ASK CAPPIE THE COMPUTER CAT
WHAT IS LIVE TEXT? Dear Cappie,
I’m new to smartphones but recently purchased a new iPhone. An acquaintance told me he is so excited about the “Live Text” option that both iPhones and iPads have and how easy it is to copy actual text from a photo, website, or even a paper document and paste it in emails, notes, text messages, etc. How does it work and how can I find it? A Curious Sun City Grand Reader If the iPhone you purchased is an XR, XS, 11, 12, or 13 and if you have updated your operating system software to iOS 15 or later, the Live Text feature is on your phone. For iPad users, the iPad mini (5th gen), iPad (8th gen), iPad Air (3rd gen), iPad Pro 11-inch, and iPad Pro 12.9-inch (3rd gen) or later, (updated to iOS 15.1), also offer the Live Text feature. The feature is also available on MacBooks or Mac desktop computers that run macOS Monterey or later using the Photos App. The simplest definition is that Live Text identifies words in an image and then converts the words into plain text that you can copy and then paste into a social media post, a Note, email, or document; and can translate languages, make phone calls, look up directions, etc. Currently, it works for English, French, Chinese, Italian, Spanish, German, and Portuguese languages. To turn on Live Text for all supported languages, go to Settings > General > Language & Region > Live Text (tap to turn it on). Once Life Text is turned on, you can use the option in the Camera App or any other App that has the Camera option in the app, like Notes or Reminders. There are a few ways to use
Live Text, depending on what device you are using. n On the iPhone and iPad, you
can use Live Text with the Camera app without taking a photo. ✲ Open Camera and position the iPhone so the text appears within the camera frame. Any text that is identified by your device will be framed at the corners by yellow. ✲ After the yellow frame appears around detected text, tap on the screen. After you select the text, choose any of the following commands: Copy Text, Select All, Look Up, Translate, or Share. In ✲ addition, you can also go to a website, make a call, or start an email by just tapping the website link, phone number, or email address on the screen. Tap to return to Camera. n You can also use the Photos
app on iPhone, iPad, and Mac to select text, as you would on a webpage. ✲ On an iPhone or iPad, you can tap and drag while on a Mac you can hover your pointer over the image until you see the text selection cursor and then drag to select.
Grand Lifestyles | June 2022 | suncitygrand.com
✲ If you have taken a photo of a page or a PowerPoint slide during a presentation, you can convert it into in plain text. This makes it easier to manipulate and it’s much smaller than storing text in image format. ✲ You can also take screenshots of presentations and then grab the text to place it in a more usable format. It is especially useful to copy recipes, formulas, directions, etc.
View the digital version of “Ask Cappie” monthly column by going to www. grandinfo.com. Click on the More News>Grand Lifestyles Magazine> to choose the month you want to view. Special thanks to Kathy for sharing her photo of Mikey, a 5 pound, 9-year-old Chihuahua who thinks and acts like a “big” dog. He loves to go riding in the car and will jump and turn in circles at the very mention of a car ride.
Along the same lines, if you are using the Notes app, you can use the camera to scan text and documents. Click on the Camera option at the bottom of page and then tap Scan Text. Position iPhone so that the text appears within the camera frame. After the yellow frame appears around detected text, tap . Drag or use grab points to select text, then tap Insert to place the text in another document.
eliminates the need for additional apps to convert text from images into usable plain text.
Another option is to scan an entire document. Again, in the Notes app, tap the camera icon at the bottom of the page, and choose Scan Documents. Position the iPhone so that the document page appears on the screen; iPhone automatically captures the page. Live Text
The best way to learn how to use these features is to try them out. Take a picture of a sign or of a recipe or of a computer message, and paste the text into a message, a Word document, or a Note. Then try to translate, send to a friend or research! Once you experiment, you will find many uses for this feature. 41
