How to copy text from an image
- Choose the language of the text.
- Choose or drop your images, or paste a screenshot with Ctrl+V (⌘+V on a Mac).
- Wait a few seconds, then copy the text or download it as a .txt file.
Tips for the best results
- Use a straight, sharp, well-lit photo. Fill the frame with the text.
- Screenshots work better than photos of a screen.
- Crop away pictures and other text you don't need with the image cropper.
Have a scanned PDF? Use Scanned PDF to Text, which can also make the PDF searchable.
Frequently asked questions
How accurate is the text recognition?
For clear screenshots and scans of printed text, usually 95–99% of words are correct. Photos taken at an angle, in poor light or with handwriting are much harder; always check the result before using it.
Can it read Sinhala and Tamil?
Yes. Choose Sinhala or Tamil as the language before choosing your image. For documents that mix Sinhala or Tamil with English, also tick “Also English”.
Can it read handwriting?
Only neat, printed-style handwriting, and not reliably. OCR is designed for typed and printed text.
Are my images uploaded?
No. The text is recognized in your browser with the open-source Tesseract engine. The language data is downloaded once from this site and saved by your browser for next time.