---
title: "HandwritingSettings"
canonical_url: "https://www.nutrient.io/api/python/settings/vision/advanced/handwriting-settings/"
md_url: "https://www.nutrient.io/api/python/settings/vision/advanced/handwriting-settings.md"
last_updated: "2026-08-11T08:57:05.212Z"
description: "Settings for Handwriting. Values fall back through three levels: document → SDK → built-in default."
---

Settings for Handwriting. Values fall back through three levels: document → SDK → built-in default. Writes target the document only when set on a document's settings, otherwise the SDK globally when set on SdkSettings.

**Tags:** `Vision`, `Advanced`

```python

from nutrient_sdk import HandwritingSettings

```

## Construction

`HandwritingSettings` is accessed through a [`Document`](/api/python/document/) instance for per-document overrides, or via [`SdkSettings`](/api/python/settings/document/sdk-settings/) for SDK-wide defaults.

```python

# Per-document override

with Document.open("input.pdf") as doc:
    settings = doc.settings.handwriting_settings
    settings.some_field = new_value          # mutate fields directly

# SDK-wide default (applies to all documents)

SdkSettings.handwriting_settings.some_field = new_value

```

Settings are configured by writing to fields on the returned object. The settings property itself cannot be reassigned — `doc.settings.handwriting_settings = other_settings` is rejected.

## Properties

### enable_handwriting_ocr

```python

@property
def enable_handwriting_ocr(self) -> bool

@enable_handwriting_ocr.setter
def enable_handwriting_ocr(self, value: bool) -> None

```

Controls whether local handwriting OCR models run during vision processing. When disabled, handwriting text can still come from VLM augmentation, but the local handwriting classifier and word extraction models are skipped.

**Type:** `bool`

**Default:** `false`

---

### word_refining_method

```python

@property
def word_refining_method(self) -> WordRefiningMethod

@word_refining_method.setter
def word_refining_method(self, value: WordRefiningMethod) -> None

```

Controls the method used to refine detected handwritten words when AI-augmented text is available for the zone.

**Type:** [`WordRefiningMethod`](/api/python/enums/word-refining-method/)

**Default:** `WordRefiningMethod.Heuristic`

---

---

## Related pages

- [Advanced](/api/python/settings/vision/advanced.md)
- [Per-document override](/api/python/settings/vision/advanced/ai-augmenter-settings.md)
- [Per-document override](/api/python/settings/vision/advanced/ai-processing-settings.md)
- [Per-document override](/api/python/settings/vision/advanced/claude-api-settings.md)
- [Per-document override](/api/python/settings/vision/advanced/content-extraction-settings.md)
- [Per-document override](/api/python/settings/vision/advanced/custom-vlm-api-settings.md)
- [Per-document override](/api/python/settings/vision/advanced/deskew-settings.md)
- [Per-document override](/api/python/settings/vision/advanced/document-layout-json-export-settings.md)
- [Per-document override](/api/python/settings/vision/advanced/finalizer-settings.md)
- [Per-document override](/api/python/settings/vision/advanced/form-labeling-settings.md)
- [Per-document override](/api/python/settings/vision/advanced/form-recognition-settings.md)
- [Per-document override](/api/python/settings/vision/advanced/google-api-settings.md)
- [Per-document override](/api/python/settings/vision/advanced/inference-layout-settings.md)
- [Per-document override](/api/python/settings/vision/advanced/ocr-settings.md)
- [Per-document override](/api/python/settings/vision/advanced/open-ai-api-endpoint-settings.md)
- [Per-document override](/api/python/settings/vision/advanced/open-ai-languages-detection-settings.md)
- [Per-document override](/api/python/settings/vision/advanced/open-ai-picture-alt-settings.md)
- [Per-document override](/api/python/settings/vision/advanced/reading-order-settings.md)
- [Per-document override](/api/python/settings/vision/advanced/segmenter-settings.md)
- [Per-document override](/api/python/settings/vision/advanced/table-recognition-settings.md)
- [Per-document override](/api/python/settings/vision/advanced/vision-acceleration-settings.md)
- [Per-document override](/api/python/settings/vision/advanced/vision-descriptor-settings.md)
- [Per-document override](/api/python/settings/vision/advanced/words-detection-settings.md)