--- description: Microsoft has an updated app that can scan and save business cards to your phone, so that you can sweep those unruly stacks of business cards into a real world trash bin. title: Microsoft Just Solved the Biggest Headache in Business image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt42c3647c642d24ae/69876e11e20a876f40a83ee3/178680724.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Business](/section/business/) ## Business Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Tech](/tag/time-section-tech/) ## Tech Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Microsoft Just Solved the Biggest Headache in Business  by [Dan Kedmey](/author/dan-kedmey/)  ## Dan Kedmey Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 10, 2014 7:08 PM CUT  Trading business cards Trading business cardsJeremy Lim — Getty Images / Flickr RF  by [Dan Kedmey](/author/dan-kedmey/)  ## Dan Kedmey Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 10, 2014 7:08 PM CUT Microsoft has an updated app that can scan and save business cards to your phone, letting you sweep your unruly stacks of business cards into the trash. The new “business card” feature was [released](http://blogs.office.com/2014/12/08/office-lens-gets-networking-scan-business-cards-onenote-contacts-outlook/ "undefined") in an updated version of the Office Lens app for Windows Phone. Snap a photo of any business card, and the app will automatically crop the image down to the relevant text, format it for legibility and save it to OneNote, a Microsoft document management app. Users can then search the text by keyword or automatically upload contacts to their phone — though you’ll still have to trash the paper business cards manually. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3628264/microsoft-business-cards-scanner/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3628264/microsoft-business-cards-scanner/"},"headline":"Microsoft Just Solved the Biggest Headache in Business","datePublished":"2014-12-10T19:08:36.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:03:54.748Z","description":"Office Lens scans and saves contact information","url":"https://time.com/3628264/microsoft-business-cards-scanner/","keywords":["Tech","Innovation","apps","Microsoft"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt42c3647c642d24ae/69876e11e20a876f40a83ee3/178680724.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Dan Kedmey","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/dan-kedmey/"}],"articleSection":"Business","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt42c3647c642d24ae/69876e11e20a876f40a83ee3/178680724.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"178680724","caption":"178680724","creditText":"Jeremy Lim — Getty Images / Flickr RF","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/business/","name":"Business"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-tech/","name":"Tech"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3628264/microsoft-business-cards-scanner/","name":"Microsoft Just Solved the Biggest Headache in Business"}}]}] ```