Chemistry notes converter for handwritten reactions
Chemistry breaks ordinary handwriting OCR: subscripts, charges, reaction arrows and conditions written above them. Scriveno transcribes handwritten chemistry into mhchem's \ce{} notation - the LaTeX standard for chemical equations - keeping coefficients, state symbols and arrows exactly as you wrote them.
Handwritten chemistry notes, typeset
Handwritten Chemistry Notes with a Formula
The original handwritten chemistry notes.
Reactions in mhchem notation
Conditions sit on the arrow, and charges and precipitates are kept:
\[ \ce{CaCO3 ->[\Delta] CaO + CO2} \]
\[ \ce{Fe^3+ + 3OH- -> Fe(OH)3 v} \]How it works
Photograph or scan the page
Take a photo (JPG or PNG) or upload a PDF. A multi-page PDF is read page by page into one document.
Reactions are written in mhchem
Formulas and equations are transcribed as \ce{} notation; hand-drawn structures are cropped from the page and kept.
Preview and export
Check the rendered preview and download LaTeX, a typeset PDF, Word or Markdown.
Reactions written the way chemists typeset them
mhchem's \ce{} notation is how chemical equations are typeset in LaTeX, and it's what Scriveno writes. Stoichiometric coefficients, subscripts and charges are preserved, state symbols - (s), (l), (g), (aq) - are kept, and the arrow you drew is the arrow you get:
- Forward (->) and equilibrium (<=>) arrows, as drawn
- Conditions written over the arrow, such as heat or a catalyst
- Ionic charges like Fe^3+ and OH-, and precipitates marked on products
Structures you drew by hand
Skeletal formulas, rings and Lewis structures can't be reliably redrawn as LaTeX, so they aren't guessed at. The drawing is detected, cropped from your original page and placed in the document where it was. When the compound is recognisable, its molecular formula is written in \ce{} too.
A recognised structure can also be labelled with the compound's name next to your own drawing, marked as AI-identified so you know to double-check it. Without an account that happens automatically; signed in, you turn it on in your profile.
From lab notebook to report
Tables of readings become real tables, and calculations with units are typeset with the units upright. Download LaTeX for a report or thesis chapter, Word for a lab write-up template, or PDF for revision notes.
Frequently asked questions
- Does it keep state symbols and reaction arrows?
- Yes. State symbols, stoichiometric coefficients and the type of arrow - forward, equilibrium or with conditions above it - are transcribed as written, in mhchem's \ce{} notation.
- Can it read hand-drawn organic structures?
- Structures are kept as the drawing itself, cropped from your page, rather than redrawn. A confidently recognised compound also gets its molecular formula, and with structure lookup turned on in your profile, its name - labelled as AI-identified.
- Which export is best for chemistry?
- The LaTeX and PDF exports give the most faithful chemistry typesetting, because they render mhchem notation directly. Word is available too; check the reactions after opening the file.
- What happens to my uploaded notes?
- Pages are read by recognition models Scriveno runs on its own servers in Denmark - they aren't sent to a third-party AI provider and are never used to train a model. Uploads and every file made from them are deleted automatically after the file-retention period, currently 7 days. Read the Privacy Policy
Convert a page of chemistry notes
Upload a photo or PDF and check the reactions in the preview.
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