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Microsoft Lens

4.5 (272)
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OCR solution for businesses of all sizes

About Microsoft Lens

Microsoft Lens (formerly Microsoft Office Lens) is an optical character recognition (OCR) solution designed to help businesses of all sizes capture and record information from images, documents, notes, whiteboards, business cards and more. It allows users to scan and create digital copy of any printed or written text, facilitating exchange of information across systems.

Key features of Microsoft Lens include data capture, review, editing and file sharing. Enterprises can utilize the system to convert images into PDF, Word and PowerPoint files and store them in local or cloud drives. Plus, it enables students to scan learning materials such as classroom handouts, notes & whiteboards, and upload them into OneNote or OneDrive for future reference.

Microsoft Lens allows sales teams to access details of networking contacts by scanning business cards in various languages including English, Spanish, German, and Simplified Chinese and save information directly into contact lists as well as OneNote. The solution helps users automatically recognize texts and navigate through content using search functionality.


Images

Microsoft Lens Software - Microsoft Office Lens capture whiteboard screenshot
Microsoft Lens Software - Microsoft Office Lens capture printed text screenshot
Microsoft Lens Software - Microsoft Office Lens save and access data anywhere screenshot
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Not sure about Microsoft Lens? Compare with a popular alternative Show more details

Microsoft Lens

4.5 (272)
VS.
Most reviewed

Starting Price

No pricing found
US$29.99
month

Pricing Options

Free version
Free trial
Free version
Free trial

Features

18
77

Integrations

4
17

Ease of Use

4.6 (272)
4.6 (4,135)

Value for Money

4.5 (272)
4.3 (4,135)

Customer Service

4.3 (272)
4.3 (4,135)
Green rating bars show the winning product based on the average rating and number of reviews.

Alternatives

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Adobe Acrobat

4.7
#1 Alternative to Microsoft Lens
Adobe Acrobat is PDF editing software that can be used to create, convert and share PDF documents. It can convert...

CamScanner

4.7
#2 Alternative to Microsoft Lens
CamScanner is an OCR solution that helps businesses convert files, edit PDFs, add annotations, manage compressions, and...

iLovePDF

4.7
#3 Alternative to Microsoft Lens
Transform scanned documents into editable, searchable text with iLovePDF’s OCR technology. Extract data from PDFs,...

Nitro PDF

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#4 Alternative to Microsoft Lens
Nitro’s OCR (Optical Character Recognition) tool allows users to convert scanned documents and images into searchable...

Overall rating

4.5 /5
(272)
Value for Money
4.5/5
Features
4.5/5
Ease of Use
4.6/5
Customer Support Software
4.3/5

94%
recommended this app
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272 Reviews

Nicholas
Nicholas Show more details
Overall rating
  • Industry: Education Management
  • Company size: 51–200 Employees
  • Used Monthly for 1+ year
  • Review Source Show more details

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Likelihood to recommend 8.0 /10

Worth a revisit

Reviewed on 2022-05-14

I had used Lens early in its life when it helped to capture documents and put them in our OneDrive....

I had used Lens early in its life when it helped to capture documents and put them in our OneDrive. It was simple and straight-forward. The feature i appreciated most at the time was its ability to crop at an angle to account for the angle at which items were being captured.
It was earlier this year that i had a colleague recommend revisiting it. As we had been thoroughly impressed with the improvements Edge and other products had been making with Immersive Reader, they demonstrated the improvements in the text capture and output to Immersive Reader that had developed since last I looked at Lens. It has now become a tool at the ready when I am given a hand out to read and I augment my slow reading speed with the help of Immersive reader and the read aloud tools.
We have since begun looking at the application of using it with teachers that have print outs that may need to be digitized for students that need them presented in a digital format and the teacher cannot get to the scanner. It is nice to have the tool available when they need it.

Pros

The immersive reader. I have been using lens to capture and convert materials to use in Immersive Reader with the Read Aloud feature. The ability to extract text and convert it to the Immersive Reader is impressive. And then the functionality of Immersive Reader to assist in reading and hearing it read has improve my retention and focus .

Cons

Some of the export workflows do not seem as intuitive as I'd like. When capturing something to share with a student it is harder to choose some of the shared locations in iOS. This is relatively moot as the features for Lens are often also found in the OneNote app.

Prathima
Prathima Show more details
Overall rating
  • Industry: Computer Software
  • Company size: 2–10 Employees
  • Used Daily for 6-12 months
  • Review Source Show more details

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support Software
  • Likelihood to recommend 7.0 /10

Simple tool for pdf conversion and good for microfot users only because has limited tools

Reviewed on 2023-02-23

overall i feel like microsoft lens is good for microsoft users only who need very simple pdf and...

overall i feel like microsoft lens is good for microsoft users only who need very simple pdf and document converter with minimal interface and with text editing and full text speech options.

