What you'll accomplish
A scanned handwritten document that would take hours to transcribe manually becomes a searchable text file in minutes. Transkribus uses AI models trained on millions of historical pages and handles 19th-century script, cursive correspondence, and even older scripts with 85–95% accuracy. This guide gets you set up and through your first transcription.
What you'll need
- A Transkribus account (free at transkribus.eu; free tier includes 500 pages/month)
- Scanned document images (JPG or TIFF, minimum 300 DPI; higher is better)
- Time needed: 45–60 minutes for setup and your first document
- Cost: Free (500 pages/month free; paid plans from ~€20/month for higher volume)
How-To Guide: Transcribe Handwritten Historical Documents with Transkribus
Step 1: Create your Transkribus account
Go to transkribus.eu and click Sign Up. Enter your name, email, and create a password.
Check your email for the verification link and confirm your account.
- Go to transkribus.eu
- Click Sign Up in the top right corner
- Fill in your name, institutional email, and password
- Click the verification link in the confirmation email
What you should see: You're taken to the Transkribus dashboard, which shows "My Collections" with an empty list.
Troubleshooting: If the email doesn't arrive in 5 minutes, check your spam folder. Academic email domains sometimes filter transactional email.