Scan document for word

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After you scan a document, you can open the document in Word to edit it. How you do this depends on the version of Office that you have installed.

Scan a document as a PDF file and edit it in Word

Tip: The conversion works best with documents that are mostly text.

  1. Scan your document according to the instructions for your scanner, and save it to your computer as a .pdf file.

  2. In Word, click File > Open.

  3. Browse to the location of the PDF file on your computer and click Open.

  4. A message appears, stating that Word will convert the PDF file into an editable Word document. Click OK.

The converted document might not have a perfect page-to-page correspondence with the original. For example, lines and pages may break at different locations. For more information, see Opening PDFs in Word.

See also

Edit PDF content in Word

Save as PDF

Important: 
Office 2010 is no longer supported. Upgrade to Microsoft 365 to work anywhere from any device and continue to receive support.

Upgrade now

The From Scanner or Camera option for scanning documents and pictures is not available in Word 2010. Instead, you can use your scanner to scan the document, and then you can save the file on your computer.

Step 1: Install Microsoft Office Document Imaging

Microsoft Office Document Imaging has been removed from Office 2010; however, you can use one of the options described in Install MODI for use with Microsoft Office 2010 to install it on your computer.

Step 2: Create a document that you can edit

Scan your document according to the instructions for your scanner.

Before you continue    Convert the file that the scanner created to TIFF format. You can use Paint or another program to convert the file.

  1. Open Microsoft Office Document Imaging by searching for Microsoft Office Document Imaging on the Windows Start menu.

  2. On the File menu, click Open.

  3. Locate the document that you scanned, and then click Open.

  4. After Microsoft Office Document Imaging runs, press CTRL+A to select the entire document, and then press CTRL+C.

  5. Start Microsoft Word.

  6. On the File tab, click New.

  7. Double-click Blank document.

  8. Press CTRL+V to paste the contents of the scanned document into the new file.

You now have a document that you can edit. Be sure to save the new file so that you don’t lose your changes.

Important: 
Office 2007 is no longer supported. Upgrade to Microsoft 365 to work anywhere from any device and continue to receive support.

Upgrade now

The From Scanner or Camera option for scanning documents and pictures is not available in Microsoft Office Word 2007. Instead, you can use your scanner to scan the document, and then you can save the file on your computer.

Step 1: Install Microsoft Office Document Imaging

  1. Exit all programs.

    Tip: You may want to print this topic before you exit all programs.

  2. Open Control Panel: Right-click the Windows Start button, and then click Control Panel, or type Control Panel in the Windows Search box.

  3. In Control Panel, click Programs, and then click Programs and Features.

  4. Right-click the name of the Microsoft Office edition that you have installed, or right-click Microsoft Office Word 2007 (depending on whether you installed Word as part of Office or as an individual program), and then click Change.

  5. Click Add or Remove Features, and then click Continue.

  6. Under Installation Options, click the plus sign (+) next to Office Tools.

  7. Click the arrow next to Microsoft Office Document Imaging, click Run all from my Computer, and then click Continue.

Step 2: Create a document that you can edit

Scan your document according to the instructions for your scanner.

Before you continue    Convert the file that the scanner created to TIFF format. You can use Paint or another program to convert the file.

  1. Open Microsoft Office Document Imaging by searching for Microsoft Office Document Imaging on the Windows Start menu.

  2. On the File menu, click Open.

  3. Locate the document that you scanned, and then click Open.

  4. After Microsoft Office Document Imaging runs, press CTRL+A to select the entire document, and then press CTRL+C.

  5. Start Microsoft Office Word.

  6. Click the Microsoft Office Button Office button image, and then click New.

  7. Click Blank document, and then click Create.

  8. Press CTRL+V to paste the contents of the scanned document into the new file.

You now have a document that you can edit. Be sure to save the new file so that you don’t lose your changes.

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Convert a scan into a Word document with this easy-to-use guide


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  • Opening PDF in Word
  • |

  • Scanning With & Using Microsoft Lens
  • |

  • Q&A
  • |

  • Tips

Do you want to edit that PDF in Word? You can open the PDF using Word’s built-in settings or, If you have a Microsoft account and a smartphone, you can also use the free Microsoft Lens app to scan your document and save it as a Word file in your OneDrive cloud storage. This wikiHow teaches you how to convert a scanned document into an editable Word document on your Windows PC, Mac, or smartphone.

Things You Should Know

  • If you have a PDF on your computer, you can open it within Word by going to «File > Open > OK.»
  • Use the Microsoft Lens app from your Android, iPhone, or iPad to scan documents and open them in Word.
  • If the doc you scanned is not PDF format, convert it first to be able to open it in Word.
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    Open Word. You can only do this in newer versions of Word (including anything newer than Word 2010). If you have Word 2010 or older, those are no longer supported versions, and importing a PDF into Word isn’t possible.

