Discover Microsoft Photos’ Hidden OCR Feature for Text in Images

If you’ve ever wanted to extract text from an image, you’re probably familiar with OCR (Optical Character Recognition) tools. Microsoft Photos now has this feature, but it’s hidden and requires a manual tweak to unlock. Here’s how to enable OCR functionality in Microsoft Photos right now:

1. Open Registry Editor: You can access it by searching for “Regedit” in the Start menu.
2. Load the Hive: In Registry Editor, navigate to File > Load Hive, and then go to this folder: %localappdata%\Packages\Microsoft.Windows.Photos_8wekyb3d8bbwe\Settings\. Select the settings.dat file, and when prompted, name the key “Photos.”
3. Create the Registry File: Open Notepad and paste the following registry information:
   scss

   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


   Save this as a .reg file.

4. Apply the Changes: Double-click on the .reg file to import these settings into the Registry.
5. Unload the Hive: Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, select the Photos key, and choose File > Unload Hive.

After this, Microsoft Photos should display a new OCR icon in the bottom section of the interface, which you can click to extract text from images.

While this feature might eventually be rolled out officially, if you’re comfortable with making these registry tweaks, you can enjoy the benefits of OCR functionality immediately. For those hesitant about modifying the registry, it’s possible to wait for a future update where the feature may be made more easily accessible.