How can we convert handwriting (on old school Rolodex cards) to a digital format? Business Card Scanner maybe?

Question:

I am trying to help someone convert from a 600+ entry Rolodex system where he keeps his names & numbers to some kind of digital system. Want to then transfer out to some kind of PDA other portable device, such as Blackberry. Please help me think of what can scan and convert handwriting to digital format. Thanks so much.

Answer:
This is going to sound sarcastic but it's not: pay someone to type it into a spreadsheet or database for you. This is a classic data entry opportunity and there are lots of people that do that. The problem is that the Rolodex cards info is not structured and not neat and probably written in different pens et cetera, and this will exponentially increase the difficulty of any OCR software recognizing the handwriting. Net net it is probably not worth the effort and cost to buy a scanner and the software you would need.

Of course you could always just make a template spreadsheet, divide the 600 cards among 10 people, and have them type it into the template spreadsheet then combine the 10 populated spreadsheets.

The least expensive way is to manually type all the entries into a database and transger it to your PDA.

Software can't recognize handwriting unless the formatting, letters, and placement of information is the same from sample to sample.

Basically they above people are correct, the only thing that may save you some time, is using a program such as dragon speak, so you don't have to type you can just speak the entries in. Might save a little time and effort.

How can we convert handwriting (on old school Rolodex cards) to a digital format? Business Card Scanner maybe?

Hot Topic