WASHINGTON: Microsoft Corp said yesterday it is bringing one of its most popular apps, which lets people take photos of a document and turn it into a editable file, to Apple Inc’s iPhone and Google Inc’s Android.
The app, called Office Lens, is already available on phones running Windows, but has had little exposure given Windows’ minute share of the smartphone market.
The app works by allowing users to take a picture of paper documents – receipts, business cards, menus, sticky notes, whiteboards, etc. – and then scans the image for text.
Using optical character recognition (OCR), Office Lens can identify words within the image and translate the text into a Microsoft Office format, such as a Word document, PowerPoint, or PDF. The app is even smart enough to recognize the corners of a piece of paper and automatically crop the image, or generate a picture of a business card into a new contact on your phone.
The OCR also allows for users to search their scanned documents later using a keyword search in Microsoft’s OneNote or cloud storage site, OneDrive.
Office Lens functions like most of the scanning-app competition that it will now face in Apple’s App Store and the Google Play store. The app will be up against the likes of Scanner Pro, TinyScan Pro, Scanbot, Evernote, and many more.
Microsoft has been looking to expand its audience by opening up access to its products. The company recently partnered with Samsung and other Android proponents to open its apps to more handheld devices, in addition to releasing Microsoft Office for the iPad. The tech giant even made its digital assistant, Cortana, available on rival devices.
Office Lens can be downloaded for free in the iOS or Android app stores, and even though the app will be facing stiff competition, its average rating of 4.6 stars (out of 5) is a good sign for the future of Office Lens.
