See this.
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Have you tried handwriting recognition on modern devices, like, iPads, Samsung tablets, or in the apps like MyScript Nebo? Theyāre insanely good at recognizing even the seemingly unrecognizable cursive, like mine.
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please?
This is not coming to obsidian but I recommend the handwritten notes plugin
Works really well on my iPad.
How do you edit your PDF on the iPad ?
I also installed obsidian-handwritten-notes
I use Markup but canāt go back to Obsidian when done annotating the PDF (I need to close Obsidian everytime)
Why do you need to close obsidian?
you should be able to markup, close the markup (whether you save or not) and then it should take you right back to obsidian. Tested on 2017 10.5" iPad Pro and 2023 12.9" iPad Pro.
Part of the reason I started using Obsidian was because I thought I could completely replace all of my note taking in one place. Iām surprised this isnāt a native feature.
And no, Excalidraw IS NOT an option for this; way too much lag.
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I second that a simple sketchpad should exist by default.
a simple illustration can capture 2 pages worth of text.
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If you havenāt come across it yet, check out my plugin āInkā for handwriting directly between text in your markdown notes.
Itās a little bit hard to find int he plugin directory, so itās best to search my name āDale de Silvaā
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The lack of ability to doodle with my apple pencil within Obsidian notes is the only thing preventing me from ditching the Apple Notes app entirely
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Has anyone tried excalidraw recently? Iāve been testing it and the responsiveness is really good. I donāt notice much difference between Obsidian and Apple Notes.
Yes, Excalidraw is very good but laggy on iOS devices. Congratulations if you are using Android
It would be great if Obsidian added native handwriting support to PDFs so I could do all my note-taking inside Obsidian, or if Excalidraw improved its experience on iOS devices as an alternative.
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Handwriting support would be the single most important feature for me!
I understand that there are workarounds and other stepping stone features, but what I ultimately need the handwriting feature to do:
- Be able to write with my pen, anywhere! In a regular document, and especially in the canvas.
- All handwritten notes stay handwritten (not be converted to text). There is a sense of feeling that I get seeing the handwriting. Is it sloppy, neat, big, small? This is part of the handwritten feel.
- Searchable everywhere (very good handwriting recognition and search)
The best app that I use right now for handwriting is Nebo App.
It has the best handwriting recognition that Iāve seen so far, which is why I use it religiously.
The developer, MyScript, also has an API. Iām not a developer, so I donāt know how it works, but placing it here in case it helps with this endeavor.
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I have searched through this topic and I think it is a big mistake that drawing is not even considered. The competition like Logseg has found the gap here. Notes without the ability to draw or write I find very very unfortunate. I would be very happy if Canvas offered the native option to draw with the pencil at some point.
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I donāt know how useful this might be, but one of the NoteKit contributors wrote:
There is a JavaScript implementation of the drawing format here: sp1rit/notekit-web: Just testing currently - Codeberg.org, someone will just have to implement it in Obisidan.
I definitely throw my voice in for native support here - especially on the Canvas, but preferably within notes as well. I use a Supernote with Obsidian sideloaded and this would really be an incredible game-changer. Handwriting-to-text just is not the same.
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As an update - Excalidraw is really good these days and you can handwrite on PDFs on iOS if you just press on the 3 dots in the top right corner, choose share, and then choose Markup.
When you are done, press ādoneā and ādelete PDFā. The PDF is still saved and you have your handwriting.
Though there is a bug when you add other types of pages: Handwriting via Markup on iOS doesn't save if you 'insert page from file' while handwriting
Annoying but at least it can be worked around.
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I would like to add that if this feature is implemented, I would like to be able to use raster graphics, not just vector graphics.
The reason for this is that the lines/strokes applied to vector graphics are complete crap, and if you need to add a drawing to the text, then in vector format, compared to raster, it will look disgusting - like a lifeless static linear outline.
In principle, this also actual to regular letter writing - I donāt want to tolerate this āvectorā behavior of the brush.
Vector graphics may weigh less, but this difference in weight in 2025 is not proportional to the inconveniences it entails compared to raster graphics.
That sounds more like a āresolutionā issue than a vector issueā¦ it could be fixed by storing more points, no?
The advantage of vector graphics is also that they work better with zooming, so Iām not sure why we would want to give that up on this hypothetical feature.