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Hi
Not sure if this even exists!
15 year old son uses a MacBook at school rather than writing down notes by hand. ASD/DYSPRAXIA.
Does anything exist that you plug in and can jot notes that then types out the text ?
He’s not great at touch typing so was looking for an alternative.
Any help appreciated
An iPad will do the handwriting to text stuff.
would an iPad with pen using sidecar work?
I thought the iPad Pro had a feature like this. If so, the fact that it is an Apple product surely means the sync with the MacBook will be seamless
Ive just handwritten a note on my ancient Iphone 7 in the notes. It has saved it with the word that I wrote as the title so there is obviously something going on there!
A graphic tablet as above. We all got them at work for teaching during lock down. You don’t need a posh one but your machine probably needs to be able to run the driver
However I’m not sure it’s the answer. You have to learn to look in one place and write in another. In general it makes your writing slightly less good.
If he is going to write a pen paper is easier. Although the tablet is easier for error correction. A modern I pad and stylus us the best of all worlds
However I now feel like that guy on the internet. I’m keen to help if you give me more information
Ps what subjects?
You have to learn to look in one place and write in another.
Thats a pretty good point - graphics tablets are useful for controlling a graphics program - but thats really what they are, a controller like your mouse. An iPad is a better tool for writing as the text is at the tip of the pencil and integrates very well with the Mac through sidecar - you can effectively extend your workspace across both devices - or use the iPad as an input device - but its quite an expensive solution. If you're writing is bad, it'll be worse on an iPad though as the surface you're writing on is so slippy - putting a matt screen protector on helps a bit. But an iPad sort of makes the MacBook redundant too- you might as well do everything in the iPad.
OSX and iOS both have incredibly good text recognition built it - you could write on a piece of paper, take a photo and either your phone or the Photos app on your Mac would turn the writing into editable text.
I'm currently listing books and magazines on eBay and I take a photo of the contents page and can copy and paste the text straight off the photo into the listings.
I use an iPad with Apple Pencil to scribble stuff in OneNote that's also open on my laptop*. They sync pretty fast and it allows me to switch seamlessly between typed text and hand scribbles. The handwriting recognistion is fine and I gather it gets better the more you use it. As mentioned above, a matte screen protector makes writing/drawing so much better.
A few years ago when I was trialing devices to support kids with Dyslexia in class the group of kids I worked with unanimously prefered having devices with a keyboard and pen**. They all hated graphics tablets for the reason mentioned above - really tricky to learn the co-ordination.
Sorry, it's quite an expensive option.
* I could do it all on the iPad if I set it up with a keyboard but I have the space so do it more ergonomically for me
**We used MS surface devices in the trial but the essential functions are similar on an iPad
Another option is some kinda speech to text, mac does have dictation options. Appreciate might not be suitable for a classroom environment mind.
https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/pages/tan59042a403/mac
Another leftfield option, he could write in a rocketbook then use the app to do the ocr and email him his text.
Its quite neat….and means he doesnt have to worry about a flat battery.
Not quite what you’re asking for, but a reMarkable tablet does reasonable handwriting to text conversion. Not much use if it needs to go directly into laptop software, but if it’s more about taking handwritten notes that eventually end up on a computer it might be worth investigating.
An iPad, an Apple Pencil and the Good Notes app.
Good Notes can convert handwriting into .doc, .pdf and a few other formats.
As you've already got the mac I agree that ipad is the way to go. i do something similar at work - usually on an iPad but sometimes on my phone if it's quick.
There are a bunch of handwriting recognition apps, they all seem pretty good so take your pic.
There are a number of e-ink tablets on the market that might be of interest, they are often considered more ‘natural’ than a glossy iPad screen
Remarkable 2 was the first that came to mind but there are a few options now.
GF uses an iPad and pencil for her note taking during lectures in the latest round of her course. It seems to work really well and should synch seamlessly to other Apple devices.
An iPad, an Apple Pencil and the Good Notes app.
Logitech Crayon may work better if the user is dyspraxic as it's bulkier and has rounded edges. Also a bit cheaper than the Apple Pencil.
Painfully expensive, but I've worked with a number of people who loved the Remarkable mentioned above. They were all AI researchers so used to taking lots of notes involving equations if this helps.