Knowing how to convert the text in an image to an editable document in Microsoft Word can be a real time-saver. We’ll show you a few different ways to do just that, step by step.
Imagine you want to convert a photo of an informational brochure into Word so you can edit the text. Or maybe you want to transform an image-only (i.e., scanned) PDF into an editable Word document. In either case, there are a few ways you can convert an image into text that you can edit in Word.
You’ll find these methods easier than having to type all the text yourself! For each technique, we’ll assume you’re starting with a JPG file of a photo of something with text on it.
How to Convert an Image to Word
For this method of converting an image into a Word document, the only software you’ll need is Microsoft Word .
NOTE: If you are starting with a scanned or image-only PDF, open Word and skip straight to step 7.
- Open a new Word document.
- Place the image file into the Word document by selecting Insert > Pictures .
- Navigate to the folder with your image file, select the file, and select the Insert button.
- Now you have a Word document containing the image.
- Select File > Save As and navigate to the folder where you want to save the document.
- In the Save As dialog box next to Save as type , choose PDF from the dropdown list and select the Save button.
- Next, go to File > Open or press Ctrl + O , find the PDF file you just saved, select it, and press the Open button.
- This is where the magic happens. You’ll see a message informing you that Word will now convert your PDF into an editable Word document. Word warns you that the result may not look exactly like the PDF, especially if the PDF has many images in it. Select the OK button.
- Tada! You may now freely move about your document. The text in the image has been converted to editable text, and the graphics are inserted as images.
That was super-easy, right? You can also use Google Docs to convert images into editable documents. Read on.
How to Convert an Image to Word Using Google Docs: The Easy Way
Whether you’re starting with an image file or an image-only PDF, there’s a simple way of converting your file into an editable Google document. This method will work for JPG, PNG, GIF, or PDF files that are 2 MB or less and are already oriented in the correct direction. Use an image editing app to rotate it if you need to.
- In a browser, go to drive.google.com .
- Upload the image file to your Google Drive by selecting New > File Upload .
- Navigate to the file and select the Open button.
- You should now see the file listed on the Google Drive page. Right-click (or Control + click for Mac users) on the image file and select Open With > Google Docs .
- A new Google document will open containing the image and editable text. Bonus!
That’s it! It could hardly be easier.
How to Convert an Image to Word Using Google Docs: The Long Way
This way is similar to the first method, but instead of using Word, we’ll use Google Docs.
- In Google Docs, create a new Blank Document .
- Place the image file into the document by selecting Insert > Image and navigating to the image you want to convert.
- Now you have a Google doc containing the image.
- Next, we’ll download the document as a PDF. Select File > Download > PDF Document . The file will automatically download.
- Select File > Open and navigate to the PDF you just downloaded. Select the Open button.
- The PDF will open in a new browser tab. If you have a PDF add-on like Lumen installed in Google Drive, you may need to select Open with and choose Google Docs.
- As you can see below, the PDF you opened with Google Docs is editable. It looks a little funkier than it did in the first method, but once you format the text, it’ll do the trick.
- Lastly, to save your Google doc as a Microsoft Word document, select File > Download > Microsoft Word (.docx) , and the document will automatically download as a Word document.
Now you know how to easily convert an image into an editable Word or Google document. In the unlikely event that you have trouble, you can always turn to third-party services to convert your image file into an editable Word document.
How to Convert an Image to Word with Third-Party Apps
Image-to-Word converters are a dime a dozen. We’ve tried the following web apps to convert an image file into an editable Word document and found all of them to work well.
Online2PDF.com
With Online2PDF.com, you can convert an image file to several different formats, including two Microsoft Word document types: .doc and .docx. Select yes for the optional character recognition.
Note that the maximum file size is 100 MB. While you can select up to twenty files, all those files together must not exceed 150 MB.
Image2Go.com
At Image2Go.com, drag and drop your image file onto the page. Then, under Target Format , select the format you want to convert to. Options include .doc, .docx, .rtf, .txt, and more.
Select the option to Convert with OCR . Review the other options on the page, make any changes you want, and select the Start button. When it’s ready, your converted file will download automatically.
Brandfolder Text Extractor Tool
Drag and drop your image file onto this page, crop the image if you wish, and select the Upload button.
The Brandfolder Text Extractor Tool will extract the text from the image, displaying it on the page so you can copy and paste it into a Microsoft Word document.
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Maggie Marystone is a freelance technology writer, human rights worker, and storyteller based in Chicago. Read Maggie’s Full Bio
The PDF document format works on any modern smartphone, computer or tablet. If you want to share or archive a web page or document, PDF is an ideal format to use thanks to its compatibility and portability.
With a free PDF writer, you can add information or highlight some areas on the document in order to update the file. A PDF printer app on the other hand offers printing facilities for your documents, email messages, photos, and other files making it easy to print PDFs right from your device.
