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About this lesson

We will learn how to turn handwritten notes, shapes and mathematical equations into typed text.

Exercise files

Download the ‘before’ and ‘after’ PowerPoint presentations from the video tutorial and try the lesson yourself.

5.02-ink-to-text-shape-and-math Exercise.docx
287.1 KB 5.02-ink-to-text-shape-and-math Exercise Solution.docx
965 KB

Quick reference

Ink to Text, Shape and Math

Handwritten notes and hand drawn shapes can be converted to typed text and PowerPoint shapes using tools in the Convert group. We can even create our own mathematical formulas using equations. 

When to use

Convert handwritten notes to text to make them easier to read and format as regular PowerPoint text. 

Instructions

Add a Blank Slide

  1. From the Home tab, in the Slides group, select New Slide and Blank. 

Ink to Text

Handwritten notes can be converted to typed text. The notes must be selected first using the Lasso tool. 

  1. Write some handwritten notes with the stylus. 
  2. From the Draw tab, in the Drawing Tools group, select Lasso. 
  3. Draw a marquee around the notes to select. 
  4. From the Draw tab, in the Convert group, select Ink to Text. 

Ink To Shape

  1. Switch back to Draw with Touch Mode. 
  2. Select a Pen. 
  3. Draw a square on the slide. 
  4. Draw a circle on the slide. 
  5. From the Draw tab, in the Drawing Tools group, select Lasso. 
  6. Draw a marquee around the shapes to select. 
  7. From the Draw tab, in the Convert group, select Ink to Shape.

Ink to Math

  1. Select a Pen. 
  2. Write 1/2 on the slide. 
  3. From the Draw tab, in the Drawing Tools group, select Lasso. 
  4. Draw a marquee around the equation to select. 
  5. From the Draw tab, in the Convert group, click the top-half of the Ink to Math command. 
  6. Click the lower-half to open the Ink Equation Editor. 
  7. Write e=mc2 in the editor window. 
  8. To make a correction, choose Select and Correct. 
  9. Draw a lasso around the incorrect part of the equation. 
  10. Choose a replacement from the suggestions. 

Equation Ribbon

We can create our own equations using the Equations contextul ribbon. Equations are divided into categories. Simply select the required equation to add it to the slide.

Operator symbols like +, -, () etc. can be inserted from the Symbols gallery. 

