Parents' Guide to

Office Lens

By Keri Wilmot, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 11+

Free scanner app for taking pics of documents & whiteboards.

Office Lens Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this app.

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Though fairly bare-bones, this solid scanner app might make taking notes and interacting with text easier for some kids. The main purpose of the Office Lens app is so adult users can easily take a quick photo of a document, business card, or other professional material -- like meeting notes or agendas written on whiteboards -- and save it as a file for use later on. This app is a great way to scan physical documents and information from daily activities at home and at school and create a digital copy rather than organize a lot of paper. Users who are familiar with the camera app on their phone and tablet will find the setup of this app very similar. The cropping feature makes it easier to capture important information from documents. Unlike a traditional camera app on the device, this app captures content from blackboards and whiteboards without glare. Kids and adults who have learning disabilities, writing issues, or memory challenges could benefit from this app to keep track of information. While kids may need some guidance from teachers and parents as to what kind of information would be most appropriate to photograph in their daily routines for use later on, and how to appropriately save the files, it's a solid app to help kids achieve more independence.

App Details

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