How to Extract Text from Screenshots on Mac with OCR

Run OCR on a screenshot you already took and copy the words, instead of retyping the picture.

This is OCR on a screenshot: a picture you already captured. Copying text straight off the live screen, without saving an image, is a different mode.

Run OCR on the image

Take the screenshot, or reopen one from History.
On Quick Access, run OCR on that image.
Paste the text into a note, a message, or a search field.

You keep both the picture and the words. A dialog you will file, plus the error sentence you will paste somewhere else, is the usual case.

If the words are wrong

Recognition follows what is visible in the picture. Blurry type, very small text, or a line that is partly covered comes through poorly. Zoom the content, take a tighter screenshot, and run OCR again. The text stays on your Mac with the capture. Shoverlay does not upload it.

Install Shoverlay on the Mac App Store.Screen Recording is required for the original capture.