A method for recognizing handwriting input comprising an arrangement of multiple ink objects representing handwritten elements in horizontal rows and vertical columns of a two-dimensional structure, the handwritten elements being input to a computing device, the method comprising: recognizing, using online recognition techniques, a plurality of handwritten elements with respective bounding boxes; determining geometrical relationships between the plurality of recognized handwritten elements of the handwriting input; and allocating the recognized handwritten elements having the geometrical relationships therebetween to corresponding positions of the arrangement of the recognized handwritten elements, wherein: a first geometrical relationship is an overlap of projections of the plurality of bounding boxes in a vertical direction of the arrangement; the overlap of the projections of two bounding boxes of respective ink objects on different rows is determined by considering whether the directional, horizontal distance between the projection of the right hand boundary of the bounding box of a first ink object and the projection of the left hand boundary of the bounding box of a second ink object is less than a first threshold, wherein, if the directional, horizontal distance is less than the first threshold, the two ink objects are allocated to the same column; a second geometrical relationship is a mean distance between two detected columns; the mean distance is determined by taking the mean of the distances between pairs of ink objects that are substantially horizontally aligned and respectively allocated to the two detected columns; if the mean distance is less than a second threshold, the two detected columns are merged. recognizing, using online recognition techniques, a plurality of handwritten elements with respective bounding boxes; determining geometrical relationships between the plurality of recognized handwritten elements of the handwriting input; and allocating the recognized handwritten elements having the geometrical relationships therebetween to corresponding positions of the arrangement of the recognized handwritten elements, a first geometrical relationship is an overlap of projections of the plurality of bounding boxes in a vertical direction of the arrangement; the overlap of the projections of two bounding boxes of respective ink objects on different rows is determined by considering whether the directional, horizontal distance between the projection of the right hand boundary of the bounding box of a first ink object and the projection of the left hand boundary of the bounding box of a second ink object is less than a first threshold, wherein, if the directional, horizontal distance is less than the first threshold, the two ink objects are allocated to the same column; a second geometrical relationship is a mean distance between two detected columns; the mean distance is determined by taking the mean of the distances between pairs of ink objects that are substantially horizontally aligned and respectively allocated to the two detected columns; if the mean distance is less than a second threshold, the two detected columns are merged.