FAQ: OCR for handwritten documents

http://www.rlg.org/preserv/diginews/diginews8-1.html#faq

Conclusion:

There is as yet no commercial or open source software for automatic transcription of, or the creation of searchable indexes from, handwritten historical documents. However, it is an active area of research and progress is being made. Continued advancement depends on the availability of funding. Librarians, archivists, and scholars may be able to push the agenda more effectively by partnering with computer scientists who share an interest in solving this challenging problem and improving access to significant historical archives.

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