You can turn print into digital text with nothing but Gboard. Today, let’s learn how.

I really don’t like taking things written on paper and keying them into my computer to make them digital.

Yes, we’ve been able to use a scanner to digitize the document. We’ve had that capability for years.

With OCR, we’ve been able to search for text. But what I’m talking about is taking text that’s on paper or even in an image and turning it into editable text.

I’ve talked to you about this topic before. In April, I showed you how to do that very thing using Google Lens. https://frankbuck.org/google-lens-handwriting/

In July, I showed you how take cursive writing and turn it into editable text using ChatGPT.  https://frankbuck.org/handwriting-to-text/

Today, I show you something even easier if you’re working with print. It doesn’t seem to work on cursive, but it works on print whether it’s from a document or text in an image.

The tool I’m using is the “Gboard” keyboard on my Android phone. Your phone, of course, comes with a keyboard installed. But you can download other keyboards.

What keyboards do you have installed and how can you switch between one and the other?

Go to your phone’s “Settings.” Look for “System” or “Language and Input.” I found mine under “General Management” and then “Keyboard List” and then “Defaults.” Look for “Virtual Keyboard” or “On-Screen Keyboard.”

If you’re on an Android phone and you don’t already see Gboard as an option, you can download it from the Google Play Store. If you are using an iPhone, you can also have Gboard. This video shows how to do that.

While reading a document, an article, or even looking at pictures that have text, I’m taking notes on my phone. I could be taking notes in Evernote, Google Keep, Google Docs, Word, Apple Notes, or anything else. It doesn’t matter. What does matter is that you are using the Gboard keyboard.

Turning the Printed Text into Digital Text

On my phone’s keyboard, I have a row of icons. The one I need is called “Scan Text.” I have an icon that looks like 4 squares. It’s a menu that opens other options:

  • Touch the icon that says “Scan Text.” Your camera appears.
  • Take a picture of the text.
  • Touch “select text.”
  • Touch “insert.”
  • The text appears in your note.

It’s that simple.

Another example

The video presents a second example, I give you another example. This time, I scan the cover of a book. It includes a bit of cursive writing and another formidable challenge.

Gboard did not handle the cursive writing very well. It did handle the normal kinds of things you and I see that would normally have us keying text into our digital devices.

You now have three techniques in your bag of tricks for taking printed text and digitizing it into edible text.

  1. Using Google Lens, snap a picture, highlight the text you want, copy & paste it, go to your note, and paste.
  2. Using ChatGPT, key in, “I am going to take a picture of handwritten text. Please transcribe the handwriting into digital text.” Follow the instructions I gave you in the post I created. That will take care of your cursive transcriptions.
  3. Finally, you use Gboard. While you’re in your note, choose the “Scan Text” tool from the keyboard. Snap the picture and insert the text into your note.

If you find yourself taking text from paper and keying it into your computer, stop. It’s not 1975. Use the tools you have. Grab your phone. Turn your project into editable text on your phone. Let it sync to your computer. Then, get busy making the little edits. You always want to proofread.

With this one technique, you can goodbye to keying in long passages of content. You can even save time over what has been a trick of mine for a long time…reading the information into my phone.

“Information overload is a symptom of a larger problem – our inability to organize and prioritize information effectively.”
– E.D. Hirsch Jr. (educational theorist)

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