---
title: "How to convert handwriting to text on reMarkable 2?"
canonical: "https://www.handwritingocr.com/handwriting-to-text/how-to-convert-handwriting-to-text-on-remarkable-2"
pubDate: "2024-11-15T00:00:00.000Z"
updatedDate: "2026-06-16T00:00:00.000Z"
description: "reMarkable's built-in handwriting conversion struggles with cursive and messy notes. Email your notebook to Handwriting OCR and get accurate text back."
subtitle: "How to convert your reMarkable notes to text, and what to do when the built-in recognition isn't accurate enough."
---

> **TL;DR:** The reMarkable's built-in conversion is weak on cursive and messy notes. Email the notebook straight to Handwriting OCR (allow-list `my@remarkable.com`) and get accurate text back in your dashboard, usually within 15 to 20 seconds.

If your reMarkable's handwriting conversion keeps coming back with too many mistakes to trust, there's a faster fix than retyping: **email your notebook straight to Handwriting OCR and get accurate text back in your dashboard.** Our AI is built specifically for handwriting, including the cursive and messy notes the reMarkable's on-device OCR fumbles, and because your tablet can already send files by email, there's nothing to install and no computer involved. You send the notebook from the device, the way you already share files.

Below we cover that email route in full, plus how the built-in feature works and exactly where it falls short.

## When the built-in isn't enough: email your notebook to Handwriting OCR

Handwriting OCR's AI is trained specifically on handwriting, including cursive, messy, and mixed notes, so it reads the writing reMarkable's built-in feature struggles with. And because your reMarkable already has a Send by email option, you email a notebook straight from the device.

It works in a few minutes:

1. **Turn on email submission.** In your Handwriting OCR settings, open the [Email tab](https://app.handwritingocr.com/settings?tab=email) and enable *Email submission*. You'll get a private inbox address, like `smokey-amber-falcon@in.handwritingocr.com`.
2. **Allow reMarkable as a sender.** Under *Allowed senders*, add **`my@remarkable.com`**. That's the address your reMarkable sends from, not your own email. Only senders on this list are accepted, so keep your inbox address private too.
3. **Email the notebook as a PDF.** On your reMarkable, long-press the notebook in *My Files*, tap the **⋯ (More)** menu, and choose **Send by email**. Enter your inbox address, set the format to **PDF**, and tap send. Pick PDF rather than *Text in email*, so our OCR reads your actual handwriting instead of the device's own conversion.
4. **Collect the text in your dashboard.** The transcription appears in your [documents dashboard](https://app.handwritingocr.com/dashboard) with an *Email* badge, usually within 15 to 20 seconds. Download it as TXT, DOCX, PDF, or JSON.

![The Submit by email settings in Handwriting OCR: enable email submission, copy your private @in.handwritingocr.com inbox address, choose the processing action, and add allowed senders such as your tablet.](../../../assets/screenshots/remarkable-email-submission-settings.webp)

The processing action defaults to **Transcribe**, so emailed notebooks come back as text automatically, with nothing else to configure. No native conversion to clean up, no USB transfer, no retyping. The messy notebook that came back as garbled text from the device comes back as accurate text from your dashboard. Emails are capped at **20 MB** per message, so split a very large notebook or upload it in the dashboard instead (up to 100 MB).

A fair caveat: no OCR is perfect, and we don't claim 100%. Very faded ink, signatures, and rare scripts are genuinely hard. But for everyday cursive and messy notes, it's built for exactly the job reMarkable's recognition isn't. The honest way to know is to try it on your own worst handwriting.

## How reMarkable's built-in conversion works

If you want to use the on-device feature, here's the flow:

1. Open the notebook and use the selection tool to highlight your handwriting (or select the whole page).
2. Tap the **share** icon in the top corner.
3. Choose **Convert to text and send**.
4. Review the converted text and send it on by email.

It's quick, and on clean printing it's genuinely useful. Two things to know: you trigger it **manually, one page at a time**, and the accuracy depends heavily on how you write.

## How accurate is it really?

On neat, upright printing, reMarkable's recognition is good. The problem is everything else. Independent reviews put **cursive recognition at roughly 75 to 85%**, and it drops further on mixed print-and-cursive, slanted, or rushed writing, enough that some users describe the output as needing as much cleanup as retyping would.

That isn't a calibration or firmware issue you can fix by writing more neatly. It's the limit of the device's recognition engine. If your notes are anything other than tidy print, you'll hit it. That's the point at which emailing the notebook to Handwriting OCR saves you the cleanup.

Email submission works the same way from other note tablets and scanners. See [how it works](/blog/email-handwriting-to-text), or browse the other [handwriting-to-text guides](/handwriting-to-text).

## See it on your own notes

You get **5 free credits** to start, enough to run a few real notebook pages through and compare the result against what your reMarkable gives you before deciding anything.

[Try Handwriting OCR free](https://app.handwritingocr.com/register) and see how your handwriting comes out.