Gboard: scanning and copying text takes a few seconds on the new beta

Extracting the entirety of a text with its camera to copy and paste it into a conversation is one of the new features that Google should soon offer with its Gboard virtual keyboard. No more need to juggle between different applications to scan and share text, this option is currently being tested on Android, in beta 13.9 of Gboard.

Called Scan Text, the function is accessible from the quick access bar among the tools already offered in the app. With one click, users can enable this option and start scanning text using their smartphone’s camera. Thanks to optical character recognition (OCR) technology, Gboard is then able to detect and digitize the text present in the captured images.

To use text scanning, simply allow access to the camera in Gboard settings. Once this new feature is activated, users can simply point their camera at the text they want to scan, select the desired part and copy the text directly into the Gboard input field . The process is simple and saves users time in their daily tasks.

While waiting to see this new feature arrive on the Google keyboard in an update, the Mountain View firm continues to simplify the input modes with, among other things, the recognition of stylus writing to transform it into text.