Tasks
How do I turn handwritten to-dos into a task list?
Updated
Short answer: have an AI read your notes and pull out every line that is a task, then paste the list into your task app. Claude and ChatGPT both read handwriting.
The catch is that handwritten tasks are scattered across meeting notes, journal pages and margins. With Margen on a Boox, the assistant can read all those pages at once and give you one list.
Why do handwritten to-dos get lost?
On paper, a task is wherever you were writing when you thought of it: the corner of a meeting page, the bottom of Tuesday's journal, an arrow next to a sketch. Nothing collects them. A to-do app does, but copying tasks across by hand is the step everybody skips.
One page: photograph or export it
Upload a photo or a PDF of the page to Claude or ChatGPT and ask: "List every task on this page, one per line, starting with a verb." Fine for today's page. It doesn't help with the task you wrote three weeks ago and forgot.
All your pages: Margen
- Write in Margen on your Boox. Each page is transcribed in the background by a vision model.
- Connect Claude (any plan, from its connector directory) or ChatGPT (paid, at
https://connector.getmargen.app/mcp) once. - Ask for the list:
"Read my notes from the last two weeks. List every task or promise, one per line: the task starting with a verb, who it's for, any date I mentioned, and which note it came from. Skip anything I crossed out or marked done."
Into your task app
- Todoist: paste a list into the quick-add box; each line becomes a task. Ask for dates written as "tomorrow" or "Fri" and Todoist reads them.
- Things: paste a multi-line list into a new to-do to create one per line.
- Apple Reminders, Google Tasks, Microsoft To Do: paste line by line, or ask the assistant for a short list you can dictate.
- Notion: if Notion is connected in Claude too, ask Claude to create the checklist there (how).
More prompts
- "What did I say I would do for Ana, in any note?"
- "Group this week's tasks by project and put the ones with a date first."
- "Which tasks from last month's notes never appear again? They might be dropped."
Tip: mark tasks the same way every time (a box, an arrow, "TODO") and tell the assistant your mark. It finds them more reliably than by guessing.
Questions
Can AI find the to-dos in my handwritten notes?
Yes. Claude and ChatGPT read handwriting and can list the tasks on a page. With Margen on a Boox, they can read all your pages at once and collect tasks from every note.
Can Margen add tasks to Todoist or Things directly?
No. The assistant gives you the list and you paste it into your task app. If Notion is connected in Claude, Claude can create the checklist there.
How does the AI know which lines are tasks?
It recognizes lines written as actions. Marking tasks the same way every time, and telling the assistant your mark, makes it more reliable.