Hints & tips

  • When converting handwritten notes, click the elipses to the right of the converted notes to choose to keep the typed text or revert back to the original. 
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  • 00:03 In the previous section we saw how we can use drawing tools to annotate our slides.
  • 00:09 And in this section, I just like to finish off going through this Draw tab because
  • 00:14 there's some other really useful little options on here.
  • 00:19 So I've just created a new blank slide and I've added in some handwritten notes.
  • 00:25 And again, these are quite messy, I'm sure yours will be a lot neater than this.
  • 00:30 Now, one of the things that we can do with handwritten notes is we can
  • 00:33 convert them to text.
  • 00:35 So if you can imagine, if you are using a tablet device and
  • 00:39 you're using it to annotate your PowerPoint presentation, or
  • 00:43 maybe even write some handwritten notes on the side, if maybe your drawing is
  • 00:48 as illegible as mine, you might want to very quickly convert that to type text.
  • 00:54 And fortunately, in PowerPoint, there is a little button that's going to allow us
  • 00:59 to do that and it's located here in the Convert group.
  • 01:02 Now, what you'll notice is that currently this button is grayed out,
  • 01:06 now it's grayed out because we need to make a selection first of all.
  • 01:11 So with these handwritten notes that I have on this slide, I'm going to use
  • 01:15 the lasso tool to first select the text and then we're going to convert it to type
  • 01:20 text and see how PowerPoint interprets my very messy handwritten notes.
  • 01:25 So you'll find the lasso tool in the Drawing Tools group,
  • 01:28 and it's this one here that looks like a rope or a lasso.
  • 01:32 So if we click this, I can then draw a little lasso around my text and
  • 01:37 you can see as I do, it's showing me the text that I have selected.
  • 01:42 So make sure that you encase all of it inside this lasso,
  • 01:46 once you have it selected, the buttons in the Convert group then become active.
  • 01:52 So what I can do here is select Ink to Text and there we go,
  • 01:55 PowerPoint has done an amazing job, it's got it exactly right.
  • 02:00 I can then treat this as I would any other text in my PowerPoint presentation.
  • 02:04 So if I want to change the font style, or maybe the color, format it so on and so
  • 02:08 forth, I can definitely do that.
  • 02:10 Now, one thing you'll notice is that I have these little ellipses in a little pop
  • 02:14 out to the side.
  • 02:16 If I click it, I get two different options so
  • 02:19 I can choose to keep my type text or I can go back to my handwritten notes.
  • 02:25 Now, in this case, I want to keep the type text, I can just click away to deselect.
  • 02:31 Now, I can do the same thing when it comes to drawing shapes,
  • 02:36 so if I switch back to Draw with Touch mode, and
  • 02:39 I'm going to make a selection of a different pen this time.
  • 02:43 So let's go for this one just here Lava, I'm going to take my stylus and
  • 02:48 attempt to draw a shape.
  • 02:51 There we go, we have a pretty decent square, I'm also going to draw a circle.
  • 02:54 And if I want to convert these to standard PowerPoint shapes,
  • 03:01 I can use pretty much the same process.
  • 03:06 So let's select the lasso tool,
  • 03:08 and this time, I'm going to select both of the shapes.
  • 03:13 And then in the Convert group, I'm going to say Ink to Shape, and
  • 03:17 would you take a look at that?
  • 03:19 And as with the text, we get those ellipses again and
  • 03:22 it's going to allow us to switch between different styles.
  • 03:26 Now, the final option that we have in this Convert group is Ink to Math.
  • 03:30 And this is if you're doing any kind of equations or
  • 03:33 mathematical calculations on your PowerPoint slide.
  • 03:36 So let's select a pen, and this time,
  • 03:40 let's choose this green color and I'm going to write
  • 03:46 Half, I'm going to use my lasso tool to select it and
  • 03:50 then I can say Ink to Math and you can see that this is a double-sided button.
  • 03:56 So if I click the top half, it's going to do its best to convert it and
  • 04:01 once again, it's got it exactly right.
  • 04:04 So if I click the lower half of this button,
  • 04:07 you'll see that I have an Ink Equation Editor.
  • 04:10 So this is where I can come in and
  • 04:12 write out a mathematical equation, so let's give this a go.
  • 04:17 I'm going to write e And you can see as I start writing,
  • 04:20 it's trying to guess it in that preview at the top.
  • 04:23 I'm going to say e = mc squared, and
  • 04:27 I can see that that's got that exactly correct.
  • 04:31 If I want to insert that into my side, I can just click the Insert button.
  • 04:36 Alternatively, I can clear the entire thing, start again.
  • 04:40 I can choose to erase certain portions of this equation,
  • 04:44 or I can choose Select and Correct.
  • 04:46 So if I select this option, I can then draw a lasso around the part that I want
  • 04:51 to correct and PowerPoint is going to pop up a menu with different suggestions.
  • 04:57 So for argument's sake, let's just change this to something else,
  • 05:02 I'm going to go for this one just here and then I can click on Insert.
  • 05:06 And there is my little equation and, of course, I can format this however I like.
  • 05:12 Now, one thing you'll also notice is that when I have this equation selected,
  • 05:16 I now get a brand new contextual ribbon at the top of the screen.
  • 05:20 And that is the Equation ribbon, this gives me a whole bunch of other options,
  • 05:24 things that I can insert.
  • 05:26 So if I need to edit this equation any further, or I want to build up some kind
  • 05:30 of mathematical calculation, I can do that from here.
  • 05:34 So I've got things like brackets that I can add, I can add things like fractions,
  • 05:39 and you can see here I can go in and edit these as well.
  • 05:42 So if I want to add into here, I can edit it just like that.
  • 05:50 So lots of you to explore in here if this is something that's going to be
  • 05:53 useful to you.
  • 05:54 We also have a Symbols gallery in the middle which contains some basic
  • 05:58 mathematical equations.
  • 06:00 So you're going to find things like the plus sign, the multiplication sign,
  • 06:03 less than, greater than, things like that.
  • 06:06 So in summation, if you use a touch device then the Draw tab is going to be
  • 06:10 particularly useful to you when it comes to annotating your slides.

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