Microsoft Lens Alternatives for Windows

Microsoft Lens is not available for Windows but there are plenty of alternatives that runs on Windows with similar functionality. The best Windows alternative is CamScanner, which is free. If that doesn't suit you, our users have ranked more than 50 alternatives to Microsoft Lens and many of them are available for Windows so hopefully you can find a suitable replacement. Other interesting Windows alternatives to Microsoft Lens are GImageReader, Snagit, NormCap and Crow Translate.

filter to find the best alternatives

Microsoft Lens alternatives are mainly Screenshot Capture Tools, but if you're looking for Document Scanners or Screen Casting Tools you can filter on that. You can also filter by region, for example EU-based alternatives if you prefer software developed in the European Union. These are just examples - use the filter bar below to find more specific alternatives to Microsoft Lens.
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Microsoft Lens trims, enhances, and makes pictures of whiteboards and docs readable. You can use Office Lens to convert images to PDF, Word and PowerPoint files, and you can even save images to OneNote or OneDrive.

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Microsoft Lens alternatives page was last updated Mar 22, 2023
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  1. CamScanner icon
     71 likes
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    Your portable scanner. Use your camera to get high quality scans of paper documents, receipts, notes and more. Anytime, anywhere.

    116 CamScanner alternatives

    License model

    • FreemiumProprietary

    Country of Origin

    • GB flagUnited Kingdom

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Online
    • Android
    • iPhone
    • Android Tablet
    • iPad

    Top CamScanner Features

    1.  Export to PDF
    2.  Scanner
    3.  Annotate Screenshot
    4.  Mobile Scanner
    5.  OCR
    6.  No registration required
    7.  PDF OCR
    8.  Scan to PDF
    9.  Client side encryption
    10.  Sync with Google Drive
    11. Dropbox icon  Sync with Dropbox
    12.  Document structure management

    CamScanner VS Microsoft Lens

     
    Comments about CamScanner as an Alternative to Microsoft Lens
    Guest
    Positive Feb 11, 2017
    0

    can insert multiple photos

    Microsoft Lens Icon
    CamScanner icon
    • Some users think CamScanner is a great Microsoft Lens alternative, some don't.

    • CamScanner is the most popular Windows & Mac alternative to Microsoft Lens.

    • CamScanner is Freemium and ProprietaryMicrosoft Lens is Free and Proprietary
  2. GImageReader icon
     71 likes
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    gImageReader is a simple Gtk/Qt front-end to the Tesseract OCR Engine.

    82 GImageReader alternatives

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Application type

    Country of Origin

    • CH flagSwitzerland

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • Linux

    GImageReader Features

    1.  OCR
    2.  Image to text
    3.  PDF OCR
    4.  Annotate Screenshot

    GImageReader VS Microsoft Lens

     
    • This alternative is disputed. GImageReader is a legitimate Microsoft Lens alternative, but it might have issues that some users think are important.

    • GImageReader is the most popular Linux alternative to Microsoft Lens.

    • GImageReader is Free and Open SourceMicrosoft Lens is Free and Proprietary
  3. Snagit icon
     199 likes
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    Advanced screen capture and recording tool enabling image or video captures directly from your screen. Includes editing features like callouts, transparency, and effects to enhance visuals. Organize and easily share creations through documents, presentations, or favorite applications.

    191 Snagit alternatives

    License model

    Country of Origin

    • US flagUnited States

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows

    Top Snagit Features

    1.  Full-page Screenshot
    2.  Edit screenshots
    3.  Upload Screenshot
    4.  Ad-free
    5.  No registration required
    6.  No Tracking
    7.  Annotate Screenshot
    8.  Works Offline
    9.  OCR
    10.  Dark Mode
    11. YouTube icon  Upload directly to YouTube
    12.  Auto Scrolling

    Snagit VS Microsoft Lens

     
  4. NormCap icon
     21 likes
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    OCR powered screen-capture tool to capture information instead of images.

