Meaning & use
digitize
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Meanings
verbtransitive
To change text, pictures, sound, or other material into a numerical form that a computer can store and work with.
Grammar: Takes an object, often records or images: digitize the archive. British spelling can be digitise.
Patterns
- digitize something
- digitize something into something
The library plans to digitize its oldest maps so anyone can view them online.
We spent the summer digitizing family photos.
The studio digitized the old film reels before they decayed.
verbtransitivebusiness
To move a business, service, or process from paper or manual methods to computer-based ones.
Grammar: Often used for organizations and services: digitize the tax system.
Patterns
- digitize something
The city is digitizing its permit applications to cut waiting times.
Many banks have digitized most of their services.
The hospital digitized patient records last year.
Word forms
| third person singular | digitizes |
|---|---|
| past tense | digitized |
| past participle | digitized |
| -ing form | digitizing |
Common combinations
- digitize records
- The clinic is digitizing its paper records.
- digitize an archive
- Volunteers helped digitize the newspaper archive.
- digitize photographs
- I paid a shop to digitize my grandfather's photographs.
- digitize audio
- They digitized the audio tapes from the 1970s.
- fully digitized
- The collection is now fully digitized and searchable.
Synonyms and how they differ
- scan
- Scan describes the physical act of copying a page into a file, while digitize is the wider process of making material digital.
- computerize
- Computerize usually refers to switching a whole system to computers, whereas digitize focuses on the information itself.
- convert
- Convert is vague and needs a target such as to PDF, while digitize already names the digital format.
- transcribe
- Transcribe means writing out speech or text, usually by typing, not capturing an exact copy of the original.
Word family
Commonly confused: digitize or digitalize?
digitize vs digitalize
Digitalize is a less common variant that sometimes means to adopt digital technology in general, while digitize is the usual word for converting information.
Practice
The museum is ___ its collection of old letters so that researchers can search them online.
Choose one answer.
Digitizing means turning paper material into computer files. Digesting sounds similar but concerns food or information, not files.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “digitize”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.