OCR means “optical character recognition”. It lets you copy text from a photo, scanned page, or screenshot.
This is useful for receipts, IDs, documents, lecture slides, and anything you want to paste into a note or email.
Best results checklist
- Use a clear image. Sharp text matters more than high resolution.
- Avoid glare and shadows.
- Keep the page straight. A tilted photo makes OCR worse.
- If possible, use black text on a light background.
How to copy text using Micro Task Assistant
- Open Image to Text (OCR).
- Upload your image (JPG or PNG).
- Run OCR.
- Review the result and fix obvious errors.
- Copy the text.
Fix common OCR problems
The text has weird characters
This is usually caused by blur or low contrast. Try a clearer photo and make sure the text is in focus.
Line breaks look wrong
OCR often keeps the same line breaks it sees in the image. If you need a paragraph, paste into a text editor and remove extra line breaks.
It missed part of the page
Check that the full page is visible. If the edges are cut off, retake the photo with a small border around the page.
What OCR is not great at
- Handwriting (some works, most does not)
- Very small text in a noisy background
- Curved pages (books not fully opened)
Related tools
- PDF to Image: turn a PDF page into an image first
- Word Counter: count words after OCR
- JSON Formatter: useful if you are extracting structured text
If you hit a repeatable OCR issue, send the tool name and a sample screenshot through Contact.