Data from picture: create a spreadsheet from a picture of data

data picture

It’s here! “Data from picture” saves you from manually entering data into spreadsheets.

Now available in Excel for Windows

“Data from picture” is now available in Excel for Windows. It started out in the smartphone version of Excel, then graduated to Excel for Windows in a very short time.

Benefits of the data from picture feature

This feature deserves your attention – it’s about giving you speed and accuracy.

Speed

The main benefit here is speed. Saving time typing in data is always a good thing.

This is what we are all about!

Accuracy

Accuracy will depend on the quality of the input picture. Lighting conditions, photo angles and other complexities will determine how well the original data is interpreted.

The Data from Picture import tool contains a review step that allows you to correct mistakes. It also identifies items that it is uncertain about, so you can review these before importing the final data.

Next steps

We’re testing this feature thoroughly. So far, it’s really good!

Check it out at https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/insert-data-from-picture-3c1bb58d-2c59-4bc0-b04a-a671a6868fd7

It’s also a great chance to train the machine to interpret data better over time, though it remains to be seen how much focus will be given to that aspect.