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LatinaWhat does wondarchive’s free account include?
100 pages transcribed and translated by AI, handwriting included, kept for a year, with no credit card, with two-pane reading and search across the whole collection. A free account left unvisited for thirty days has its pages moved to the bin, after an email warning seven days beforehand.
What is free transcription on your computer?
At upload, the “Free transcription” option has your browser read the pages, with an open-source OCR engine, with no AI and no credits, in German (Fraktur included), French, English, Latin, Italian and Spanish. The tab stays open while it reads. It works well for sharp print and typescript, and is far less reliable than AI on handwriting and blackletter.
Which open-source software can transcribe archives?
| Tool | What for | What it requires |
|---|---|---|
| Tesseract | OCR of print, models for many languages, Fraktur included | an installation, the command line or a third-party interface; no handwriting |
| OCR4all | early printed books and blackletter, full pipeline | an installation and a learning curve |
| eScriptorium and Kraken | handwriting and print, trainable models | a server, an engineer, transcribed pages for training |
| Tropy | organising, describing and annotating your photos | nothing; but no automatic transcription |
What about texts already digitised?
Many libraries publish the text of their digitised printed holdings: Gallica provides text mode for many documents. Before photographing a printed item, check that it hasn’t already been digitised and OCRed.
When should you move to a plan?
When the collection goes beyond a few hundred pages, when it is handwritten, or when it needs translating: plans start at €39.99 incl. VAT a year (pricing).
The account takes a minute to open, a hundred pages free for a year.
Is there free software for transcribing handwritten documents?
Open-source HTR software such as eScriptorium is free but requires a server and a trained model. wondarchive’s free account reads 100 handwritten pages with AI, with nothing to install.
Do you need a credit card to try wondarchive?
No: the free account takes a minute to open, with no card.
Can you transcribe Fraktur for free?
Yes: free transcription on your computer and Tesseract both have a Fraktur model, best kept for sharp photos; wondarchive’s AI reads it better, including on handheld photos.
See it on your own pages
A hundred pages transcribed and translated, for a year, no card required.