Screenshot Text
Mac OCRScreenshot Text

The best OCR for Mac

It handles any text, and it is exceptional with code. Where other Mac OCR apps fall apart, or make you upload to a website and convert a file, Screenshot Text keeps you in your flow: one shortcut, an on-device AI pass, and clean text ready to paste. Nothing leaves your Mac.

Download freeBuy lifetime for $49

Requires macOS 13+ on an Apple Silicon Mac · no account needed

Why people pick it

No new windows, no uploads, no file conversions. As easy as copy and paste.

On-device and private

OCR and AI both run on your Mac. No server, no account, works offline.

Tuned for code

A local AI restores indentation, quotes, and brackets that plain OCR drops.

One keystroke, any app

Press ⌘⇧7 over a video, PDF, or image and the text is on your clipboard.

See it in action

Pull text from a locked PDF and paste it wherever you need it.

Step 1

Screenshot text from a locked PDF

The PDF won't let you select the text? Press ⌘⇧7 and grab it anyway.

The study found that participants
who took short breaks every 90 minutes
reported 23% higher focus and fewer
errors than those who pushed straight through.
PDF
Lockedannual-report.pdf
Step 2

Paste it straight into your notes

Now it's on your clipboard. Press ⌘V to paste into Notes, an email, anywhere.

The study found that participants who took short breaks every 90 minutes reported 23% higher focus and fewer errors than those who pushed straight through.

Where other OCR tools fall short

Plain OCR reads the characters but loses the structure. The on-device AI puts it back.

Plain OCR
function useCart() {
const [items, setltems] = useState([])
const add = (p) => setltems([...items, p])
const key = ‘cart’
return { items, add }
}
Indentation lost“I” read as “l”Curly quotes
Fixed by on-device AI
Cleaned
function useCart() {
const [items, setItems] = useState([])
const add = (p) => setItems([...items, p])
const key = "cart"
return { items, add }
}

Runs entirely on your Mac. Nothing is uploaded.

Related guides

Choosing an OCR app for Mac

Everything you need to know.

For plain text, macOS's built-in Live Text is free and good. For code, structured text, or anything you need to paste and run, Screenshot Text is the better pick because it adds an on-device AI pass tuned to repair what OCR gets wrong.

Yes. Live Text (macOS Monterey and later) reads text from images in Preview, Photos, and Quick Look. It is fine for prose, but it flattens indentation and misreads look-alike characters in code.

Those are solid OCR and screenshot tools. The difference is the AI cleanup: Screenshot Text runs a local code-aware model after OCR, so quotes, indentation, and brackets survive. Nothing leaves your Mac.

Yes. Recognition uses Apple's on-device Vision framework and the AI cleanup runs a local model. There are no servers and no account, so your captures never leave your machine.

Free for 5 captures a day with AI cleanup included. A one-time $49 Lifetime makes it unlimited, with every future update. No subscription.

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Stop retyping what's already on your screen.

Grab any text in one keystroke. Free to try, $49 to own for life, and it all runs on your Mac.

Download freeBuy lifetime

macOS 13+ on Apple Silicon · no account needed