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Microsoft today is rolling out a new feature for Windows Phone users: Optical character recognition (OCR) that automatically translates pictures of text into actual text when uploaded from the phone to the company’s SkyDrive cloud storage service.

The photo above, from Microsoft, shows the technology working on a description of a piece of art. The Bing-powered feature is similar to technology available via Evernote and Google Drive, among others. Microsoft says in a blog post that it’s “the first of several features that will make your SkyDrive photos smarter.”

Microsoft says the OCR technology for Windows Phone users is rolling out over the next 24 hours. You’ll need to have the auto-upload feature activated for photos on your Windows Phone to make it work.

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