Google’s Gboard to Unleash Innovative ‘Scan Text’ Feature for Seamless Text Extraction from the Real World

In a remarkable stride toward bridging the physical and digital realms, Google is unveiling a cutting-edge feature in its Gboard keyboard app. The latest beta version, 13.6, hosts a groundbreaking function known as “Scan text,” which empowers users to effortlessly capture text from the tangible world and import it directly into their smartphones. This innovative feature resembles the capabilities of Google Lens, allowing users to extract and manipulate text from images with remarkable ease.

Unearthed by diligent sleuthing during an APK deep dive by 9to5Google, the “Scan text” feature promises to be a game-changer in the realm of mobile text handling. To wield this remarkable tool, users must grant the app camera permissions. Once access is granted, the device’s camera assumes the lower portion of the screen traditionally occupied by the Android keyboard.

Upon activation, users are greeted with a “Take a photo of words to scan” prompt positioned just above the camera’s snapshot icon. A single tap on this prompt allows Gboard to seamlessly highlight a single line of text, with the option to expand or shorten the selection according to the user’s preferences.

Once the desired text is highlighted, a pop-up overlay appears at the bottom of the camera, displaying the selected text and presenting an “insert” button. In applications like Google Messages, the cursor’s position dictates the insertion point for the selected text. The “Scan text” feature remains open for continuous text extraction, making it exceptionally convenient for users.

Notably, this text scanning function does not save the captured image on the device or any other storage location. It operates as a transient interaction, ensuring that once users have copied the text they require, the image is automatically discarded, respecting users’ privacy and data security.

What sets “Scan text” apart is its utilization of optical character recognition (OCR) technology, the same technology that powers Google Lens for text extraction from images. This feature originally made its debut on the web version of Google Photos before proliferating to other devices and Google products.

While the official rollout date for “Scan text” remains uncertain, the beta version of Gboard offers a tantalizing glimpse into the future of seamless text extraction. This cutting-edge feature complements another impressive addition to Gboard that surfaced in September: “Proofread with Gboard.” This function employs generative AI to identify and underline misspelled words or text in need of grammatical correction. Moreover, Google plans to introduce a “Fix it” option in Gboard’s suggested words row, allowing for automatic correction of errors with minimal user input.

As the tech world eagerly anticipates the official release of “Scan text,” Google continues to push the boundaries of convenience and innovation in mobile text handling, making everyday communication more effortless and efficient for users.

Source: Android Central

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