Microsoft Photos has a hidden OCR feature that can read text in images

If you want to convert images containing text into editable files and documents, you need to use something called OCR (Optical Character Recognition), a feature that’s becoming increasingly available in many image viewing and image editing apps.

OCR has been slow to arrive in Microsoft Photos, but the truth is… OCR already exists in Microsoft Photos. For some reason, it’s been hidden from users and can only be enabled with an advanced tweak.

Spotted by Windows Latest, the OCR feature of Microsoft Photos can be activated by making a change in the Windows Registry using Regedit (the built-in Registry Editor tool):

1. Launch Registry Editor by searching for it in the Start menu.
2. In Registry Editor, click File > Load Hive.
3. Navigate to this directory: %localappdata%\Packages\Microsoft.Windows.Photos_8wekyb3d8bbwe\Settings\
4. In that directory, select this file: settings.dat
5. When prompted, type Photos as the Key Name, then confirm.

Next, you’ll need to create a new .reg file (name it whatever you want), which you can do using Notepad or any other text editor. Paste the following into the file and save it:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Photos\LocalState] "ExperimentationOverrideEnabled"=hex(5f5e10b):01,41,3f,99,74,67,16,db,01 "ExperimentationOverride_ViewerOcr-IsEnabled"=hex(5f5e10b):01,9d,e2,9a,ee,81,3b,db,01

Lastly, double-click that .reg file to import those settings into the Windows Registry. Then, go back to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, select the Photos key, and then choose File > Unload Hive.

After making the registry change, there should be a new icon at the bottom of the Microsoft Photos interface that can be used to pull text from within an image.

It’s possible that this OCR feature will be one of the new features to come in a future update of Microsoft Photos, so if you don’t feel comfortable making registry tweaks, you might choose to wait a little longer for it.

Further reading: Microsoft Photos can now enhance images using AI