abc OCR · Guides

How to turn a photo of a document into a Word file on Android

You have a page on paper, or a photo of one, and you need to edit it in Word. abc OCR reads the page on your phone and saves it as a .docx file, with tables as real Word tables.

Updated 12 November 2026 · 1 min read

1. Scan the page

Tap the yellow camera button. The document scanner finds the page, straightens it and cleans up the photo.

If you already have a photo, tap the gallery button instead and pick it. If the photo is tilted, drag the 4 corners onto the corners of the page.

For several pages, keep scanning in the scanner before you finish. All pages go into one scan.

2. Check the text

The app shows the text it found. Tables appear as grids, and empty cells stay empty. Tap the pencil to fix a word before you save.

3. Save as Word

Tap Save as… and pick Word (DOCX). Choose where to save it: your phone, Google Drive, or another folder.

What you get:

  • An A4 document in Calibri 11 pt.
  • Each paragraph as a paragraph.
  • Each table as a Word table with borders. The first row is bold and repeats if the table runs onto the next page.
  • With several pages, each one starts on a new page.

Without Premium

When your free Word saves for the week are used up, tap Copy and paste the text into a new Word document, or save it as a TXT file and open that in Word. Tables are kept as tab-separated columns, so they also paste into Excel.

Questions

Is saving as Word free?

Word (DOCX), Excel (XLSX) and PDF are Premium. The free plan includes 3 of these saves a week. Copying the text, and saving as TXT, CSV or Markdown, is always free.

Does the Word file keep the layout of the page?

It keeps the text, the paragraphs and the tables. It does not keep fonts, colours, pictures or columns. Expect a clean document you can edit, not a copy of the page.

Can I make one Word file from several pages?

Yes. Scan several pages into one scan. Each page starts on a new page in the Word file. The free plan includes 3 scans with several pages a week.

Can I open the file in Google Docs?

Yes. Save the file to Google Drive and open it with Google Docs.

What do you need it for?

Tell us what you are trying to do and where the app gets in your way. Many features started as one email. We read and answer every message.

Write to us

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