I think there are times when you want to import paper documents to your computer when you are on the go or working remotely. In such cases, it is recommended to use a smartphone instead of a scanner.
Office Lens, an application provided by Microsoft for PC, Android, and iOS for free, has automatic image processing functions such as distortion correction and cropping, so it is not just like taking a picture, but as if it was captured with a scanner. You can easily get results like
How to use your smartphone as a scanner with Office Lens
Office Lens is compatible with both Android and iPhone. This time, as an example, we will introduce the procedure for digitizing paper documents on an Android smartphone and importing them to a Windows computer. The procedure for shooting is the same, so if you have an iPhone, please refer to it.
Confirmation environment
Office Lens version
Android version: 16.0.12730.20080
iPhone version: 2.36.20040801
Windows 10 (Pro/Home) 64bit (Version: 1909)
1. Start Office Lens
Office Lens can be downloaded for free from Google Play and App Store. Just search for "Office Lens" and you'll find it. Android 5.0 or higher and iOS 12 or higher are required.
Now, let's take a look at how to actually convert paper documents into data using Office Lens. After setup is complete, start Office Lens.
android icon home screen
2. Take a picture of the document you want to digitize
This is the shooting screen of Office Lens. The shooting mode is displayed at the bottom of the screen.
For documents, select "Documents".
When you point the camera, the displayed red frame automatically recognizes the document and puts it in the frame.
Even if the range is slightly off, you can trim and correct the distortion in the next process, so you
don't necessarily have to fit the frame perfectly from the front when shooting. After placing the document in the red frame, tap the shutter button in the center of the screen.
If the list of images saved on the smartphone is displayed at startup, you can swipe to the bottom of the
screen or tap one of the screens to turn off the display.
3. Correct distortion and cropping
When you take a picture of the document, it will move to the trimming tool. Operate the ○ displayed on each side and four corners to adjust the document so that it fits within the white frame, and tap Confirm.
Creates a cropped and dewarped image. It is convenient because it corrects so that it looks natural even if you are not shooting from the front.
If you want to take a picture again, tap the "←" icon on the upper left of the screen.
The icons on the upper right of the screen are, from left to right, "Trash", "Cropping Tool", "Rotate Image", "Change Shooting Mode", "Add Text", and "Add Handwritten Memo", so please use them as necessary.
If there are no problems with the image, tap [Done] at the bottom right of the screen.
If you want to import a multi-page document, select [Add new] at the bottom left of the screen, and the shooting screen will be displayed again. Perform additional shooting and trimming operations.
The number displayed in the icon at the bottom right of the screen is the number of pages. Tap [Done] when you have finished taking the necessary shots.
4. Edit the title and specify the save location and save format
When you press Done, the screen for editing the title, saving destination, and saving format will appear. If you check "Gallery", it will be created as image data, and if you check "PDF", a PDF file will be created at the same time.
A list of saved files is displayed. A thumbnail with an icon at the bottom left is a PDF, and a thumbnail without an icon is a normal image.
Tap the menu icon "..." next to the file name to display the menu for sharing and deleting.
If you select Share, you can select a sharing destination such as SNS, Google Drive, or Gmail. (Please use this as a reference, as the displayed content differs depending on the model you are using.)
5. How to check saved files
You can check the files created with Office Lens by listing them in the "My files" menu. You can open it from the menu icon "..." on the upper right of the shooting screen.
6. Cooperation with various Office apps
Office Lens can be linked with OneDrive and other Office apps by signing in with a Microsoft account. It will be very convenient to check the data saved in OneDrive immediately on the computer side, so we will also introduce the procedure to sign in with a Microsoft account.
Tap the menu icon "..." at the top right of the startup screen and select [Settings].
Select "Accounts and Privacy" in the Settings menu.
Select Add Account.
You will be redirected to the Microsoft account sign-in screen, so follow the instructions on the screen to proceed with the settings.
If you sign in to your Microsoft account, you can specify OneDrive as the save destination. You can also specify whether to save to your smartphone or OneDrive by tapping the save destination.
If you check Word, OneNote, PowerPoint, the file will be saved on OneDrive in each format.
You will be able to check the created file immediately from the OneDrive icon at the bottom right of the Windows 10 desktop.
A folder for Office Lens is automatically created in OneDrive.
A file with character data is created by the OCR function (optical character recognition), making it possible to search for characters in the document. In this example, if you search for the word "telework", you can see that it is highlighted.
Office Lens instead of scanner
So far, we have introduced how to use Office Lens to convert paper documents into data and import them into your computer.
I hope you can use it instead of a scanner.
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