How to use ChatGPT to digitize your handwritten notes for free

Sabrina Ortiz/ZDNET

Writing down notes with pen and paper scratches an itch that typing textual content does not fulfill. Studies have proven that bodily jotting down notes is a greater strategy to retain info. Nevertheless, by writing stuff down, you miss out on the perks of digitizing your notes. ChatGPT helps you get the very best of each worlds. 

When OpenAI supercharged the free version of ChatGPT with GPT-4o in Might, customers might add information, together with photos, paperwork, and extra. This replace allowed customers to work together with photos in a number of methods, together with extracting textual content. 

Additionally: How to use ChatGPT to analyze PDFs for free

This functionality means you may add handwritten paperwork, from sticky notes to assembly and sophistication notes to packing lists, and convert them into textual content. Then, you need to use that textual content to create new content material by copying and pasting it into displays, emails, outlines, essays, Quizlets, and extra. 

Sound too good to be true? I assumed the identical, however after testing the device a number of instances, I can guarantee you that it really works effectively and shortly. Getting began is easy, and you’ll not need to cease when you begin. 

1. Log in to your OpenAI account 

Log in to ChatGPT

If you have not created an account, click on on Signal Up. In any other case, log in together with your OpenAI credentials.

Screenshot by Maria Diaz/ZDNET

Although you may entry ChatGPT with out creating an OpenAI account, it’s essential check in to entry GPT-4o and its many perks, together with picture uploads. The excellent news is that creating an account is simple, and the perks are effectively price it. 

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If in case you have by no means created a ChatGPT account, you may simply accomplish that from the sign-in web page. You can too log in together with your current Google or Microsoft account. I opted for the latter choice, so I haven’t got to memorize one other username and password. 

2. Add your picture 

ChatGPT paperclip icon
Screenshot by Sabrina Ortiz/ZDNET

When you log in, you may be dropped at the ChatGPT interface with a clean textbox. Subsequent to the textbox, you will see that a paperclip icon, which you’ll be able to click on on to add your picture from a number of completely different sources, together with Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, or your laptop. 

If the picture is available in your gadget, you may drag and drop it to your textual content field.

Additionally: Gmail users can now ask Google’s Gemini AI to help compose and summarize emails

I would not fear about what your textual content seems to be like as a result of I uploaded a sticky notice I wrote over the weekend in cursive, as seen under, and ChatGPT had no downside understanding and outputting the textual content. 

Sabrina's to-do list sticky note
Sabrina Ortiz/ZDNET

Should you enter the image with no textual content immediate, ChatGPT will most frequently mechanically extract the textual content and current it to you typed out. Nevertheless, to make sure the bot is aware of what to do and does so efficiently, I like to recommend including a easy textual content immediate like, “Are you able to extract the textual content from this picture?” after which hit enter. 

3. Use your textual content for no matter you want

ChatGPT sticky note text extraction
Screenshot by Sabrina Ortiz/ZDNET

As soon as ChatGPT outputs the extracted textual content, you may verify to make sure the output precisely represents your textual content. In each occasion I’ve tried, the bot has been word-for-word appropriate. Then, you may copy and paste the textual content wherever you would like. Some use instances embrace displays, emails, digital sticky notes, outlines, and extra.  

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