A scanned page preserves a document’s appearance, but the words in handwriting can remain out of reach. Transcription turns those words into text people can search, read with assistive technology, and use for research. FromThePage helps libraries and archives create that text with volunteers, staff, students, and optional AI drafts—while keeping the original document alongside it.
Accessibility begins with the words
A transcription can help someone using a screen reader encounter the contents of a handwritten page. It also helps people who have difficulty reading cursive or historical handwriting, and lets researchers search for names, places, and events that would otherwise be hidden in images.
FromThePage gives your team a place to transcribe, review, and improve those words over time. If you choose to use AI drafts, people can correct them before treating them as finished work.
An accessible platform for the people doing the work
Accessibility matters for the people who visit a collection and for the people who help make it available. We document how FromThePage supports applicable accessibility standards, along with areas that need improvement, in our Accessibility Conformance Report (VPAT).
Have a question about a particular workflow or accessibility requirement? Contact us. We’re happy to discuss it with you.
Accessible PDFs from your transcriptions
FromThePage can turn a collection’s page images and transcriptions into accessible PDFs. The exports include features such as a document title, identified headings, a specified language, and text in reading order—details that help assistive technology navigate a PDF.
Choose the text that fits your project:
- Human-edited transcripts only for material your team has reviewed.
- Human-edited transcripts when available, with AI drafts filling the gaps so you can provide access while review continues.
When AI drafts may appear in an export, you can add a notice identifying the AI-generated text. You can download a PDF for an individual work or export PDFs across a collection.
Want to see what an accessible FromThePage PDF looks like? Download an example—or learn how to export one from your own collection.
Start with the collection you have
Whether you’re working through a backlog of handwritten records or building a volunteer transcription project, you can begin making the text available and improve it as the work progresses. Tell us about your materials and the people you want to reach, or try it for yourself now.
Start your own 200 page trial here, or talk with us about your collection.