Usually I type my initial thoughts for these columns on a computer, but this week I wrote them in a paper notebook instead.Ive never been much of a paper person. Although I did carry around a reporters notebook for a newspaper job in the pre-iPhone era, I prefer to file my thoughts away in digital form, where they can be categorized, backed up online, and accessed from any device.But after a recent office cleaning project yielded a stack of unusedField Notes notebooksalong with a couple of nice pens that Id accumulated as gifts over the yearsIve been inspired to give paper notes another try as a supplement to my digital note-taking.This story first appeared inAdvisorator, Jareds weekly tech advice newsletter.Sign up for freeto get more tips every Tuesday.The case for paper notesAlready I can see why paper notes endure.Theres the obvious stuff: Paper is cheap, you dont have to keep it charged, and it never nags you for in-app purchases. At worst you just buy more of it.Theres also the immediacy factor: You dont have to think about which app to use or which folder to open. Should you decide to digitize a handwritten notemore on that shortlyyou can still write first and categorize later.Paper notes are more relaxing to work with as well. I started scribbling some things down while watching baseball on a recent evening, and it felt less stressful than having a glowing screen in my face and keyboard in my lap. The lack of immediate distractions within a few finger swipes is also helpful.Perhaps best of allat least for meis that you cant delete what youve written in ink. Ive tried using an iPad with an Apple Pencil for handwritten notes and havereviewed a few digital writing tablets, and they always feel counterproductive to me. As an obsessive self-editor, I cant resist the erase and undo tools that digital notepads provide. The only option with paper is to forge ahead.None of this means that Im ditching digital notes.I still stash quick bits of info inGoogle Keepwhen Im out and about, and I make extensive use ofObsidianto plan my week, organize story ideas, and write my actual drafts. For interviews, I still rely onNotability, an iPad app that syncs handwritten notes and audio recordings together (though Im also starting to weave in Apples Voice Notes app for automatic transcription).But just as Ive carved out distinct roles for each of those apps, I can foresee a place for paper as well. At the very least, it helped with putting this column together.Digitizing handwritten notesWhile I dont intend to immediately digitize all my handwritten notes, I like the idea of scanning completed notebooks for archival purposes, and the apps that Ive previously recommended for document scanning work just as well for handwritten pages:On iOS:Open the Files app, press the button, and select Scan Documents.On Android:Open the Google Drive app, then press the Camera button.Scanning pages in Files for iOS (left) and Google Drive for Android (right)Both apps will open a camera mode so you can point at your notes, and theyll automatically scan and crop each page with no need to even hit the shutter button between scans. Once you get in a rhythm, you can turn an entire notebook into a PDF file in just a few minutes.There are also a bunch of free ways to convert that handwriting into text:iOS and MacOS: Just select the text in your PDF file as if it were a printed document. Apples system will automatically detect and highlight the text, which you can then copy and paste elsewhere. (On a Mac, you can even hit Cmd+A to select the entire document.)Windows:If youve installedMicrosoft PowerToys, press Win+Shift+T to select a section of your notes and copy the text to your clipboard. Alternatively, a free program calledNAPS2can make text selectable in PDF files.Any web browser:Open your PDF in Google Drive, then use the Open with drop-down menu at the top and select Google Docs. This will create a new document with all the handwriting converted to text.One more trick:Try uploading a PDF to GooglesNotebookLMAI tool to generate a summary, brainstorm further ideas, orstrangest of allturn your notes into a podcast.Unfortunately my handwriting tends to stump even the most sophisticated text recognition systems, but perhaps youll fare a bit better.This story first appeared inAdvisorator, Jareds weekly tech advice newsletter.Sign up for freeto get more tips every Tuesday.