A Simple Way to Extract Text From Image And Printouts.transcribe image to text.
There are times when you want to extract text from images. For example –
- You have found a image with a quote and want to quickly copy a quote.
- You want to extract a mobile phone number or email address from a company. card
- You want to edit the document, but not rewrite it from scratch
- You want to extract text from a write-protected PDF file.
- Do you want to search for text in the brochure
Extracting text from an image is done using OCR (short for Optical Character Recognizer) software. The program takes an image file (like a jpg) as input and returns the text (that was in it) as output.
So far, there is no shortage of OCR apps for Windows and Android smartphones and even an extension for Chrome. But if you’re looking for something fast, free, works on all devices, and of course very accurate, then look no further than Google Keeps.
If you don’t already know, Google Keep has a built-in OCR program, which is pretty good. But, unfortunately, not many people know about it. Although better than all competitors.
A Simple Way to Extract Text From Image And Printouts
While looking for a good OCR program, I tried all the popular options like CamScanner, Evernote, Text Fairy Android App, Onenote, OnlineOCR, Project Naptha Chrome Extension, etc. However, surprisingly, I got the best results from Google Keep.
It’s funny not only because the free app performs better than its paid alternative, but also because the OCR feature in Google Keep is just a by-product. However, in order to use Google Keep to extract text from an image, you need internet access since the image processing is done on a Google server. So let’s see how to do this.
Extract text from images
For computer
If the image is on your computer, open the web version of Google Keep. Load the image as a sticky note, click on the three vertical dots below the image, and select the get image text option. And after a few seconds, it will automatically fill in the text in the main body of the current note.
For smartphone
Install the Google Keep app from Google Play or the App Store if you don’t already have one. Then open the app and create a new note by pressing the camera button. You now have two options: you can take a snapshot of the document or select an image from your device’s memory.
Select any of them, and once the image is loaded, click on the three vertical dots and click on the grab image text option. And now, the screen will load for a few seconds, and the text of the image will magically appear in the text of the note.
After testing many popular OCR programs, I found that Google Keep gives the best result. Plus, it’s free and available for both desktops and smartphones. So go ahead and start using it not only for OCR but also because it has a great note-taking feature.
Also Read: 8 Best Free OCR Software Apps to Convert Images to Text
A Simple Way to Extract Text From Image And Printouts
A Simple Way to Extract Text From Image And Printouts
transcribe image to text