How to Convert Image to Text Step by Step

If you have a photo of a page, a screenshot or a scanned document, you usually cannot select or edit its words. Converting an image to text means recognizing the letters in the picture and turning them into characters you can copy, search and edit. The right method depends on how much text there is and where the image came from.

This guide is for anyone who needs the words from an image in a usable form, whether that is a receipt, a slide, a printed chapter or a contract scan. You will learn which method fits your case, what to prepare before you start, and how to use OCR on a scanned PDF in OmniDoc when your image is a document-style scan.

Which method converts an image to text? The short answer

For a few lines, type or copy the words by hand while you look at the image. For a multi-page scan, save the pages as a PDF and run OCR on that file.

Your situation	What to do	Why
A short line, sign or caption in a photo	Type the words yourself while checking the photo	You can read each character as you type, so errors are easier to catch
A screenshot that shows text	Try selecting the text first; if it does not select, use a text recognition feature in a general-purpose image tool	Some screenshots already contain selectable text, so no recognition is needed
A scanned, multi-page document	Save the pages as one PDF, then run OCR in the OmniDoc PDF editor	OCR works across whole pages and keeps the page order
A scanned page you want in Word	Run OCR on the PDF, then export the result to Word	You get an editable file instead of loose text

Before you start

Check whether the text is already text. Select one line in the image or PDF. If the selection highlights letters, you can copy them directly and skip recognition. If nothing highlights, the page is a picture of text.
Look at image quality. Blurry, tilted, dim or glare-covered photos produce misread characters. A flat, evenly lit scan or a sharp, straight-on photo gives cleaner results.
Decide on your output format. Plain text suits notes, Word suits documents you will edit, and Excel suits tables. Choosing this first tells you which export to use at the end.
Know the language. Recognition is more reliable when you know which language the text is in. Mixed-language pages need a closer check.
Keep the original file. You will compare the recognized text against it, and the original is your reference if something goes wrong.

Converting a scanned PDF to text in OmniDoc, step by step

This path covers document-style scans. For a single photo with a few words, retyping is usually simpler.

Select a line of text in the file. This tells you whether the page is already text or an image that needs recognition.
Save each page as a PDF. Use your scanner's save option or a general PDF tool, and combine the pages into one file so you only process it once.
Install the OmniDoc desktop client. Download it from download.omnidoc.top. It includes the PDF editor and OCR for scanned PDFs.
Open the PDF in the PDF editor. Load the combined file so you can work through all of its pages in one place.
Run OCR on the scanned pages. OCR recognizes the printed characters, so the page text can be selected and searched afterward.
Compare the recognized text with the original. Select a paragraph and check it against the same passage in the scan. Fix any errors directly in the editor, since you can edit paragraph text in place.
Export or copy the result. Export to Word, Excel or PowerPoint if you need an editable file, or copy the selected text into a plain text editor.
Save the output under a new name. Keep the original scan so you can recheck any passage later.

Check the result

Recognition can make mistakes, so review the output before you use it. Start with the parts where a small error changes the meaning.

Check	How to see it	If it's wrong
Missing words or lines	Compare the page count and paragraph count with the original	Run OCR again on that page, or retype the missing part
Misread characters, such as 0 and O, 1 and l, or rn and m	Read numbers, names, codes and dates against the image	Correct them by hand, since these look-alike characters are a common source of errors
Columns or tables out of order	Scroll through the export and compare the layout with the scan	Retype the table in Excel or copy the cells one at a time
Lost punctuation or accents	Spot-check sentences with commas, quotes and accented letters	Fix them in the editor before exporting
Text that still will not select	Try selecting a line in the finished file	Scan the page again at a higher resolution and repeat OCR

Check figures, names, dates and legal wording against the original before you rely on them, even if the text looks clean.

❓ FAQ

1. Can we convert image to text without any software?

Yes, for short passages. You can retype the words while viewing the image, or copy them from a screenshot if the screenshot already contains selectable text. Retyping gets slow for long pages, so use OCR for anything longer.

2. How do I get text off a phone photo?

Crop the photo to the text, straighten it and retake it if it is blurry or has glare. If the text is still hard to read, retype it. For longer text, save the photo as a PDF and run OCR on it in the OmniDoc PDF editor.

3. Does OCR work on handwriting?

Results on handwriting are usually weaker than on printed type. Plan to transcribe handwritten text by hand and check each line against the image.

4. How do I convert an image to a TXT file or a Word document?

For plain text, paste the recognized text into a plain text editor and save it as a .txt file. For a Word document, export the OCR result from the OmniDoc PDF editor to Word, then review the layout before you share it.

📝 Summary

Check whether the text is already selectable, then retype short passages or run OCR on a PDF of a multi-page scan. Whichever method you use, compare the output with the original before you use it.

Open OmniDoc to recognize and translate scanned files