    • Make sure the document you have is in PDF format.
    • Opening a PDF in Word works best if the PDF is mostly text.
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    Click File and Open. The File tab is either at the top of your screen (Macs) or right above your document space (Windows).

    • Doing this will open your file manager.

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    Double-click your PDF. Double-clicking the file once you find it will open it.

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    Click OK. 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.[1]
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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.

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    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.
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    Open Microsoft Lens. Tap the Microsoft Lens app icon, which resembles a red and white app with a camera iris and the letter «L» in the center of the icon.

    • Microsoft Lens is a free smartphone app that allows you to take pictures of documents and turn them into PDFs. This will be super useful if you have a piece of paper that you want to edit in Word. In that case, you can take a picture of the paper, turn it into a PDF, and open it in Word.
    • If you don’t have Microsoft 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 Microsoft Lens access to your phone. If this is your first time opening Microsoft Lens, tap Allow or OK when prompted to allow Microsoft Lens to access your phone’s files.

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

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    Point your phone’s camera at a document. Position the document that you want to scan inside the camera’s view.

    • Make sure your document is well-lit and positioned on a dark background 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.

    • Tap Confirm if the capture is ok. Tap Retake if the document wasn’t captured correctly.
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    Tap Done. It’s in the bottom-right corner of the screen.

    • You can scan more pages by tapping the camera with the plus icon in the bottom left corner of your screen.
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    Tap Word. You’ll find this option in the «SAVE TO» section.

    • On Android, tap the box next to Word and then tap SAVE at the bottom of the screen[2]
      .
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    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.
    • You’re done using your phone.
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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.

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    Click Open. It’s on the left side of the window below the «New» section.

    • On Mac, simply click the folder icon that says Open on the left-hand side of the window.
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    Click OneDrive — Personal. It’s in the menu on the left side of the window and will prompt your OneDrive to open on the right side of the window.

    • 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 Microsoft Lens folder. Click on the «Documents» folder, then click the «Microsoft/Office Lens» folder. This is on the right pane of the window.

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    Double-click your Word document. This opens the document you scanned using Microsoft Lens on your phone or tablet in Microsoft Word.

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Add New Question

  • Question

    Does anything here cost money? Is there any chance of getting a virus on my computer while downloading these things?

    Community Answer

    Some cost money, some don’t. The free ones run a risk of infection, but you should have an anti-virus program installed anyway.

  • Question

    I followed the instructions for enabling document imaging in Word 2007, but did not find the imaging program listed under Microsoft Office Tools, then what went wrong, and how can I do it correctly?

    Community Answer

    Microsoft (for some reason) didn’t enable document imaging in Word 2007 for 64-bit computers.

  • Question

    Will everything I scan become editable?

    Community Answer

    Indeed, it will. Just follow these simple steps: Go to onlineocr.net or if your file is more than 5mb, use you can use pdf2doc.com. Upload your file to these websites. When the file get uploaded, select doc or docx format and click ‘Convert’. It is a time-consuming process, especially if your file size is big. The moment it completes the conversion, click download the file. After downloading the file, go to your downloads and open the file which will automatically in MS Word. Now here you can edit your file and use it your way.

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  • Office Lens will handle physical files (e.g., paper documents) better than on-screen text.

  • If the scanned document is a JPEG or something else, convert it first.

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Plus, convert a scanned PDF to Word

Updated on December 5, 2021

What to Know

  • Use your scanner to scan a document as a PDF, and then open the PDF with Word.
  • Use the Office Lens and Word apps on mobile to scan documents and open them with Word.
  • Once you have a PDF of your scanned document, you can also use an online conversion tool to convert it into a Word document.

Most installed desktop versions of Microsoft Word can open and convert PDF files into editable Word documents directly. Or, you can scan pages and open recognized text in Word with an Android or iOS smartphone camera or a desktop scanner.

Scan Documents and Open with Installed Word

The character recognition capabilities in Microsoft Word work best with documents that are primarily text. For example, Word would be likely to cleanly open and convert a contract comprised of several pages of printed text whereas Word may struggle to cleanly recognize text in a brochure where text is printed within or around images in anything other than a single column.

You’ll need a working scanner connected to a Windows or macOS system, along with a relatively recent version of Word. 

Word 2019, Word 2016, Word 2013, and Microsoft 365 all support the ability to open and convert PDF files into Word documents. While Microsoft offers some instructions for converting PDF files into word for older versions, such as Office 2010 and Office 2007, the process is more complicated.

  1. Follow your scanner manufacturer’s instructions to scan your document to a PDF file. Save this file at a location you will remember on your computer.

  2. Open Microsoft Word.

  3. Select File > Open, then navigate to the location of your saved PDF.

  4. Select the PDF file, and choose Open. Word will open the PDF and convert recognized text into a document you may edit.

  5. Read the converted text carefully, as some letters may be incorrect. The system may display items not identified within the document as images.

