Handwritten responses using Office Lens

This guide explains how to add handwritten responses to your submission / answer sheet document using Office Lens.

• What is Office Lens?

• Step 1: Download Office Lens

• Step 2: Open Office Lens

• Step 3: Choose the mode

• Step 4: Take the picture

• Step 5: Save the capture

• Step 6: Insert image(s) into the answer sheet document

• Step 7: Check the file size of your answer sheet document.

• Step 8 (if submitting to AssessmentUCL) : Convert your answer sheet document to PDF

• Step 9: Submit

Additional and important steps for submitting handwritten work:

1. Complete your handwritten responses on a clean sheet of paper using a pen (do not use a pencil).

2. Take screenshots of your handwritten responses. The guidance below outlines the use of Office Lens. Office Lens is a Microsoft app available on Android and iOS devices that turns your camera, tablet or other mobile device into a scanner.

3. Transfer the images taken to your computer (it is best to use your computer cable to transfer the files).

4. Use the Insert option in MS word to insert images into your answer sheet.  It is recommended you use a blank Microsoft Word document as your answer sheet.

Note: You may wish to handwrite some responses and type others. Ensure that your responses are clearly labelled and that they are all compiled into a single document/file for submission.

What is Office Lens?

Office Lens is a Microsoft app available on Android and iOs devices that turns your camera, tablet or other mobile device into a scanner.

If you have a task (for example for an assessment exercise) that requires a drawn or handwritten answer, you can make your sketch, diagram, chart or handwritten text by hand, scan it and save it for use in a document or uploading as an image or PDF. Example tasks:

• a tree diagram

• a valency diagram

• an equation

• sketching a graph of a function

You take a picture of it with your mobile device and save in a convenient digital format for further use, including inserting into an Office document (Word, PowerPoint, Excel for example). The resulting document can then be submitted electronically.

Step 1: Download Office Lens

1. Download the app from the following app stores.

   • Windows

   • Apple

   • Android

Open

Figure 1. The Office Lens App Icon

Step 2: Open Office Lens

Once you have installed it, you simply open the app and point it at your image. The app has auto-focus (this may be dependent on your device) and edge recognition so that it will try to isolate rectangular regions of the image.

Open

Figure 2. The main screen pre capture

You will need to practise focussing your device camera to get a good image in the correct orientation.

Step 3: Choose the mode

Office Lens has different modes suitable for different tasks. They will not all be suitable for your assessment tasks.

For anything handwritten, the Whiteboard mode is probably the best option.

Whiteboard

Whiteboard mode is suitable for taking a snap of a sketch, hand-drawn diagram, equation etc. Lens will adjust images so that backgrounds are not too bright and you can focus so as to make writing readable. This works well on both paper and whiteboards.

Document

This mode is designed to read machine-produced text. If the text is good enough quality you can use optical character recognition once it is captured.

Photo

This is for capturing photorealistic images of objects, people, scenes and so on.

Business Card

It is unlikely this mode will be useful to you. It is designed to capture contact information and store it in a Microsoft contacts database.

Step 4: Take the picture

You can use flash if you need to. Line the image frame boundary up with the region of the field that you want to capture and then use the camera button (soft or your devices) to capture.

As you move the camera to focus, Lens will try to frame objects it detects. It is best to use the camera above the object lying on a flat surface. When you have the region you want in focus you capture your image.

If you don’t want to keep the image at this stage you can trash it immediately and capture it again.

Crop

There is a crop icon that will allow you to trim anything you don’t want from your image. Since the editing features are limited and not easy to use on a small device, you will benefit from having carefully selected the correct region before capture.

Filter

You can now apply a filter to your image to improve the image or to remove colour if you only need a monochrome image. Filters can be useful in adjusting contrast. You can preview and select filters by swiping left/right and then tapping to select.

Step 5: Save the capture

Depending on the type of image captured you now have different save options.

Save your capture as an image file to your OneDrive. Login to your OneDrive on your computer to access the file.

OR

Save to your device’s Gallery. To transfer the file to your computer, use your phone charging cable to connect your phone to your computer and follow the prompts. Find the images and save them onto your computer. Alternatively, you could choose to email the images to your self from your phone but depending on the size of the images, this may take a while. 

If the capture is of text, you can create a Word document, a PowerPoint document or a PDF on OneDrive, (but note, handwritten text will not always capture well). 

Step 6: Insert image(s) into the answer sheet document

Use the Insert option to insert the images into your answer sheet. You can use any document for your answer sheet, Microsoft Word is recommend as it is freely available to students. For guidance on installing Microsoft Word see Microsoft software for students guide.

Office applications have an Insert tab with a pictures icon. Many other applications have means of reading an image file, but the method will vary by application.

Insert one image per page and resize if necessary.

If you are using a combination of handwritten and typed text, ensure you compile all your responses into one document/file with answers clearly labelled.

Step 7: Check the file size of your answer sheet document.

Save regularly as you add images to your answer sheet.

Ensure you check the file size. Most answer sheets, even if they have multiple images, will easily satisfy the size limit for your submission platform (i.e. Moodle, AssessmentUCL etc). However, in rare cases, you may need to compress your image file sizes. If using Microsoft Word, please see Microsoft's guide on reducing image file size.

Step 8 (if submitting to AssessmentUCL) : Convert your answer sheet document to PDF

AssessmentUCL submissions must be PDF documents. You will need to convert your answer sheet to PDF. This is easily done in Microsoft Word, simply click File and select Save As or Export to create your PDF.

Step 9: Submit

Upload your document to the relevant submission portal