# Recommend good, affordable handwriting recognition programs for Windows and Linux?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-good-affordable-handwriting-recognition-programs-for-windows-and-linux/453089
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [June 16, 2008, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-good-affordable-handwriting-recognition-programs-for-windows-and-linux/453089 "2008-06-16T07:38:00Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)
#### Post date: [June 16, 2008, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-good-affordable-handwriting-recognition-programs-for-windows-and-linux/453089/1 "2008-06-16T07:38:00Z")
Heya, I just bought a Wacom Bamboo tablet, and I was wondering if anyone could recommend some good (cheap) handwriting recognition programs for Windows XP, Vista, and Ubuntu Linux, since those are the three OS’s I use on my PC and laptop.
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### Author:  [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)
#### Post date: [June 16, 2008, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-good-affordable-handwriting-recognition-programs-for-windows-and-linux/453089/2 "2008-06-16T07:45:49Z")
Haven’t tried it, but there’s a Debian package for a program called [CellWriter](http://risujin.org/cellwriter/).
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### Author:  [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)
#### Post date: [June 16, 2008, 9:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-good-affordable-handwriting-recognition-programs-for-windows-and-linux/453089/3 "2008-06-16T09:34:06Z")
Ha! I was just coming in to mention CellWriter. [Here’s a review from November 09, 2007](http://www.linux.com/feature/120867) that looks pretty good.
[Here is the package of CellWriter for Hardy Heron.](http://packages.ubuntu.com/hardy/gnome/cellwriter) (What version of Ubuntu are you using?)
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### Author:  [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)
#### Post date: [June 16, 2008, 9:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-good-affordable-handwriting-recognition-programs-for-windows-and-linux/453089/4 "2008-06-16T09:44:45Z")
[QUOTE=Derleth]
Ha! I was just coming in to mention CellWriter. [Here’s a review from November 09, 2007](http://www.linux.com/feature/120867) that looks pretty good.
[Here is the package of CellWriter for Hardy Heron.](http://packages.ubuntu.com/hardy/gnome/cellwriter) (What version of Ubuntu are you using?)
[/QUOTE]
I am using Hardy Heron, 8.04. I’ll check this stuff out tomorrow, thanks!
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### Author:  [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)
#### Post date: [June 16, 2008, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-good-affordable-handwriting-recognition-programs-for-windows-and-linux/453089/5 "2008-06-16T10:59:08Z")
Do you have MS OneNote installed? It’s my favorite program of all time, and it has a pretty good handwriting to text capability. BTW, you can search on handwriting with text. Eg, search for “straight dope” and it will find all the instances of “straight dope” including the handwriting notes that are not coverted. It’s sweet. If you have OneNote, I’ll rave more about how great it is.
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### Author:  [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2008, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-good-affordable-handwriting-recognition-programs-for-windows-and-linux/453089/6 "2008-06-17T00:19:13Z")
[QUOTE=China Guy]
Do you have MS OneNote installed? It’s my favorite program of all time, and it has a pretty good handwriting to text capability. BTW, you can search on handwriting with text. Eg, search for “straight dope” and it will find all the instances of “straight dope” including the handwriting notes that are not coverted. It’s sweet. If you have OneNote, I’ll rave more about how great it is.
[/QUOTE]
I have used it before, it’s pretty nice for jotting down notes. How much does it normally cost?
I’ve got a friend looking into a military-discount of MS Office I might go for. Open Office is great for the price, but it lacks polish in places.