How to Copy Text from an Image or Screenshot on Mac

To copy text from an image on Mac, open it in Preview and try selecting the words with Live Text. If the words are inside an app, slide, or paused video and cannot be selected directly, screenshot OCR can recognize a chosen area and turn its visible text into an editable result.

Copy image text with Live Text in Preview

For an image or screenshot saved as a file:

1. Open the image in Preview.
2. Move the pointer over the words and drag across the text you need.
3. Press Command-C, or Control-click the selection and choose the copy action.
4. Paste into your document or text editor with Command-V.

On versions that offer the option, Tools > Text Selection can help when Preview is using a different selection tool. Apple explains the supported actions in its Live Text in Preview guide. Availability depends on your macOS version, language, and region.

If you can already select ordinary text in the source document, copy it directly. OCR is useful when the words are pixels rather than a selectable passage; it adds a recognition step that can introduce errors.

Extract text from a screen area with Frset

Consider an error dialog that will not let you select its message. With Frset's screenshot tools, you can recognize that visible area without retyping it:

1. Start Screenshot from Frset's menu bar or your configured shortcut.
2. Select the area containing the words, keeping unrelated content outside the selection.
3. Choose Extract Text from the screenshot toolbar.
4. Wait for recognition, then review the result in the OCR panel.
5. Correct any mistakes and copy the passage you need.
6. Paste it into a search field, note, message, or bug report.

Screen capture needs the relevant macOS Screen Recording permission. Frset requires macOS 13 or later, and its OCR uses Apple's local text recognition. OCR itself does not require an AI API key. Continuing into an online translation or AI service has a separate data flow.

You can also use Extract Text on an image already available in Frset's clipboard history. This is useful when someone has sent you a screenshot and you want the error message or reference number inside it.

Check the result before using it

OCR output is a working draft of the visible text. Compare it with the image, especially for:

• Code, punctuation, and characters that look alike, such as 0 and O.
• URLs, email addresses, reference numbers, and amounts.
• Columns, tables, lists, and wrapped lines whose reading order matters.

A readable paragraph is not the same as a verified transcription. Frset groups recognized lines into text, but complex layouts can still need manual editing. For a table, check the relationship between labels and values rather than copying the result as if it preserved every cell.

What to try when text is not recognized

Use the clearest source available. Enlarge the original content before capturing it when possible, select a smaller area, and avoid low-contrast or partially hidden words. Enlarging an already blurry image cannot recover missing detail.

If Live Text cannot select the words, check your selection tool and supported language, then try screenshot OCR. If both produce mistakes, review and correct the passage manually. Neither method guarantees accurate recognition of every font, handwritten note, or layout.

Extracting text and searching saved screenshots are separate tasks. Frset's Screenshot search is disabled by default. When enabled, it makes eligible screenshots created by Frset searchable after recognition finishes; it does not automatically index every copied image.

Copy the words, or translate them next

Once you have editable text, you can search for an error, reuse an address, or save a passage in your notes. Clipboard history on Mac helps you find useful copies again. To read an unfamiliar language, see how to translate text visible on your screen.