Hey folks! I have a bunch of photos and screenshots that show tables, and I'm looking to convert them into an editable Excel spreadsheet. I've tried copy-pasting, but since these are images, that method doesn't work. Do I need to use some kind of OCR software, or is there a way to do it using built-in tools in Word or Excel? I'd really appreciate any tips or recommendations!
2 Answers
If you're on macOS, the Preview app can actually help with this. You just open your image, highlight the data in the table, and copy-paste it into Numbers or Excel. It won’t always get everything right since it relies on OCR (Optical Character Recognition), but it’s generally easier to fix a few errors than to type everything out manually. That said, you'll likely need an OCR tool, so look for one that minimizes errors!
I tried using tools like ChatGPT Gemini, but they didn’t perform well for this.
Another option in Excel is to go to the Data tab in the ribbon. From there, you can select 'Get Data' > 'From Other Sources' > 'From Picture' > 'Picture from File'. This can help you convert those images directly into a spreadsheet format.
Be aware that I've got 17 pages to convert, so I’m worried about the errors adding up.