Use Mobile Apps for Android or iPhone

On an Android or iOS device, you’ll need to install both the Office Lens app (install for Android or iOS) and Microsoft Word (install for Android or iOS). After you install each app, tap to open it, and then sign in with your Microsoft account. Once you’ve installed and signed in to both apps, you’re ready to scan pages.

  1. Tap to open Office Lens.

  2. Along the bottom of the app, switch the slider to Document. (The choices displayed may include Whiteboard, Document, Business Card, and Photo.)

  3. Position your camera to capture the text you want to scan to Word within view. Tap the button to capture the image.

  4. After a page image is captured, you can either rotate it or crop the edges, if needed. 

  5. If you have additional pages to capture, tap the camera icon (in the lower left) to take another photo. Repeat this process until you have no more pages to scan.

  6. Tap Done. The system will display your Save To options.

  7. Tap Word. (On Android, you will then need to tap Save.)

    Wait for the app to recognize the text. The app may indicate “Waiting to transfer” or “Transferring” as it works. It will display the scanned document with a Word icon on the display.

  8. Tap the document, which will open your scanned file in a Microsoft Word document. For reference, the Word document includes the image you captured within the document.

  9. Review the recognized text to make sure the information is accurate.

Convert a PDF to a Word Document

If you lack access to Microsoft Word or your version of Word doesn’t open PDF files, you can still likely scan files to a PDF with an Android or iOS device, and then convert the documents into Microsoft Word.

  1. Follow the instructions in How to Scan Documents to Your Phone or Tablet to capture your pages into a PDF.

  2. Then, use a website service, such as CloudConvert.com or FileZigZag.com, to upload your PDF, convert it to a Word document format, then download it and save it to your system.

  3. Once converted, open the .doc or .docx file in Microsoft Word to review the file for accuracy.

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Convert Scanned PDF To Word

When scanning a document, oftentimes, instead of containing text, the PDF contains an image of the scanned content. In order to work with the text, copy and paste, and use it, you can convert the scanned PDF to Word. Find out how to turn your scan into an editable Microsoft Word document.

How to convert a Scanned PDF to Word?

Scanned PDF to Word

  1. Open PDF2Go and go to the PDF to Word converter.
  2. Upload your file. You can do so via drag and drop into the purple box, choosing it from Dropbox or Google Drive, or your hard drive.
  3. Enable Convert with OCR. Improve the result by selecting the language(s) of your scanned document.
  4. Optional: Change the Word file format if it suits your needs.
  5. Start the conversion.

Is this converter free?

All features of PDF2Go are, in their basic usage, free. This also includes the scanned PDF to Word converter. There are only a few limitations, such as a file size limit of 100 MB, and the simultaneous conversion of three files (for free registered users it’s five files).

Are my scans safe?

On PDF2Go we do whatever we can to guarantee the safety of your scans. All servers and connections for the upload and download of your files are encrypted using 256-bit SSL encryption. This makes the transfer of your files between your device and our servers safe and secure.

The link with which you can download your converted Word document is non-guessable and expires after 24 hours or 10 downloads, whichever occurs first. Your files are not manually checked by us and the rights maintain with you at all times.

What are the Main Differences Between the Two PDF to Word OCR Solutions?

No Download Needed

With our online PDF to Word OCR tool, you convert your scanned files online directly in your browser (an active internet connection is required).

No Internet Needed

Able2Extract PRO works completely offline. You can use it to convert your docs offline without having to upload files to external servers for conversion.

The Quicker Way

The online scanned PDF to Word converter only converts entire image PDFs to DOCX with a 2-step conversion process. No advanced conversion options.

The More Accurate Way

Unlike the free online converter, Able2Extract PRO offers the latest generation OCR engine with advanced settings and selective conversion options.

OCR for Scanned Files in English

The online converter automatically recognizes scanned PDF text and converts it to an editable Word file, but can’t recognize non-English characters.

Multi-language OCR Engine

The OCR engine in Able2Extract PRO can successfully convert scanned documents in English, Spanish, French, German and 8 additional languages.

Only Whole Documents

You can convert whole PDFs only which can induce longer waiting times for large documents. Recognition algorithm underperforms on graphical elements.

Partial Conversions + R2V

Ability to perform partial page conversions (supported by Raster-to-Vector) makes Able2Extract Pro the best choice for both scanned text and graphical elements.

2 Free Conversions per Day

Two free conversion actions per day — no email address required. The file size limit is 50 MB. We use a 2048-bits RSA key with SHA-256 encryption.

7-day Free Trial

Able2Extract PRO has a 3-page conversion limit after one unrestricted conversion action. Purchasing a license removes this limitation.

PDF Converter with Basic OCR

Our free online tool can only convert scanned PDF to Word. You can’t select a different output file format like Excel or use batch processing and other advanced features.

Full-featured PDF Software

Able2Extract PRO is a complete solution packed with advanced PDF conversion, editing, OCR, security and eSignature tools for all your PDF needs.


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