Office Lens

Turn our camera into a mobile scanner with Office Lens.

While it might seem like making the transition from hard copies to digital files is going to be a long and arduous task, there is a program that will help you during that process. Office Lens turns your computer’s camera into a digital scanner that creates copies of everything from handwritten documents to business cards. Even though it has some clear drawbacks and doesn’t always create perfect digital translations, it is still a powerful tool that you might benefit from.

Setting up Office Lens is a quick and simple process that should take you more than a few moments. Once it has been downloaded, you can simply point your computer’s camera at any hard copy that you have and then take a picture. Within a few seconds, the software will show you a digital preview of the picture you have taken. From there, you can decide which type of file you are going to create from the picture. In addition to basic Word files, you can also turn your pictures into PowerPoint slides and PDFs.

One of the biggest benefits of this software is the fact that it is compatible with a wide array of Microsoft products. After you have snapped a picture and created a file, you can then upload it to OneDrive, OneNote, or Gmail. The developers have also included a useful translation tool, and this software is currently compatible with English, Mandarin, and German. While the interface is clunky, Office Lens is still a useful piece of software that could save you quite a bit of time.