How to copy text from a screenshot or image on Mac

Updated October 2026

You can see the words. You just can't select them. It happens with screenshots, photos of documents, slides in a video and PDFs that are really pictures. Here are four ways to get the text out on a Mac.

1. Live Text in Preview and Photos (built in)

Open the image in Preview or Photos.
Move the pointer over the text. If macOS recognises it, the cursor turns into a text cursor.
Drag to select, then press ⌘C.

This is free and needs nothing installed. It works on images you can open as files. It's less handy for something playing in a video or a window you can't save.

2. Take a screenshot, then use Live Text on it

Press ⇧⌘4 and drag over the area. A thumbnail appears in the corner.
Open the thumbnail, or the saved file, and select the text as above.

Works anywhere, but you end up with a screenshot file to clean up afterwards.

3. One shortcut, text on your clipboard (Pocketry)

Press ⌃⌥T from any app. (That is the default; you can choose another shortcut in Settings.)
Drag a box over the words, even in a video or a PDF you can't select.
Release. You hear the usual screenshot sound, see “Reading…” in the menu bar, and the text is on your clipboard and in your history.

The text is read on your Mac with Apple's on-device text recognition. The screenshot itself is deleted right away and never saved. macOS may ask for Screen Recording permission the first time, because that is how an app is allowed to see what is on screen.

4. Already copied the picture? Get its text later (Pocketry)

If a screenshot or image is already in your Pocketry history, you don't need to capture it again.

Open Pocketry from the menu bar.
Right-click the picture and choose Copy text in picture. The text is on your clipboard straight away.

You can also find the picture by what it says. Type a word you remember, such as “Denver” for a flight booking, and the screenshot comes up with the matching line shown. Searches like “screenshots from yesterday” list screenshots, not photos.

Pictures are read on your Mac, and the text is kept with your encrypted history. Text that looks like a password or key is never kept. You can turn this off in Settings › Pasting, “Find pictures by what they say and show”, which also forgets what was read.

Tips for cleaner text

Drag over just the words you want. A tight box reads more accurately than a whole window.
Zoom in first if the text is small or blurry.
Check names, numbers and codes before you rely on them. Recognition can swap look-alike characters, such as 0 and O.

Privacy: where does the picture go?

Many free online tools upload your image to read it. For a screenshot that holds anything private, such as an invoice, a message or a code, prefer a tool that reads it on your Mac. Live Text and Pocketry both do.

Common questions

How do I copy text from an image on a Mac?

Open the image in Preview or Photos, then drag over the text you want. On recent macOS versions Live Text lets you select it like normal text, and you can press ⌘C to copy.

How do I copy text from a video or a PDF I can't select?

Pause the video or open the page, then use a screenshot to text tool. In Pocketry, press ⌃⌥T (the default shortcut) and drag over the words; they are read on your Mac and copied to the clipboard.

Can I search my old screenshots by the text in them?

If you saved them as files, Spotlight and Photos can often find them by their text. For pictures you copied, Pocketry 1.5 and later reads them on your Mac, so typing a word that appears in a screenshot finds it. Right-click the picture and choose Copy text in picture to copy all of its text.

Is screenshot to text private?

It depends on the tool. Built-in Live Text and Pocketry both read the text on your Mac. Some web tools upload the picture, so check before using one on anything private.

Try Pocketry free for 14 days · then $12 once, no subscription.