Translate Text on Your Mac Screen—even When You Can’t Select It

To translate words on a Mac screen, first check whether you can select them. Selectable text can use macOS's translation menu. For an image, scanned page, app dialog, or paused video frame, use Live Text on a saved image or a screen translation tool that recognizes the words before translating them.

Translate text you can select

Select the passage, Control-click it, and choose Translate when the source app offers that action. Choose the target language and copy the result if you need it elsewhere. Apple's Mac translation guide explains the built-in workflow and supported options.

In Frset, a configured Translate Selection shortcut can open a translation panel for selected, copyable text. This needs the relevant macOS Accessibility permission and an app that exposes the selection. If the words are only part of an image, switch to a screen capture workflow.

Translate text inside a saved screenshot

For an image you already have, try opening it in Preview. If Live Text recognizes the words, select them, Control-click the selection, and choose Translate, then choose your target language. Apple describes this in its Live Text in Preview guide.

The option depends on language and regional availability. If recognition fails or the translation action is unavailable, extract the image text, correct it, and paste it into a translation tool that supports the language pair.

Translate an area of the screen with Frset

For words visible in an app interface, slide, or scanned page, Frset's screen translation combines local text recognition with your chosen translation service:

1. Choose Translate Screen from Frset's menu bar or use your configured shortcut.
2. Select the area containing the text. Pause a video first if the words are moving.
3. Choose the source language, or use automatic detection, and select a target language.
4. Read the recognized source alongside the translated result.
5. Correct recognition mistakes in the source field and press Return to translate the edited text again. Use Shift-Return for a line break.
6. Choose Copy Translation to reuse the result in another app.

You can also choose Translate from Frset's screenshot toolbar or continue from its OCR result. The same panel lets you refine the source without capturing the area again. Copy Translation copies the result to the system clipboard and saves a translation entry in Frset's history.

Choose a service that fits your Mac and language pair

Frset requires macOS 13 or later. Its Apple system translation option requires macOS 15 or later, supported languages, and the required language resources. Google, Microsoft, and configured AI providers are other available translation options; language coverage and setup depend on the provider.

The built-in Apple, Google, and Microsoft choices do not require you to configure an AI API key. An AI provider may require credentials and its own usage plan. Selecting a different provider does not guarantee that every language pair or translation style will be supported.

Screen OCR happens locally on your Mac. Google, Microsoft, and remote AI services receive the text submitted for translation. A local AI provider uses its configured endpoint. Check the Privacy Policy before submitting sensitive content; local recognition alone does not make the full translation workflow offline.

Fix the source before judging the translation

A wrong translation may begin with a wrong OCR result. Compare the source field with the screen and correct missing words, punctuation, or mixed-language text before translating again. An explicit source language can help when automatic detection chooses incorrectly.

Screen capture needs macOS Screen Recording permission. If selected-text translation fails, check Accessibility permission and whether the passage can be copied. If a service fails, check its connection, language support, and configured credentials where applicable.

Frset shows the recognized source and translation in a separate panel. It does not replace text inside the original image or app interface, and capturing a paused subtitle is not continuous live-video translation. You can pin the panel beside your work when you want a reference while reading.