’s input field. Users can also use the drag-and-drop feature to initiate the text extraction procedure.
- Hit the ‘’Convert’’ button. Some tools automatically start the process the moment you insert the image.
- Copy or download the extracted text file.
This is how one can easily convert their physical paper records into digital documents.
Our Hands-On Experience with an OCR Converter
We decided to give an OCR tool a shot to see if it really can perform picture to text conversions. A single Google search brought us many tools. We randomly picked one tool named imagetotext.info to get first-hand experience of such a tool.
We performed a couple of texts on the tool. In the first test, we inserted a handwritten note into the tool. In our second attempt, we tested it with a blurry image to see if it could handle and extract editable text from it.
Test#1
We uploaded the following image. It took us a few seconds to complete the process.
Upon hitting the provided ‘’Convert’’ button, the tool took a couple of seconds to come up with editable extracted text.
The tool worked accurately and efficiently. It didn’t miss anything. We were able to copy or download the extracted text.
Test#2
In our second attempt, we decided to test the tool with something challenging. We opted for a receipt image that was quite blurry. We intentionally added more blurriness to the image as we wanted to give a really tough time to OCR technology.
Our Input Blurry Image:
Tool’s Output:
The OCR-powered image-to-text converter extracted text with the greatest accuracy. To be honest, we weren’t expecting that the tool would be able to do it successfully. Our hands-on experience with the OCR-based image-to-text converter went smoothly. It provided us with satisfying results satisfy in both of our attempts. So, it’s safe to say that using an image-to-text converter is an easy and reliable way to convert paper documents into digital text files.
Benefits of Keeping Digital Records
There are several benefits of keeping paperless records, with the following being the key ones:
Organization
Unlike physical paper documents, digital files can easily be organized by category, date, or any other name. It will be easier for users to search through digital documents; any file can be found in a single click. No more searching through bulky paper piles to find a 2-year-old receipt.
Accessibility
This is probably one of the key advantages of switching to digital documents. All the relevant documents can be accessed anytime anywhere. Anyone who has access can easily view and edit digital files. It will also contribute to increased productivity and efficiency.
Solid Protection
By shifting to digital records, you reduce the chances of losing important documents once and for all. Digital documents stored online or in a device won’t get damaged or misplaced. All of your vital handwritten notes, records, and letters can be preserved for decades to come.
Good for the Environment
You produce less waste when you rely on digital documents for keeping records. It will ultimately contribute to reducing the environmental impact. So, going paperless won’t only add a lot of ease to your life, but it will also go a long way toward keeping our home planet in the best form.
Improved Collaboration
It’s difficult to work with disorganized paper piles. Digital files allow enhanced collaboration. Several people in a business can access and modify the same file without any problem. Having a digital record also makes it easy to share text files and receive feedback from different stakeholders and teams simultaneously.
Final Words
There are many benefits of converting handwritten notes and receipts into digital records. The OCR technology has evolved over the years. Tools using this technology are now capable of extracting editable text even from blurry images.
Users can easily convert their paper documents into digital text files by using such a tool. We did a couple of tests on a randomly picked image-to-text converter. It provided us with satisfying results every time.
The most noteworthy benefits of maintaining digital records include but are not limited to improved organization, easy accessibility, solid protection against damage, and effective collaboration. Lastly, saying goodbye to paper documents also contributes to saving our planet Earth.