the simple trick to get any text

When Microsoft abandoned the Windows Phone project, it was very clear that it needed to focus on Android to deliver its own experience to Windows users. In recent years, the company has launched features such as Windows Cloud and a Mobile Link application to connect the mobile phone to the computer.

Now this application has received a very interesting novelty, which can be extremely useful for many users; a novelty that, ironically, might be even better than what Google Photos is capable of. It is text recognition on photos that we take with our cell phone, which can now be copied directly to the computer.

It works in a simple way. The Mobile Link app in Windows 11 already has a “Photos” tab, which allows us see the image gallery of our mobile without having to connect it to the computer with a cable. When we click on a photo, we have several options, such as saving it to computer storage or sharing it with other applications.

Now a new option appears, called “Text Message”. Even though the name is a bit strange, the function is great: if you press the button, the application will automatically recognize the text that appears on the photo, such as panels or menus. It also works great with screenshots, like screenshots of our messages or emails.

The process is instant and the text will appear highlighted on the photo. The good news is that we can now select the text with the mouse, or click the “Select All” button if we prefer. Since then, Text can be copied and pasted into any Windows programas if it were a text taken from anywhere.

The possibilities are enormous. We can copy the text of a message or image sent to us and paste it into Word, web browser, translator or whatever we want. Although the Google Photos app for Android also has a text selector in photos, this feature may be more useful for more users because this allows them to use the text in any program on the computer.

To use the Mobile Link application, it is necessary that our Android mobile phone has the “Link to Windows” application installed; the sync process is simple, since we just have to start the application on our computer and mobile phone and follow the steps indicated. Once connected, the application allows us to access SMS messages and photos from our mobile, and even make and receive calls from the PC. We can also receive mobile notifications directly on the computer.