Google to Introduces ‘Scan Text’ Feature on Gboard for Android

Google is about to introduce a new ‘Scan Text’ feature for Android users to enhance image text extraction on Gboard. The feature is being introduced to give users a convenient way to extract text from images. The functionality is very similar to the Lens app that uses ‘Optical Character Recognition’ (OCR) to identify and extract text from images captured by the camera of the user's phone.

According to a recent report published by 9to5Google, the  ‘ Scan Text’ option will appear alongside the existing toggles for ‘Translate’ and ‘Proofread’. It will open a viewfinder in the lower half of the screen upon selection and allow users to choose from an existing photo or capture a new one. However, the users will have to grant access to Gboard to their camera to use this functionality.

How does the Gboard ‘Scan Text’ feature work?

Whenever the ‘Scan Text’ recognizes an image, it highlights the text for easy insertion into any text field. After processing the text, the tool remains open and enables users to extract text from additional images. While it seems the functionality is straightforward and offers efficiency compared to opening Google Lens, it might involve a split-screen viewfinder which could be distracting for some users.

The feature is currently available in Gboard for Android 13.6 beta but has not been rolled out for all users. And, the OCR quality and accuracy of ‘Scan Text’ appears consistent with other Google products.

Google has been recently enhancing Gboard with various other features that include resizing options to adjust the keyboard’s height according to user’s preferences and a split keyboard interface, among others.

In addition to the ‘Scan Text’ feature, Gboard continuously evolves as a versatile and user-friendly keyboard app for Android users and enables efficient text extraction from images.