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Here’s how to use Live Text

By BY GEORGE GORDON/Computer Guru - | Oct 22, 2021

Let’s play around with copy and paste and get ready for the coolest feature on the iPhone. Its called LIVE TEXT, and it allows you to copy any text from a photo or website and paste it into an e-mail, Notes or a Pages document.

So, let’s try one out. If you have a business card, snap a photo of it. Now open up Photos and tap on the text. You can see a blue line; drag the bottom blue dot around to select certain text or click on SELECT ALL to select the whole text. Now click on COPY.

Okay, that wasn’t hard, so let’s open up Notes and create a new Note. Just place your finger in the middle of the page and a menu pops up where you can select PASTE.

Wow, you did it. If you wanted, you could have opened up an e-mail and pasted it in there.

Okay, let’s try a web page. Open up Safari and go to nbcnews.com. Try clicking on an ad that has pictures and text. Choose Copy, open up Notes, tap on the page and choose Paste.

Let’s say you still have that business card laying on the table and want to call up the Realtor and buy the $1,000,000 home in Happy Valley. If you didn’t download the app Camera Call, do it now and open it up. Place your iPhone over the phone number — it will highlight it, and a white strip appears with the number and CALL on it. If you’re lazy like me, why download the app when all you have to do is place your finger over the phone number on the photo, and a menu pops up allowing you to call the number? Why are you waiting? Call that number and put in a bid for that home!

Okay, you want to send an e-mail instead. In the photo is an e-mail address of the Realtor. Just tap and hold on the e-mail text, and a menu appears that lets you send an e-mail, message, FaceTime call, or add to contacts. So now you don’t have to type in the e-mail address and go through the trouble of opening up Mail and pasting it in. Simple.

Wait, I’m not finished. If the card has an address, click on it — the Map App opens up showing you the location of the address.

Wait again — the Realtor is from Cuba and all the text is in Spanish. Stop, sit down and take a drink, because if you press on the text and select Translate, you’ll see the English text. Go ahead and take a another sip on me.

I saved the best for last! Open up your Camera App and make sure it’s on Photo. Now place the camera over the card and some yellow brackets surround the text. There is a funny-looking white icon that has three lines in it. Tap on it and click on Copy.

Go ahead and open up Notes again, tap on the page, and when the menu opens up , click on Paste. MO BETTAH!

So have fun copying texts, addresses and phone numbers instead of typing them. You can buy the drinks next time!

Send your computer-related questions to MauiMist@aol.com.