How to Turn a Scanned Document Into Microsoft Word Document

January 2023 · 5 minute read

This wikiHow teaches you how to convert a scanned document into an editable Word document on your computer. You can do this using Word's built-in settings if you scanned the document as a PDF, but you'll need to use a free converter if...

Method 1 of 3:

Converting a Scanned PDF

  • Picture 1 of How to Turn a Scanned Document Into Microsoft Word Document Make sure your scanned document saved as a PDF. Microsoft Word can recognize and convert scanned PDF files into Word documents without requiring any additional software.[1]
  • If your document saved as an image (e.g., a JPG or PNG file), you can use New OCR to convert it instead.
  • Picture 2 of How to Turn a Scanned Document Into Microsoft Word Document Open the PDF in Word. This process will vary depending on your operating system:
  • Windows — Right-click the PDF you want to convert, select Open with, and click Word in the resulting pop-out menu.
  • Mac — Click the PDF you want to convert, click the File menu item, select Open With, and click Word in the pop-out menu.
  • Picture 3 of How to Turn a Scanned Document Into Microsoft Word Document Click OK when prompted. Word will begin converting the scanned PDF into a Word document.
  • This process can take several minutes if your PDF has lots of text or images.
  • Picture 4 of How to Turn a Scanned Document Into Microsoft Word Document Enable editing for the file if needed. If you see a yellow bar with a warning at the top of the Word window, click Enable Editing in the yellow bar in order to unlock the file for editing.
  • This usually only pertains to files you've downloaded (e.g., if you downloaded your scanned PDF from a cloud service).
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    Clean up your document. Converting scanned files into Word documents isn't an exact science; you may have to add missing words, remove excess spaces, and fix typos before your Word document is ready to go.

  • Picture 6 of How to Turn a Scanned Document Into Microsoft Word Document Save the document. Once you're ready to save the converted document as its own Word file, do the following:
  • Windows — Press Ctrl+S, then enter a file name, select a save location, and click Save.
  • Mac — Press ⌘ Command+S, then enter a file name, select a save location from the "Where" drop-down box, and click Save.

    • Method 2 of 3:

    Converting a Scanned Image

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    Open the New OCR site. Go to http://www.newocr.com/ in your computer's web browser.

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    Click Choose file. It's a grey button at the top of the page. Doing so prompts a File Explorer (Windows) or Finder (Mac) window to open.

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    Select the scanned file. In the file browser, navigate to the scanned image file of your document, then click the file.

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    Click Open. It's in the bottom-right corner of the window. Doing so will prompt the file to upload to the website.

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    Click Upload + OCR. You'll find this button near the bottom of the visible page. New OCR will begin extracting the readable text from your scanned image.

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    Scroll down and click Download. This link is in the lower-left side of the page, just above the box containing the document's text. A drop-down menu will appear.

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    Click Microsoft Word (DOC). It's in the Download drop-down menu. This will prompt a Microsoft Word version of the scanned file to download onto your computer.

  • Picture 14 of How to Turn a Scanned Document Into Microsoft Word Document Open the document. Once the file is done downloading, you can double-click it to open it in Microsoft Word. Your scanned image is now a Microsoft Word document.
  • You may have to click Enable Editing at the top of the page as the document might be locked by default.
  • Picture 15 of How to Turn a Scanned Document Into Microsoft Word Document

    Clean up your document. Converting scanned files into Word documents isn't an exact science; you may have to add missing words, remove excess spaces, and fix typos before your Word document is ready to go.

    • Method 3 of 3:

    Scanning a Document into a Word File

  • Picture 16 of How to Turn a Scanned Document Into Microsoft Word Document Open Office Lens. Tap the Office Lens app icon, which resembles a red and white app with a camera iris and the letter "L" in the center of the icon.
  • If you don't have Office Lens installed, you can download it from the Google Play Store for Android or from the App Store on iPhone.
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    Allow Office Lens access to your phone. If this is your first time opening Office Lens, tap Allow or OK when prompted to allow Office Lens to access your phone's files.

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    Tap DOCUMENT. It's a tab at the bottom of the screen.

  • Picture 19 of How to Turn a Scanned Document Into Microsoft Word Document Point your phone's camera at a document. Position the document that you want to scan inside the camera's view.
  • Make sure you document is well lit so the camera can pick up as much detail as possible.
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    Tap the "Capture" button. It's a red circle at the bottom of the screen. This will take a photo of the document's page.

  • Picture 21 of How to Turn a Scanned Document Into Microsoft Word Document Tap Picture 22 of How to Turn a Scanned Document Into Microsoft Word Document . It's in the bottom-right corner of the screen.
  • You can scan more pages by tapping the camera with the plus icon at the bottom of the screen.
  • Picture 23 of How to Turn a Scanned Document Into Microsoft Word Document Tap Word. You'll find this option in the "SAVE TO" section of the "Export To" page.
  • On Android, tap the box next to Word and then tap SAVE at the bottom of the screen.
  • Picture 24 of How to Turn a Scanned Document Into Microsoft Word Document Sign into your Microsoft account. If you haven't already, enter your Microsoft account email address and password. Once signed in, your Word document will be uploaded to your OneDrive account.
  • This must be the account that you use to log into Microsoft Word as well.
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    Open Word on your computer. It's the blue app with a white document and the letter "W" in the icon.

  • Picture 26 of How to Turn a Scanned Document Into Microsoft Word Document Click Open Other Documents. It's on the left side of the window below the "Recent" section.
  • On Mac, simply click the folder icon that says Open on the left-hand side of the window.
  • Picture 27 of How to Turn a Scanned Document Into Microsoft Word Document Click OneDrive - Personal. It's at the top of the window. This will open your OneDrive folder.
  • If you don't see the OneDrive option, click + Add a Place, then click OneDrive and sign in with your Microsoft account.
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    Go to the Office Lens folder. Click on the "Documents" folder, then click the "Office Lens" folder. This is on the right pane of the window.

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    Double-click your Word document. This opens the Word document you scanned using Office Lens in Microsoft Word.

    • Samuel Daniel Samuel Daniel

    Update 05 March 2020

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