Handwritten notes to Markdown for your notes app
Scriveno converts photos and PDFs of handwritten notes into Markdown: headings and text as plain Markdown, math in standard LaTeX delimiters, chemistry in mhchem notation - a plain-text file that drops straight into a notes vault or a Git repository.
A handwritten page, transcribed
Handwritten Physics Notes on Temperature
A handwritten physics note covering the concept of temperature.
What the Markdown looks like
Each page is a section; math uses $ ... $ inline and \[ ... \] for display:
## Page 1
The kinetic energy of a moving body is $E_k = \tfrac{1}{2}mv^2$.
\[ W = \Delta E_k \]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.
Scriveno transcribes it
Text, math and tables are transcribed page by page, with math written in LaTeX delimiters inside the Markdown.
Download the .md file
Check the preview and download the Markdown - or the PDF, Word or LaTeX version of the same notes.
Plain text that keeps the math
Markdown is the format of personal knowledge bases, documentation and study vaults, because it's plain text that will still open in twenty years. Scriveno's Markdown export writes inline math as $ ... $ and display math as \[ ... \], the delimiters Markdown editors with math support render, and chemistry in mhchem's \ce{} notation.
Math rendering and mhchem support vary between editors and plugins, so check how yours displays the file.
Structured for a notes vault
Each page of the upload becomes its own section, headed by its page number, so a long PDF of lecture notes stays navigable. Tables are kept as Markdown pipe tables, every page also carries its full LaTeX source in a collapsible block, and a page that couldn't be read is marked as such instead of silently missing.
Why Markdown for handwritten notes
It's searchable, diffable and portable: link lecture notes to each other in Obsidian, keep revision notes in a Git repository, or run the file through Pandoc to produce slides or a handout later. It's also the lightest way to store notes you'll mostly search rather than print.
A workflow that stays in plain text
Photograph the page after a lecture, convert it, and drop the .md file into the week's folder of your vault. Add your own links and tags on top; the math is already there in LaTeX form. When exam season comes, the whole folder is searchable text, and Pandoc can turn any note into a PDF or slides without retyping.
Because every page also keeps its LaTeX source, nothing is lost if you later decide a note belongs in a LaTeX document instead.
Frequently asked questions
- Which Markdown editors render the math?
- The math uses standard LaTeX delimiters - $ ... $ inline and \[ ... \] for display - which math-aware editors such as Obsidian and Typora, and Pandoc, understand. Chemistry uses mhchem's \ce{}, which may need a plugin or extension in your editor.
- Which files can I upload?
- PDFs, and photos in JPG or PNG format. Phone photos work; an evenly lit, flat, in-focus page gives the most reliable result.
- What happens to diagrams in Markdown?
- Markdown is text-only, so hand-drawn diagrams are best kept via the PDF or Word export, which include them cropped from your original page.
- 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
Put your handwritten notes in your notes app
Upload a page and download it as Markdown.
Convert your notes