We may come across the need to convert images to text which should be editable, or we may need to convert some scanned copies into text, so that they can be edited in our regular editors. Actually, converting the scanned copy to text is done using Optical Character Recognition (OCR) Software which may not come free. You need to spend a good amount of money to get them and convert images to text. Spending money to buy those OCR software only for single usage is not a good idea. You can convert images to text for free if you are a Google Drive user. Google Drive provides you the OCR technology and we make use of it to convert images to text.
Convert Image to Text using Google Drive
Before converting images to text, you need to see that there should be at least some text on the image so that it can be converted to editable text. Images can be png, jpg, or any other format. You can also use Google Drive to convert PDF files to text for free. Let us see the steps that we need to follow to convert images to text, and the same applies to converting PDF files to text.
Visit the Google Drive website and log in to it. If you do not have an account, it is advised to create and one and then log in to it.
Click on the New button and select File Upload to upload the image file which you want to convert to text. Select the particular image file, and it will be uploaded to Google Drive. In this example, I uploaded a screenshot of part of my article.
Once the files get uploaded, right-click on the image file and move towards Open with >> Google Docs.
Now, a new tab opens with the image surrounded by the blue border and the corresponding editable text at the bottom. You can resize the blue border, based on the content which you want.
Make sure you got the text as you want. You can use options like In-line text, Wrap text and Break text. Follow the process and be confident that you go the right text. You see that the text is editable.
Once you are sure about the conversion, remove the image from the tab, save the remaining text, and close the tab. You can see the Google Document with the converted text next to the image file. Now, your image has been converted to text, and you can remove the image file as it is no longer needed.
Once you are done with the conversion, you can edit it in Google Drive or download it to your local PC and edit it in your editor.
Points to be remembered
- If your image file has less text to convert, the converted file might contain mistakes. Make sure that you make the changes you need before saving the converted document.
- If only a certain part of the section is to be converted to text, then I suggest you to crop that part of the image and then convert it into text, to reduce mistakes in the conversion.
- Images that need to be converted to text should be below 2 MB in size.
- Only the first 10 pages of PDF files are converted to text. So, if you have a large number of PDF files to be converted to text, follow the process for each 10 pages, but not all at once.
How do I convert an image to text in Google Drive?
To convert images to text in Google Drive, you need to follow the aforementioned steps minutely. As Google Drive comes with this functionality, you do not need to install third-party plugins or use third-party services. The best thing is that this guide extracts almost all the texts.
Can Google convert picture to text?
Yes, Google Drive can convert pictures to text, as said earlier. It is possible to extract the text from an image using Google Drive; you must follow the steps above. Whether you have a PNG or JPEG image, you can convert it to text using Google Drive or Google Docs.
This is the best and easy way to convert images to text for free. If you have anything to add, please do share with us through comments.
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