PDFs and images

Retype text from a PDF or image

The text is right there — in a PDF, a scanned letter, a screenshot — and it needs to be in a web form or a Google Doc. Typist handles the second half of that job. The first half is getting the text out.

What Typist does, and what it does not

Typist does not do OCR. It cannot open a PDF, read an image, or recognise the words in a photo. It types text you give it: you put text in the side panel, click a browser field, and it enters that text at a speed you set. So the job has two steps, and only the second one involves Typist.

Step one: get the text out

• A PDF with real text. Most PDFs made from a word processor contain selectable text. Select it, copy it, and paste it into the Typist panel. If the PDF will not let you select anything, it is probably a scanned image — treat it like a photo.
• A scan, screenshot or photo. You need text recognition from somewhere else. Many operating systems, phones and photo apps can now select or copy text inside an image, and dedicated OCR software does the same. Copy what it finds into the panel.
• Paper with no scanner nearby. Typing it once into the panel is still the work. The payoff is that you check it there, and if it has to go into several places you only type it once.

Clean it up in the panel

Text copied out of a PDF or recognised from an image is rarely clean, and Typist types exactly what it is given. Before you press Start, look for:

• Hard line breaks at the end of every printed line. Join them back into paragraphs, or the field gets a line break every ten words.
• Words hyphenated across lines, such as "infor- mation".
• Headers, footers and page numbers that came along with the copy.
• Recognition errors: l for 1, O for 0, rn for m. Numbers deserve a second look in particular.

Fixing these in the panel is quicker than fixing them in the destination field afterwards.

Step two: type it in

1. Open the side panel and sign in with Google, which is required before typing.
2. Paste the cleaned text, or load it from a saved snippet.
3. Click into the destination field — a text box, a text area, a rich-text editor or a Google Docs document.
4. Set a speed. 100 to 250 words per minute suits most fields; come down if the page does work as you type, such as formatting or counting characters.
5. Press Start and read the first lines as they land. Pause, resume or stop at any point.

Typist types into one field at a time. For a form where the document's contents go into several boxes, that means one run per box, clicking into each in turn.

Why not just paste?

Often you should: if the field accepts a paste, pasting the cleaned text is faster. Typist earns its place when the field refuses a paste (see fields that block paste), when pasted formatting causes trouble in an editor, or when you want to watch the text arrive and stop partway. Auto typer vs copy-paste goes through the trade-off honestly.

Add Typist to Chrome

Free plan: 300 words a day. A Google sign-in is required before typing.

Questions

Can Typist read the PDF for me?

No. It has no OCR and does not open files. It types text that is already in its panel.

How much can I enter on the free plan?

300 words a day, counted when you press Start and reset at 00:00 UTC. A long document needs several days or Pro at $4.99 a month. Retyping a long draft covers splitting it into runs.

Does my document get uploaded?

No. Typist never sees the PDF or image, and the text in the panel stays on your device apart from going into the page you type into. A snippet you choose to save is stored so it can sync; the privacy page has the detail.

Will it type a card number or password from my document?

No. Typist never types into password, payment or other protected fields.

New to Typist? The guide to how to type text automatically covers setup and the fields it supports.