Copy Text from Anywhere on Your Mac Screen (When Live Text Can't)
By Eduard Bruch, developer of Optic · Updated
To copy text from your Mac screen that you can't select, use Live Text if the text is in an image in Preview, Photos, Quick Look or Safari. Everywhere else (video calls, app dialogs, paused videos, slides, scanned PDFs, interface text) you need a screen OCR tool that reads the pixels.
Short answer: try Live Text first, it is free and built in. For text Live Text can't reach, my pick is Optic: click it in the menu bar, choose Capture Text, drag a box over the text, and it is on your clipboard ($4.99, a one-time purchase).
Disclosure: I build Optic.
Step 1: Check whether you can select it normally
It sounds obvious, but many "uncopyable" texts are copyable another way:
- Web pages: some sites block selection. Reader view in Safari (the reader button in the address bar) often makes the text selectable.
- PDFs: if Preview selects text in a PDF, it has a text layer; just copy. If dragging draws a box instead, the PDF is a scanned image. More: copy text from a non-selectable PDF.
- Dialogs: some apps offer a Details or Copy button for error messages. More: copy an error message from a dialog.
Step 2: Use Live Text where Apple supports it
Live Text is built into macOS 12 Monterey and later. It works on text inside images and photos in Apple's apps:
- Open the image in Preview or Photos (or select the file and press Space for Quick Look). In Safari, it also works on images in web pages.
- Move the pointer over the text and drag to select it, like normal text.
- Press Command-C.
Apple notes that Live Text "isn't available in all regions or languages". It also only works inside those apps, on images and paused video frames. It does not work on the interface of other apps, on a Zoom or Teams screen share, on a game, or on text in a window that is not an image. More: Mac Live Text limitations.
Step 3: The no-install workaround: screenshot, then Live Text
For text in any other app, you can combine two built-ins:
- Press Shift-Command-4 and drag over the text to take a screenshot.
- Open the screenshot (click the thumbnail, or find it on the desktop) in Preview.
- Select the text with Live Text and copy it.
- Delete the screenshot afterwards.
It works, but it is four steps and leaves screenshot files behind. If you copy text from the screen more than now and then, a screen OCR app saves those steps. All the Mac screenshot shortcuts are in snipping tool on Mac.
Step 4: A screen OCR app for everything else
A screen OCR app does the screenshot-and-recognize step in one go, on any app.
With Optic:
- Click the Optic icon in the menu bar and choose Capture Text.
- Drag a box over the text, on any app and any connected display.
- Paste with Command-V. The text is already on your clipboard.
What helps in practice:
- Code mode keeps each line's indentation and turns off language correction, for code in screenshots, tutorials and slides. More: copy code from a screenshot.
- Line breaks: keep them, remove them, or smart-merge wrapped lines into paragraphs, so text from a narrow column pastes as clean sentences.
- 21 languages including Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Thai and Vietnamese. More: OCR foreign language text on Mac.
- QR codes in the box are read too; their content is copied instead of the text.
- History: your last 20 captures stay in the menu bar to copy again or read aloud.
- Private: recognition runs on the Mac with Apple's Vision framework; Optic has no network access.
Get Optic on the Mac App Store
Where each method stops
| Text you want | Optic (our pick) | Live Text | Screenshot + Live Text |
|---|---|---|---|
| Image in Preview, Photos, Quick Look, Safari | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Paused video frame | Yes | In some players | Yes |
| Zoom or Teams screen share | Yes | No | Yes |
| App dialog or interface text | Yes | No | Yes |
| Scanned PDF page | Yes, one area at a time | In Preview | Yes |
| Whole multi-page PDF at once | No: use document OCR | No | No |
| A folder of image files | No: Optic reads the screen, not files | No | No |
Other apps that do this
TextSniper, TRex, Shottr, CleanShot X and OwlOCR also copy text from a screen area, with different prices and extras. I compared them, with each vendor's own facts and a date, in best screen OCR apps for Mac; the free ones are in best free OCR for Mac.
FAQ
How do I copy text from my screen on a Mac?
If the text is in an image in Preview, Photos, Quick Look or Safari, select it with Live Text and press Command-C. For any other text on screen, my pick is Optic: Capture Text, drag a box, paste.
How do I copy text from an image on Mac?
Open the image in Preview or Photos and select the text with Live Text. If that does not work, or the image is inside another app, drag a box over it with a screen OCR app. More: copy text from an image on Mac.
Why can't I select text on my Mac screen?
Because it is not text but pixels: an image, a video frame, a scanned page, a screen share, or a control drawn by an app. Copying it needs OCR, either Live Text in Apple's apps or a screen OCR app elsewhere.
Does Preview have OCR on Mac?
Preview supports Live Text on images and scanned pages you open in it, on macOS 12 and later. It does not make searchable PDFs. More: Mac Preview OCR limitations.
Is there a Mac version of the Windows Snipping Tool text feature?
The closest built-in is Shift-Command-4 plus Live Text in Preview. For one step, my pick is Optic, which copies the text from a dragged area straight to the clipboard.
Does copying text from the screen work offline?
Live Text works on the Mac. Optic recognizes text on the Mac with Apple's Vision framework and has no network access, so nothing is uploaded.
Get Optic on the Mac App Store · All Optic facts · How to scan a QR code on Mac