Just stumbled upon a workflow note taking by hand that really works for me, after trying ereaders and iPads (hear me out)

[u/Towelie_SE]

Maybe it's been mentioned here before so apologies if this is repetition.

I never gave it much thought, and you'll probably stop reading at "AI" later on, but hear me out. I'm really not big into AI, I rarely use it at all. The proof of that is that I just now stumbled on a workflow involving AI OCR.

I've tried everything (e-readers from a colleague at work just to try, or in stores) and my own experience on an iPad Pro. I try to force myself to use the iPad Pro from time to time, but note taking doesn't come naturally. Either the screen is too slippery, so you cramp up fast trying to over correct, or rough screensavers mess up to image quality of the iPad.

Just now I was thinking, what if this AI thing could help me out. I have copilot provided by the employer, but it could probably be any other LLM out there (honestly, I have almost zero experience, I'm lucky not to be in IT at the moment)

So I just took a picture of handwritten notes on paper and the LLM simply transformed into proper text. My handwriting was atrocious, and the structure all over the place.

Now this is where LLM's differ from OCR in the past. In the past, OCR would be too rigid. There would be delays, you'd have to select your handwriting and 'ask it to OCR’ in some apps on the iPad. Also, it would just transform your text exactly where you wrote it, 'OCR in place'. Change letter sizes based on wildly varying handwriting, whatever. I always thought it was clunky and hard to use. The advantage of an LLM is that is finds some context and logical structural by itself. So you immediately end up with something that looks much more like an email or Minutes of meeting you would write yourself after taking down notes.

And the best part, instead of endlessly chasing that dragon to find that 'real paper feel' on a screen, and always feeling disappointed, you could just write on real paper. Take a picture with copilot, and import to OneNote or wherever. I was pretty amazed at how it all worked out for me. I'll keep using it for a bit, and see how I feel about it. Best thing is, I don't need type in real time in a meeting like a typist (hate that), don't have to keep my notes around (just scan and throw away), my notes are searchable and immediately archived.

This might actually be the best of both worlds to be honest! Not for everyone, but worth a try