How it works
Three steps. That's it.
Converting an image to text with Transkribus is simple. No technical knowledge needed, no software to install. It works directly in your browser.
Upload your image — drag a photo, scan, or screenshot into the box
AI reads the text — handwriting, printed text, or a mix of both
Copy your text — select, copy, and paste it wherever you need it
What works
Photos, scans, screenshots — it all works
You don't need a professional scanner. Transkribus works with whatever you have: a photo taken with your phone, a scan from a library, a screenshot, or a PDF. The AI handles different image qualities, lighting conditions, and paper types.
Phone photos of letters, notes, postcards, and documents
Scanned pages from books, archives, and libraries
Screenshots of digital documents
PDFs with embedded images
Old, faded, or damaged documents
Handwriting
Yes, it reads handwriting too
Most image-to-text tools only work with printed text. Transkribus is different — it was built specifically to read handwriting. Cursive, block letters, old scripts, messy notes — the AI has been trained on millions of handwritten pages and can handle styles that other tools can't.
Modern handwriting in any language
Cursive and connected writing
Old handwriting from the 1500s to today
Historical scripts like Kurrent, Sütterlin, and Fraktur
Mixed documents with handwriting and printed text
Beyond the demo
Need to convert hundreds of images?
The demo above is great for a quick conversion. But if you have a stack of documents — a box of family letters, a research archive, a collection of historical records — the full Transkribus platform lets you process them all at once. Upload entire folders, let the AI work through them, then search, edit, and export the results.
Batch processing — upload hundreds of images at once
Full-text search across all your converted documents
Built-in editor to correct and refine results
Export as TXT, DOCX, PDF, or structured XML
100+ languages
Works in your language
Transkribus supports over 100 languages — from English, French, German, and Spanish to Arabic, Hebrew, and beyond. Whether your image contains modern text or a 200-year-old letter, there's an AI model that can read it.
English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch
Arabic, Hebrew, and Ottoman Turkish
Cyrillic, Greek, and Nordic languages
Historical scripts from the 1500s onwards
And many more — new models are added by the community regularly
Ready to convert more images?
Create a free account to process unlimited documents, search across your text, and export in any format.
50 free credits every month – No credit card required
200M+Images converted
500K+Users worldwide
100+Languages