Imagine you want to convert a photo of an informational brochure into Word so you can edit the text. Or maybe you want to transform an image-only (i.e., scanned) PDF into an editable Word document. In either case, there are a few ways you can convert an image into text that you can edit in Word. You’ll find these methods easier than having to type all the text yourself! For each technique, we’ll assume you’re starting with a JPG file of a photo of something with text on it.

How to Convert an Image to Word

For this method of converting an image into a Word document, the only software you’ll need is Microsoft Word.  NOTE: If you are starting with a scanned or image-only PDF, open Word and skip straight to step 7. That was super-easy, right? You can also use Google Docs to convert images into editable documents. Read on. 

How to Convert an Image to Word Using Google Docs: The Easy Way

Whether you’re starting with an image file or an image-only PDF, there’s a simple way of converting your file into an editable Google document. This method will work for JPG, PNG, GIF, or PDF files that are 2 MB or less and are already oriented in the correct direction. Use an image editing app to rotate it if you need to. That’s it! It could hardly be easier. 

How to Convert an Image to Word Using Google Docs: The Long Way

This way is similar to the first method, but instead of using Word, we’ll use Google Docs. Now you know how to easily convert an image into an editable Word or Google document. In the unlikely event that you have trouble, you can always turn to third-party services to convert your image file into an editable Word document.

How to Convert an Image to Word with Third-Party Apps

Image-to-Word converters are a dime a dozen. We’ve tried the following web apps to convert an image file into an editable Word document and found all of them to work well.

Online2PDF.com

With Online2PDF.com, you can convert an image file to several different formats, including two Microsoft Word document types: .doc and .docx. Select yes for the optional character recognition. Note that the maximum file size is 100 MB. While you can select up to twenty files, all those files together must not exceed 150 MB.

Image2Go.com

At Image2Go.com, drag and drop your image file onto the page. Then, under Target Format, select the format you want to convert to. Options include .doc, .docx, .rtf, .txt, and more.  Select the option to Convert with OCR. Review the other options on the page, make any changes you want, and select the Start button. When it’s ready, your converted file will download automatically.

Brandfolder Text Extractor Tool

Drag and drop your image file onto this page, crop the image if you wish, and select the Upload button.  The Brandfolder Text Extractor Tool will extract the text from the image, displaying it on the page so you can copy and paste it into a Microsoft Word document.

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