Best Free PDF Writers and Printers
If you’re looking for the best free PDF writers and printers to use with your laptop or mobile device, here are some great options you can try.
1. Write on PDF
Write on PDF is a free PDF writer that allows you to make notes on PDF documents. The powerful and convenient app contains many features to add text, highlight and add free handwritten notes with ease.
Among other things you can do with Write on PDF include the ability to search throughout the PDF document, bookmark for navigation, sync with Dropbox , and view in vertical and horizontal ways.
On top of that, you can give tabs to list all the PDF files in your device, save or share a PDF file with your text and drawing content.
2.Sejda PDF Editor
Sejda is an online PDF writer that allows you to add text, images, shapes and drawings. You can also create forms , add annotations, highlight and whiteout sections of a document.
The powerful PDF writer and printer app is available online, which handles processing in the cloud, but you can also get the desktop edition for offline editing, which processes files locally.
If you need to quickly edit your PDF or add signatures to PDF documents, Sejda does that very well. In addition, Sejda recognizes text with OCR , and allows you to merge documents, add headers or footers with page numbers, crop or rotate pages, and split PDF files into smaller documents.
Sejda’s easy-to-use editor packs an impressive suite of features but its free version has page and hourly limits, limited access to specific tools, and limited file uploads no larger than 50MB in size. Plus, you can only work with one document at a time when using the web version of the app.
3.Xodo
Xodo is a free PDF printer, writer and viewer app that makes it easy to markup documents and supports annotations that works with other PDF viewers.
With Xodo, you can save digital signatures as you would with Adobe Acrobat and use it across multiple documents. You can also edit, annotate, and share PDF files on the web, mobile and desktop devices so you can get things done.
If you want to fill forms, Xodo takes the stress out of filling forms by allowing you to do it with a touch of your finger whether you’re using a tablet or smartphone.
Plus, you can annotate PDFs by adding sticky notes, underlining, highlighting, or striking out passages. If you want, you can insert shapes, draw freehand, and change your annotation’s size, color, opacity and thickness.
If you’re working as a team, Xodo has a chat feature that transforms your PDF into a virtual meeting room . This way, you can collaborate with others online in real time from a smartphone or computer, eliminating the need for emails or having to find time to meet.
4.Foxit MobilePDF
Foxit MobilePDF is a small, lightweight PDF viewer that lets you open, view and annotate PDF documents.
The app supports zooming, annotations and searching text, but you can also create PDFs and convert them into Microsoft Office documents.
The free PDF writer and printer covers most of your needs when it comes to PDFs while delivering industry leading capabilities to use PDF files on the go.
5.CutePDF Writer
The app offers 128-bit AES security to encrypt your PDF file and restrict access from unauthorized users so that only you can access, edit, print and extract the content. If you want to edit a PDF though, you can still use the CutePDF Editor from your web browser.
Plus, you can convert printable documents to professional quality PDFs , and print your files by selecting CutePDF Writer from your list of printers on your PC.
The app only works with Windows (Vista to Windows 10 and Windows Server 2008-2019), and you need an additional free postscript to PDF driver to create PDFs.
6.BullZip PDF Printer
BullZip PDF printer is a free PDF printer, which means you can use its free version but with certain limitations. However, the app doesn’t contain pop ups or ads, and if you need advanced features, you can always go for its commercial application, which removes the 10 user limit in the free version.
With the BullZip PDF printer, you can write PDF documents from Windows programs, control whether you want to see the resulting PDF document and password protect your PDFs .
The app offers 128/256 bit AES encryption to add security to your PDFs, and you can edit it to add watermark text and sign PDF documents using digital certificates. Plus, BullZip PDF printer supports multiple output types including PNG, JPEG, BMP, PCX, PDF and TIFF.
7.doPDF
If you just need a PDF printer app, doPDF is a solid choice.
The free PDF printer app creates PDF files and allows you to convert printable files to PDFs. The app installs as a virtual PDF printer driver and you can print to PDF without downloading malware or other random add-ons.
You can convert PDFs to DOCX, PPTX, HTML or TXT files and print them out, or convert Microsoft Office documents into PDFs for printing or web publishing based on your needs.
The main downside with doPDF is that you can’t write or edit using the app; it’s just for printing or converting printable files or images to PDFs .
Quickly Edit and Print PDFs
There are so many tools you can use to write or print to PDF, making it difficult to select one. If you’re just looking for a simple tool, you can use the built-in Microsoft Print to PDF service in Windows 10. For macOS users, turn to our step-by-step guide on how to edit PDFs on Mac.
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Elsie is a technology writer and editor with a special focus on Windows, Android and iOS. She writes about software, electronics and other tech subjects, her ultimate goal being to help people out with useful solutions to their daily tech issues in a simple, straightforward and unbiased style. She has a BCom degree in Marketing and currently pursuing her Masters in Communications and New Media. Read Elsie’s Full Bio
