In recent years, many educational institutions have shifted from traditional notebooks and textbooks to computers, including PCs and Chromebooks, for note-taking purposes. This transition allows students to take notes directly in applications like Word and Google Docs. The advantage? No need to transcribe handwritten notes after class, as long as you’ve adapted to this new approach. If manual note-taking persists, and the task of digitizing notes seems daunting, fear not – your mobile phone can come to the rescue.
To facilitate this process, all you need is the Google Lens application on your mobile phone and Google Chrome on your PC. Pixel device users can access this function directly within their camera application under Modes > Lens; however, for non-Pixel devices, Google Lens can be downloaded via the provided links.
If we still do not use Chrome, we can download the latest version from this link .
How to Transfer Handwritten Text to Your Computer
Ensure you are signed in with the same user account on both your Google Lens mobile app and Google Chrome on your PC. This synchronization allows Google to transfer data seamlessly between devices.
Open the Google Lens application on your mobile device, then select the “Text” option at the bottom of the app.
Capture a photograph of the document containing the text you wish to transfer to your computer. Google Lens will automatically recognize the text within the image.
After recognition, you’ll be presented with several options: “Select all,” “Translate,” “Search,” and “Copy to the computer.” Choose “Select all” since you want to copy the text.
If the application detects text from multiple areas of the photo, you can modify the starting point for text selection.
Once you’ve selected the text, various options will appear at the bottom of the screen: “Translate,” “Search,” and “Copy to the computer.” Choose “Copy to the computer” to transfer the text to your Chrome-installed PC.
If the process is executed correctly, your computer will display a notification indicating that content has been copied to the clipboard via Google Chrome and your mobile device.
The final step involves pasting the copied text into your preferred application, be it a Word document, Google Docs, LibreOffice Writer, or even Notepad. Since the content resides on the Windows clipboard, you can paste it into any application, not limited to Google Chrome.
Verify the transcribed text to ensure that Google Lens has recognized all words accurately and made no errors. Recognition effectiveness may vary based on your handwriting style, and Google Lens may take varying amounts of time to analyze and transcribe text, with potential challenges in recognizing certain scripts.
Optimal for Printed Text
While Google Lens has made strides in recognizing handwritten text, it is primarily designed for printed characters found in documents and surfaces, such as posters or signs. Handwriting styles can vary widely, making it more challenging for character recognition. Therefore, Google Lens is most effective when dealing with printed text.