Windows 11’s Photos app has recently made headlines with the introduction of two innovative features: Super Resolution and Optical Character Recognition (OCR). However, the latter has encountered some challenges and has been temporarily removed from the app.
Feature Overview
The new functionalities were initially rolled out in preview mode for Windows Insiders at the end of October. Super Resolution, powered by artificial intelligence, aims to enhance image quality by enlarging and refining low-resolution images. Meanwhile, OCR allows users to extract text from images, making it easy to copy and paste text directly from photos.
Brandon LeBlanc, Senior Program Manager on the Windows Insider team, shared the news of OCR’s removal via a post on X, acknowledging that the feature had to be disabled due to some technical issues. This functionality, which simplifies the process of copying text from images, is expected to return in a future update, according to Microsoft’s updated blog post.
Challenges Faced
Super Resolution, while promising, also faced its own hurdles upon deployment. It was inadvertently made available on certain PCs that were not equipped to handle the feature, leading to complications for users on standard Windows 11 systems. Although these setbacks are not catastrophic, they do highlight the growing pains associated with integrating advanced AI capabilities into widely used applications.
As the holiday season approaches, the timeline for the return of OCR remains uncertain. Microsoft has indicated that there will be no preview updates in December, which may push the reintroduction of OCR into the Photos app to early next year. In the meantime, users will have to wait patiently for these enhancements to be fully realized.
