How to copy text from a screenshot on Mac

1. Copy text from a saved screenshot with Preview

Open the image in Preview, move the pointer over the words and drag to select them. Control-click the selection and choose Copy Text, then paste into Notes or your editor. If selection is unavailable, try Tools → Text Selection. Availability varies by language and region.

Check what arrived: a line of editable characters means you copied text. If you pasted an image, return to Preview and select the words inside the picture rather than the picture itself.

2. Copy visible text with Cracker’s free OCR shortcut

Cracker runs on macOS 14 or later, on Apple Silicon and Intel Macs. Screen text recognition runs on your Mac and works offline. Translation and other optional features have separate requirements; they are not needed for this workflow.

1. Install and open Cracker. Follow its first-run screen recording permission instructions in System Settings, then restart the app if prompted.
2. Bring the text into view. Pause a video before copying; scroll a document to the section you need.
3. Press ⌥C and drag a rectangle around just the relevant words. If you changed the shortcut or it conflicts with another app, use the shortcut shown in Cracker’s settings.
4. Wait for the copy confirmation, switch to your destination app and press ⌘V.

For an error message, include its code and the complete sentence. For a paragraph, exclude nearby navigation and captions so unrelated words do not enter the result. The copied text remains editable: correct any recognition mistakes before using it.

Why can’t I select or copy the text?

• You copied the image. Select words within it, or use screen OCR on the visible text.
• The letters are tiny or blurred. Increase the source document’s zoom before capturing. Enlarging an already blurry screenshot cannot restore missing detail.
• The screen capture is blank. Check Cracker’s screen recording permission and restart after granting it. Protected video may prevent capture; these tools do not bypass that protection.
• The shortcut does nothing. Check Cracker is running and inspect its configured shortcut for conflicts.
• The words are in the wrong order. Capture one column or paragraph at a time, excluding sidebars.
• Some characters are wrong. Compare similar symbols such as O/0 and l/1 against the source, especially in codes, dates and amounts. Recognition quality varies with the font, language and image.

A quick check that prevents copying the wrong information

Try a short line whose answer you can verify. Paste it into Notes and compare the first word, last word and every number with the source. Then copy the larger passage. For code, also check indentation, quotation marks and brackets; plain OCR text is not guaranteed to preserve them.

If your screenshot contains a table, check whether values landed in separate cells. Follow our image-to-Excel guide for that workflow. If you need a broader feature comparison, see our Mac OCR app comparison.

Frequently asked questions