Mac Screenshot to Text: Get the Words Out of Any Capture
By Eduard Bruch, developer of Optic · Updated
To turn a screenshot into text on a Mac, open it in Preview and select the words with Live Text, then press Command-C. If you only took the screenshot to keep the text, you can skip the image and copy the text straight from the screen.
Short answer: for screenshots you already have, Preview and Live Text are free and built in. If you screenshot things mainly to grab text, my pick is Optic, a menu bar app that copies the text in any area you drag across the screen ($4.99, a one-time purchase on the Mac App Store).
Disclosure: I build Optic.
The built-in way
macOS can do this on its own:
- Press Shift-Command-4 and drag over the area to take a screenshot.
- Open the screenshot in Preview (or press Space in Finder for Quick Look).
- Move the pointer over the text until it turns into a text cursor.
- Select the text and press Command-C.
Live Text works where Apple supports it: images in Preview, Photos, Quick Look and Safari. It does not work on arbitrary app windows, video calls or text drawn inside an app's interface. For a screenshot file, that is usually enough.
The downside is the detour. You make an image, find it, open it, select, copy, and often end up with a Desktop full of screenshots you never needed as images.
Skip the image: copy the text directly
Optic does the same job without the file in between. It reads the screen inside a box you draw and puts the text on the clipboard.
- Click the Optic icon in the menu bar.
- Choose Capture Text.
- Drag a box over the text you want.
- Paste it anywhere with Command-V.
No screenshot file is saved to your Desktop. Recognition runs on your Mac with Apple's Vision text recognition, and Optic has no network access, so the text never leaves the computer.
Works where Live Text does not
Because Optic reads the screen itself, it also works on text that is not in an image file: an app's interface, an error dialog, a paused video, a remote desktop window, a screen share. That is the main difference from Live Text.
Already have a pile of screenshots?
Optic does not open image files. Open a screenshot in Preview first, then either use Live Text or drag Optic over it. If you have many screenshots to convert at once, Optic is the wrong tool; it works one selection at a time.
Settings that help
- Line breaks. Preserve keeps lines as they look on screen. Remove joins everything into one line. Smart merge joins wrapped lines inside a paragraph and keeps sentence ends, which is handy for text copied from narrow columns.
- Trim whitespace (on by default) removes stray spaces at the start and end.
- Languages. 21 recognition languages are available, all on by default, and each can be switched off in Settings.
- Code mode keeps indentation and turns off language correction, for code and commands.
History instead of a screenshot folder
Optic keeps your last 20 captures in its menu bar popover, each with a small thumbnail and the time. You can copy one again, open a link, have it read aloud, or delete it. It is a short recent list, not an archive, and it is stored only on your Mac.
Where Optic does not fit
- It does not open image or PDF files.
- It does not convert folders of screenshots or create searchable PDFs.
- It does not translate the text or extract tables.
- Handwriting is not a promised feature.
More on this: extract text from a screenshot on Mac, Live Text limitations and a comparison of screen OCR apps for Mac.
FAQ
How do I copy text from a screenshot on a Mac?
Open the screenshot in Preview, select the text with Live Text, and press Command-C. A screen OCR app like Optic copies text without making a screenshot first.
Does Optic save a screenshot file?
No. It reads the area you select and copies the text. The history keeps a small thumbnail on your Mac next to each capture.
Can I convert many screenshots to text at once?
Not with Optic. It works on one selection at a time and does not open files.
Does it work offline?
Yes. Recognition happens on the Mac and the app has no network access.