Google Photos makes it easier to capture receipts and documents
Snapping an image of a receipt or document is the fastest way to make a backup and there are a number of apps dedicated specifically to this task. Though these apps offer advanced features, including automatic edge detection and color correction, they require the user to manually save the final image to their preferred cloud service. Google has just eliminated that hassle with its latest Photos feature.
In an announcement on Thursday, Google revealed that it has added an automatic cropping tool to Google Photos. With this, users can directly capture a receipt, shipping invoice, or other document that needs saved and then crop the image to the document's edges with a single tap.
New! Crop documents in a single tap. Rolling out this week on Android, you may see suggestions to crop photos of documents to remove backgrounds and clean up the edges. pic.twitter.com/mGggRyb3By
— Google Photos (@googlephotos) March 28, 2019
The feature is rolling out to Google Photo users now who will see a "Crop and adjust" suggestion appear beneath an image of a receipt or other document. Tapping this button will prompt Google Photos to automatically rotate and crop the image so that only the document remains.
Users can manually adjust the corners if the software gets it wrong and there's another option to remove color from the image. The final image can then be saved directly to the user's Google Photos account, eliminating the need to manually upload a cropped image from a different app.
A number of document scanning alternatives remain available for iOS and Android, including CamScanner, Adobe Scan, Tiny Scanner, Office Lens, and TurboScan, among others.