Your screenshot
Drop, paste or choose an image with text in it. Reading happens in your browser.
How it works
Image in, text out, four steps.
- 1
Drop a screenshot
Or paste one with Cmd V. PNG, JPG and WebP all work.
- 2
Wait a few seconds
The first run loads the reader. After that it is near instant.
- 3
Check the text
It appears in an editable box. Fix any misread word in place.
- 4
Copy or download
Copy to the clipboard or download as a .txt file.
Do more with your screenshots
Reading the text is step one. Finding the screenshot later is the rest.
How to Search Text Inside Screenshots (and Why It Changes How Designers Save References)How to Find a Screenshot You Can Only Half Remember (Mac, Windows and Beyond)How to Organize Screenshots: Fixing a Screenshots Folder That Is Out of ControlHow to Organize Screenshots on Mac: A Simple System for Designers
FAQ
How do I copy text from a screenshot?+
Drop the screenshot on the box above or paste it from the clipboard. The tool reads the text in your browser and shows it in an editable box with a Copy button. On a Mac you can also use Live Text in Preview; this tool works the same on Windows, Linux and Chromebooks.
Is the screenshot uploaded to a server?+
No. The reader is a WebAssembly build of Tesseract that runs entirely in your browser. The image never leaves your device. The first run downloads the reader, roughly a few megabytes, and it is cached after that.
Why is some text wrong or missing?+
Text recognition needs a clear edge between the letters and the background. Small text, low contrast, decorative fonts and compressed images read worse. A larger or sharper screenshot usually fixes it. The output box is editable so you can correct the odd word.
Which languages does it read?+
English. Numbers, punctuation and most Latin-alphabet words in other languages read reasonably, but accented characters and non-Latin scripts are not supported in this version.
Can I search my screenshots by the text inside them?+
That is what GetRef does. Every screenshot you save is read on arrival and the words inside it become searchable, so you find a reference by typing a phrase you remember seeing on it.
More free tools
Same idea, no sign-up, nothing uploaded.
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Search every screenshot you have ever saved
GetRef reads the text out of each screenshot as you save it. Type a phrase you remember seeing and the screenshot comes back.
