How to Convert an Image (JPG or PNG) into Excel or Word with OCR

By Rashad (Razzath) · Updated November 7, 2026

Sometimes the only copy of a document is a photo: a receipt snapped on your phone, a screenshot of a table, or a scanned letter saved as JPG. Optical character recognition (OCR) reads the text inside the picture so you can edit it instead of retyping it.

The Image to Excel & Word tool accepts .jpg, .jpeg and .png files, recognises the text on our server, and returns an Excel spreadsheet or a Word document, whichever you choose.

Open the Image to Excel & Word tool

How it works

OCR, short for optical character recognition, analyses the shapes in an image and matches them to letters, digits and symbols. Modern engines first clean up the picture, find blocks of text, work out the reading order and only then recognise characters. Image quality is therefore the biggest factor: sharp, high-contrast, upright text is read almost perfectly, while blurry or angled photos produce mistakes.

When this is useful

• Typing up a printed table that you only have as a screenshot.
• Extracting the lines of a paper receipt for an expense report.
• Turning a photographed letter or notice into editable text.
• Digitising old printed lists, catalogues or timetables.
• Copying data from a slide or image sent in a chat.

Step-by-step instructions

1. Open the Image to Excel & Word tool and select your image.
2. Choose the output format: Excel (.xlsx) for tables and numbers, or Word (.docx) for text and letters.
3. Press convert. The image is processed and the finished file downloads automatically.
4. Open the file and proofread it. OCR is very good but never perfect, especially with small or blurry print.

Tips for the best results

• Take photos in good, even light and hold the camera parallel to the page so text is not skewed.
• Higher resolution helps. Text should be clearly readable at 100% zoom.
• Crop away backgrounds and shadows before uploading.
• Choose Excel when the picture shows rows and columns, and Word when it is mostly paragraphs.
• Check numbers, dates and names carefully, because look-alike characters such as 0 and O can be confused.

Common problems and how to fix them

Numbers or letters are wrong

Look-alike characters such as 0 and O, 1 and l, or 5 and S are the most common mistakes. Retake the picture with better light, or correct them manually.

The table came out as plain text in Word

Choose the Excel output when the image contains rows and columns, and Word when it contains paragraphs.

Nothing was recognised

The image may be too small, too dark or rotated. Crop it, increase brightness and make sure the text is upright, then try again.

What happens to your file?

Frequently asked questions

Related guides

• How to Convert a PDF Table into an Excel Spreadsheet (XLSX)
• How to Convert Images (JPG, PNG) into a Single PDF
• How to Convert a PDF to an Editable Word Document (DOCX)

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