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| Google Lens accesses the web version of Google Photos |
Google Lens, Google's AI-powered image recognition service, is expanding beyond mobile devices and making its way to desktop with optical character recognition (OCR).
In addition to that the service has its own standalone application, Google Lens can also be used to search for images and Google images and can be integrated via Android.
Google now brings Google Lens to the desktop for the web version of Google Photos, which makes it easy to transcribe text via OCR.
Currently, you can only copy text from photos with Google Lens using OCR.
When you access Google Photos from the desktop and open an image with text, the message "Copy text from image" appears and the Google Lens logo will appear in the upper left corner.
Clicking this button will analyze the image with the familiar Android raster animation.
When the analysis is complete, the entire text content is displayed in the right window.
By default, the Copy Text button is used above the text to select the text so that you can quickly copy important elements of the image.
You can also select or deselect all text, or select specific parts of the result.
Google Lens currently offers very limited functionality for the entire desktop as the service cannot help you identify people, landmarks, plants, etc. Like mobile services.
You can extract text and copy text from images, but this is a major advance for services that were previously only available for Android phones.
One easy use of installing Google Lens on the desktop is to scan and paste written text documents into content that you write on the desktop.
Over time, Google can expand its functionality by adding new features.
Please note that Google Photos on Android supports the OCR function, which allows you to easily copy text from images.