Bringing your notes in
This is the part people worry about — and it’s easier than it looks, whatever form your writing takes. Tell us what you’ve got and how much, and we’ll point you to the simplest path.
Step 1 · What are you bringing in?
One page, or many? Pick a method that fits
How much you’re bringing in decides the easiest tool — and whether your pages arrive as separate images or as one file:
- Just one or a few pages — snap each with a scanner app or a flatbed and upload the images. No need for anything fancier.
- Many pages — batch them into a single multi-page PDF: a scanner app’s “add page” button captures one after another, and a sheet-fed scanner feeds a whole stack at once. Upload the one PDF and Keep brings in every page.
Keep accepts both — a set of photos, or a multi-page PDF — so use whichever your method produces. Keep them in the order you want them.
Getting clean, readable pages
The clearer the page, the better Keep reads it. A few things help most:
- Even light, no glare. Near a window in daylight is ideal; avoid a single harsh lamp, and keep your hand or phone from casting a shadow across the page.
- Flat. Press the page down or weigh the corners. The curve near a spine is where reading struggles most — flatten it, or scan that page on its own.
- Square and full-frame. Line the page up straight and fill the shot; a dark, plain background helps the app find the edges.
- In focus. Tap to focus and hold steady for a beat.
- Faint pencil or pale ink? Use your scanner app’s “document” or “enhance” mode and add more light — that’s the single biggest lift for hard-to-read writing.
Phone photos and scanner apps are already plenty sharp; a flatbed at around 300 dpi is a notch better and worth it for faded or delicate originals.
What the reading can and can’t do — and how to fix it
Keep transcribes your handwriting verbatim, marks anything it genuinely can’t make out with [?], and never guesses or “tidies” your words. How much it catches depends on the writing:
- Neat print comes through very accurately.
- Flowing cursive, faded pencil, cramped or overlapping lines are harder — expect a few [?] marks on the toughest pages.
- Drawings, diagrams, and doodles are kept perfectly in the page image and noted, but not “read” as text.
The important part: your page image is always preserved exactly — the transcription is just the searchable index beneath it. And it’s yours to correct. Open any page, tap show transcript, edit the text, and save — your search results and daily Insights update instantly. So don’t chase a flawless scan: capture the page, and fix the handful of words that matter.
Want a hand?
We’re glad to help you get going — reach us through the support form and we’ll walk you through it.