Pros

the interface is very simple and minimal and has very limited tools though. the text extraction is good and the data capture and transfer is also very fast and efficient. the full text speech is also helpful and so is the text editing tool too.

Cons

there are very limited no of tools and personalization options. also the sharing options are even limited. the conversion to pdf has very limited tools which are so many when compared to other apps.

Minenhle
Overall rating
  • Industry: Capital Markets
  • Company size: 2–10 Employees
  • Used Daily for 2+ years
  • Review Source Show more details

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support Software
  • Likelihood to recommend 7.0 /10

Mice office lens

Reviewed on 2022-03-23

It good uses for business purposes

It good uses for business purposes

Pros

Dynamics of new features and always improving with new technology for future use , everything you needed is on one particular place

Cons

Always need update it requires a lot data networks and It consumer q lot of space in computer sometimes it over heating leading to computer to be slower when functioning

Alejandro
Alejandro Show more details
Overall rating
  • Industry: Retail
  • Company size: 10,000+ Employees
  • Used Monthly for 2+ years
  • Review Source Show more details

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support Software
  • Likelihood to recommend 10.0 /10

A completely free sw to store images of important data like blackboards, documents and pictures

Reviewed on 2019-09-24

Excellent software to take quick pictures and share as professional documents and scans.

Excellent software to take quick pictures and share as professional documents and scans.

Pros

Absolutely free, no need for Office 365 to use it. You just have to have a normal outlook or live account. Or a Microsoft account. Great alternative to AdobeScan and CamScanner.
Automatic recognizance of documents, blackboard, pictures and business cards to store it to the optimum quality.
Automatically fix the document angle in the picture to make it look like
Cut or fix the picture to the size you want. It uses snaps to easily and faster image cutting.
For business cards, the infomation is extracted and can be shared as .vcf or store it in your phone.
All the pictures can be store in OneDrive as .docx (as OCR document), jpeg/png (in your phone gallery), .pdf, pptx, or in OneNote.
When saving to a document, the original and if it applied, the layers of the picture are saved.
For blackboards, the images are saved as picture and as drawings /stencils, so they can be copied and pasted to other documents or emails.
View the images saved in your phone and share.
Take pictures in bulk.
Change the resolution of the picture to take. By default it uses a medium resolution. Around 5mpx.

Cons

Sometimes slow but I can accept it because it is recognizing a lot of information in the picture, figuring out what is.
No document can be saved locally, only the pictures.

Ouattara
Ouattara Show more details
Overall rating
  • Industry: Information Technology & Services
  • Company size: 201–500 Employees
  • Used Weekly for 6-12 months
  • Review Source Show more details

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support Software
  • Likelihood to recommend 9.0 /10

A really great digitizing app

Reviewed on 2023-02-19

I sometimes use it to digitize visual media in order to obtain a high-quality rendering. You can...

I sometimes use it to digitize visual media in order to obtain a high-quality rendering. You can scan documents in high quality, convert handwritten text into digital text, and edit it in Word, PowerPoint, or Onenote. I highly recommend it

Pros

Microsoft Lens is a really great app. With Microsoft Lens, it is very easy to convert a physical, visual medium into a digital file. With a single click of your smartphone photo, you transform your visual support into an editable digital file. I like its scanning accuracy and its sharing and integration features with Microsoft Office applications. It integrates very easily with other Microsoft Office tools such as Word, Onenote, Powerpoint, etc. Or, with its scanning accuracy, you can simply keep the rendered file or share it. Also, it is possible to process a file already in its gallery to make it editable. Microsoft Office Lens is an application to try at least once

Cons

I have not had any particular problems with this product. I don't have any recommendations to make at this time

Microsoft Lens FAQs

Below are some frequently asked questions for Microsoft Lens.

Microsoft Lens offers the following pricing plans:

  • Pricing model: Free Version
  • Free Trial: Not Available

Product is available for free.

Microsoft Lens has the following typical customers:

Self Employed, 2–10, 11–50, 51–200, 201–500, 501–1,000, 1,001–5,000

Microsoft Lens supports the following languages:

Chinese, English, German, Spanish

Microsoft Lens supports the following devices:

Android (Mobile), iPhone (Mobile), iPad (Mobile)

Microsoft Lens integrates with the following applications:

Microsoft OneNote, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Word, OneDrive

Microsoft Lens offers the following support options:

Email/Help Desk, Knowledge Base Software, Phone Support

Related categories

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