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I am using M365 Copilot app on iPhone16 > "Create" > "Scan" > "Import" > "Review and Edit" > "Finish" > "Save to OneDrive" to scan receipts and bookkeeping documents. I can see the scanned image in my OneDrive but want the receipts to go through OCR / text recognition in the process so I can search them when doing taxes, etc. I used to do this via a SnapScan document scanner and they would go through OCR text recognition on my laptop after scanning then I would save them in OneDrive. Doing the same using a mobile device would be super convenient since I would not have to carry a separate scanner. Is it possible for M365 Copilot app to do text recognition when scanning an image and saving to OneDrive?If not possible for M365 Copilot app is there another app to use an iPhone to scan and OCR receipts to OneDrive?
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This seems to be a regression from Microsoft Lens. Lens would recognize text and store it as text within the generated PDF. So far, when I the use the Copilot app, it just stores scanned text as graphics when generating a PDF.
Indeed, this seems to be a product regression. Microsoft taking away functionality in making the product suite less useful.
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Hi Michael,
Yes, the Microsoft 365 Copilot app for iOS supports OCR via the "Image to Text" action, allowing you to extract and reuse text from scanned images. However, OCR isn’t automatically applied when using the "Create > Scan > Save to OneDrive" workflow. To make receipts searchable, manually trigger "Image to Text," then save the extracted text alongside the image (e.g., in Word or OneNote). Alternatively, use Power Automate to extract and store searchable text. Microsoft Lens is being retired, and Copilot doesn’t yet support automatic OCR tagging.
For alternatives, you may find this article helpful: Best Receipt Scanner Apps *Disclaimer: This is a third-party source and may contain affiliate links or promotional content. Always verify app features and privacy policies before use.
Best,
Jeric.