The family dining table has been used for work, video conferences, and a kids’ playground in recent years. My goal is to become a full-time children’s entertainer, so I welcome anything that will help me remain productive. In addition, sometimes what I’m looking for is hard to describe in words, so I turn to Search for information. Here’s where Google Lens Computer comes in. During our family’s daily walk in the neighborhood, Lens lets me search what I see, like a flower in our neighbor’s front yard. The lens can also be helpful when working from home or studying. We’re adding a few new features today to make you more productive.
Using your laptop, copy text from paper
To save time, you can already use Lens to copy and paste text from paper notes and documents to your phone. Lens now allows you to quickly paste selected text to another Chrome-enabled device when you tap “copy to computer”. Using this method, you can quickly copy handwritten notes (if you write neatly!) and past them on your laptop without having to retype everything. You will need the latest version of Chrome to do this, as well as to be logged into the same Google account on both devices.
Learn how to pronounce new words
The number of searches for learning a new language has doubled over the last few months. Now, you can also use Lens to practice words or phrases that are difficult to say with your camera when you’re using the extra time at home to learn a new language. Lens already helps you translate words in Spanish, Chinese, and more than 100 other languages. Tap the Listen button with Lens to hear the text read aloud — and finally learn how to say “hippopotamus!”
Look up new concepts quickly
Google Lens can help you understand words or phrases you don’t understand in books or newspapers, like “gravitational waves.” You can now select complex phrases or words to quickly learn more. These features are rolling out now, except for Listen, which is available on Android and coming soon to iOS devices. Google Lens can be accessed through the Google app on iOS and Google Lens Computer on Android.
Real-world text is copied
Google Lens Computer strongest feature, and the one I use most often, is the ability to grab text from a physical document – a paper, a book, a whiteboard, a suspiciously wordy tattoo on your rumpus, or anything else with writing on it – and copy that text onto your phone. To do that, simply open up the Google Lens app at the top of your screen, click on “Search with your camera,” and paste the text into a Google Doc, a note, an email, a Slack chat, or anywhere else you wish. Tap your finger anywhere on the viewfinder – and you’ll be able to select any portion of text around you as if it were a website’s digital text.
Connect your computer to the real world by sending text
Android phones aren’t the only devices we use to work. It’s easy for Lens to copy text from real-world documents to your computer, too. Just follow the same steps as before, but now look for the “Copy to computer” option in the panel at the bottom of the screen. The option should appear as long as you are actively logged into Chrome with the same Google account on any computer – whether it is Windows, Mac, Linux, or Chrome OS. You’ll be given a list of all available destinations. All you have to do is select the system you want, and just like magic, the text from the physical document will be on the computer’s clipboard, ready to be pasted wherever it’s needed. Ctrl-V (or Cmd-V on a Mac) and presto! Pasting it into any text field, in any app or process that supports it, will work.
