Photo to Text
Convert a photo to text in your browser. Take a picture of a page, notice or receipt with your phone, or upload one you already have, and the printed text comes back ready to copy or download as TXT.
No image to hand? Sample: A phone photo of a printed notice, taken at an angle.
What we accept
LIMITS PER FORMAT
1 FORMAT
JPG / PNG
.jpgMax size
20 MB
Files per job
up to 20
Getting a readable photo
The reader can only read what the camera caught. These habits make the biggest difference.
Use even light
Daylight from a window or a ceiling light works best. Skip the flash on glossy paper: it leaves a bright patch that hides words.
Keep the page flat
Lay the page on a flat surface and hold the phone parallel to it. Curled pages and the fold of a book bend the lines, and bent lines are harder to read.
Fill the frame
Move close enough that the text fills most of the photo, with a little margin around it. Small text in a big picture loses its detail.
Avoid glare and shadow
Tilt the page or step aside until no reflection, and no shadow of your hand or phone, falls across the text.
Hold still, then check
Tap the text to focus and wait a moment before you shoot. Zoom in on the photo: if you cannot read a word, the reader probably cannot either.
HEIC photos
The reader accepts JPG and PNG. Convert iPhone HEIC files to JPG or PNG first. Photos taken with the Take a photo button arrive as JPG.
Why people use this tool
Made for pictures taken on a phone, not only for clean scans.
Straight from the camera
On a phone, Take a photo opens the camera, so the picture goes from the page to the reader without a trip through your gallery.
Several photos, one result
Photograph each page of a letter or booklet and add the photos together, up to 20. The text comes back in the order you added them.
Rotation handled
Phone photos record which way up they were taken. That is applied before reading, so a page shot in portrait is not read sideways.
Reads photos and scanned pages
Clear printed English gives the reader more to work with. Blur, shadows and tilted pages can cause missed or misread text.
Text grouped by page
Pages stay in order. Within a page, columns, lists and headings may need checking before you reuse the text.
Review before you download
Read the extracted text in the result panel, then copy it or download a TXT file. Compare it with your source when accuracy matters.
How to convert a photo to text
Four steps, all of them in the browser. Nothing to install and no account — then convert to TXT.
Take or choose the photo
On a phone, tap Take a photo and shoot the page. On a computer, drop the photo in or choose it from your files.
Add the other pages
More than one page? Add each photo in page order, up to 20, then press Convert to TXT.
Check the text
Read the result against the photo. Words that were blurred or in shadow in the picture are the ones to check first.
Copy or save it
Copy the text, or download it as a TXT file. The result expires 1 hour after the conversion.
What the text result includes
The result is plain text grouped by page. Recognition and reading order depend on the source, so review it before use.
In the result
Plain text you can review, copy or download as TXT.
Page sequence
Pages appear in source order. For an image batch, the order of the images becomes the page order.
Text found
The result contains the words the service could read. Check names, numbers and missing words against your source.
Line breaks
Detected text blocks are separated by line breaks in TXT. Paragraph and heading structure can vary with the source.
Warnings
If processing reports a page warning, it appears with the result so you know what to review.
Check before use
Check the source before relying on the result.
Reading order
Columns, lists, headers and footnotes can be read out of order, especially on complex pages.
Layout and images
TXT does not retain fonts, pictures, tables or exact placement. Reformat the text if you need those details.
About plain text
Plain text stores characters and line breaks, not the layout of the original page.
Scanned pages are read with OCR, so proofread names, numbers and small print before you rely on the text.
Photo to text questions
Answers to common questions about Photo to Text.
What if my photo is blurry?
Blur is the most common reason for missed or wrong words. Take the photo again with the phone held still, a little closer to the page and in good light, and tap the text to focus first. Sharpening a blurry photo afterwards rarely brings the letters back.
Can I convert several photos at once?
Yes. Add up to 20 photos, each up to 20 MB, in one job. They are read in the order you add them and the text comes back in that order, so a letter photographed page by page stays in sequence. If the pages are already in a PDF, the online OCR tool takes the PDF instead. To send the photos as one document rather than text, put them into a PDF.
Does it take iPhone HEIC photos?
Not as HEIC files: the reader accepts JPG and PNG. Photos taken with the Take a photo button arrive as JPG. For a .heic file on a computer, export it as JPG or PNG first (on a Mac, open it in Preview and choose File, then Export).
My photo is sideways. Do I need to rotate it first?
Usually not. Phones record which way up a photo was taken, and that is applied before the text is read. If a photo was saved without that information and still looks sideways, rotate it in your gallery app and add it again.
Other tools in the set
Same reader, same price, same hour-long retention. Pick the one that matches what you need out the other end.
Image to Text
Pull text out of any photo or scan
Copy Text from Image
Paste or drop an image and copy the text out of it. Works with screenshots, chat pictures and photos. Free, no sign-up, ready to paste.
JPG to Text
Convert JPG and JPEG images to text online. Add up to 20 files, review the text, then copy it or download a TXT file. Free, no sign-up.