Yes, Google Drive has Optical Character Recognition (OCR). This feature allows you to convert images and PDF files into editable text documents directly within Google Drive.
Here's how to use Google Drive OCR:
Navigate to Google Drive and upload your scanned document by clicking on "New" then selecting "File upload."
Right-click the uploaded file in Google Drive, select "Open with," then choose "Google Docs." Google Docs will use OCR to convert the document into an editable text format.
You should now be able to edit your document in Google Docs.
However, for more robust data extraction, especially from PDFs with complex layouts and tabular data, you might find Lido more efficient, as it provides advanced tools and formulas specifically designed for handling and organizing spreadsheet data. You can sign up for an account here for free: https://www.lido.app/go/signup.
Here, we'll use Lido's OCR feature with the unique formula, IMPORTPDF, to convert a PDF to an editable text document.
Log in to your Google Drive account and upload the PDF you want to convert. Click "New," then select "File upload." This step allows Lido to access your file online.
Log in to your Lido account and go to the Files page. Click on "New file" to create a new spreadsheet, which will serve as the document for organizing the text extracted from your PDF.
Within your Lido spreadsheet, click the plus (+) icon at the top left corner to create a new worksheet.
Type "=IMPORTPDF(" into cell A1 (excluding the quotation marks).
Click the "Add Credential" button and follow the on-screen instructions to link the Google account where you uploaded the PDF. This will grant Lido access to your file. Ensure you complete all steps to set up your account properly.
After connecting your Google account, press the comma key to move to the next argument in the formula. Then, click "Select a file" to open the file dialog.
In the file selector, navigate through your Google Drive and click on the PDF you uploaded earlier. This will link the selected PDF directly to the IMPORTPDF formula.
Finish the formula by typing ",Sheet1!B2)" to designate where the extracted text should be placed, starting at cell B2 in Sheet1. Press ENTER to finalize and apply the formula.
Right-click on cell A1 after entering the formula and select "Run action" from the context menu. This will execute the IMPORTPDF formula and start the OCR process to extract text from your PDF.
After the formula has executed, navigate to Sheet1 and review the extracted text. Ensure that all text is accurately displayed and correctly represented in the cells.
We hope that you now know how to use OCR in Google Drive.