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux

    Properties

    1.  Privacy focused
    2.  Lightweight

    Features

    1.  OCR
    2.  Cross-Platform
    3.  Support for Multiple Monitors
    4.  Screenshot OCR
    5.  Image to text
    6.  Portable
    7.  No Tracking
    8.  No registration required
    9.  Ad-free
    10.  Dark Mode
    11.  Works Offline
    12.  High-dpi support

    NormCap VS Microsoft Lens

     
  5. Crow Translate icon
     34 likes
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    Crow Translate is a simple and lightweight translator programmed in C++ / Qt that allows to translate and speak text using Google, Yandex and Bing translate API.

    71 Crow Translate alternatives

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Application type

    Country of Origin

    • UA flagUkraine

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Flathub

    Properties

    1.  Privacy focused

    Features

    1.  Translator
    2.  Online translation
    3.  Real-time translation
    4.  OCR
    5.  Sits in the System Tray
    6.  Desktop Application
    7.  Ad-free
    8.  No Tracking
    9.  Works Offline

    Crow Translate VS Microsoft Lens

     
  6. Capture2text icon
     34 likes
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    Capture2Text enables users to quickly OCR a portion of the screen using a keyboard shortcut.

    56 Capture2text alternatives

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Application type

    Country of Origin

    • US flagUnited States

    Platforms

    • Windows
    Discontinued

    The latest version (4.6.3) is from 2022.

    Capture2text Features

    1.  Built-in Screen Capture
    2.  Global hotkey
    3.  Screenshot OCR
    4.  OCR
    5.  Portable

    Capture2text VS Microsoft Lens

     
  7. Copy a direct link to this comment to your clipboard

    Screenshot Reader is a smart OCR-screenshot application for capturing text and images from any area on your PC screen and extracting text from them or just saving as an image. Prize: 9.99 USD.

    60 ABBYY Screenshot Reader alternatives

    License model

    Application type

    Country of Origin

    • RU flagRussia

    Platforms

    • Windows

    ABBYY Screenshot Reader Features

    1.  OCR
    2.  Screenshot OCR
    3.  Multiple languages

    ABBYY Screenshot Reader VS Microsoft Lens

     
  8. Text Grab icon
     6 likes
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    Text Grab is a minimal optical character recognition (OCR) utility for Windows 10/11 which makes all visible text available to be copied.

    59 Text Grab alternatives

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Application type

    Country of Origin

    • US flagUnited States

    Platforms

    • Windows

    Text Grab Features

    1.  OCR
    2.  Works Offline
    3.  Screenshot OCR

    Text Grab VS Microsoft Lens

     
  9. Readiris icon
     8 likes
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    PDF and OCR publishing software (optical character recognition) for MAC & WINDOWS. Do you dream of an intelligent PDF and OCR solution to intuitively manage your documents? You've found it.

    License model

    Application type

    Country of Origin

    • BE flagBelgium
    • European Union flagEU

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows

    Readiris Features

    1.  OCR
    2.  Image recognition
    3.  Convert PDF to Word document
    4.  Convert PDF to Excel document

    Readiris VS Microsoft Lens

     
  10. Photo Scan icon
     1 like
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    Photo Scan lets you extract text from Images or Photos very easily and efficiently!

    License model

    • FreemiumProprietary

    Country of Origin

    • IN flagIndia

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • Windows Phone

    Photo Scan Features

    1.  Text to Speech
    2.  OCR

    Photo Scan VS Microsoft Lens

     
  11. dpScreenOCR icon
     7 likes
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    Program to recognize text on screen.

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Country of Origin

    • International

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • Linux
    • BSD

    Properties

    1.  Lightweight

    Features

    1.  OCR
    2.  Works Offline
    3.  Screenshot OCR

    dpScreenOCR VS Microsoft Lens

     
  12. PaperScan icon
     3 likes
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    PaperScan Scanner Software is a powerful TWAIN and WIA scanning application with an OCR engine centered on one idea: making document acquisition an unparalleled easy task for anyone.

    29 PaperScan alternatives

    License model

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • Linux

    PaperScan Features

    1.  OCR
    2.  Scanner

    PaperScan VS Microsoft Lens

     
12 of 21 Microsoft Lens alternatives