In this article, we will provide a simple, three-step guide on using an OCR (Optical Character Recognition) tool to quickly and easily OCR screenshot of text into editable, digital text.
For example, you can take a screenshot of a web page that cannot be copied and use OCR to quickly convert it into a digital format that you can copy, paste, and edit. You don’t have to type anything. This can be a valuable tool for students, writers, and anyone who needs to work with digital text. Let’s get started.
Does Snipping Tool have OCR?
Unless you install a third-party tool like PDNob Screen OCR, the native Snipping Tool that comes with Windows can’t OCR by itself but only take screenshots. In the next section, we are going to show you how you can OCR a screenshot and batch OCR screenshots one at a time using this screenshot reader.
How do I extract text from a screenshot?
PDNob Screen OCR is a type of screenshot reader. This free screenshot OCR and translation tool lets you quickly OCR from screenshot, access and edit the text in any image. You can literally use PDNob Screen OCR anywhere on your computer, including copy subtitles in videos in real time.
But for our case, we’ll only show how to extract text from a screenshot using two methods:
- We’ll show you how to OCR a single screenshot, and
- How to batch OCR screenshots one at a time.
1. How to OCR a single screenshot
The process is very simple, just follow these steps:
Step 1: Press Alt + Ctrl + Z on your Windows. Likewise, you can press Command + 1 on Mac. This will activate a screenshot function.
Step 2: Drag the screenshot function over your image, just like you did while taking your screenshot. Then, release your mouse to begin an OCR scan.
Step 3: A text editor will pop up with your text on it. You can edit, copy or translate the text as you like.
You can also OCR multiple screenshots one at a time using PDNob Screen OCR.
2. How to batch OCR screenshots one at a time
This can be useful if you want to take more than one screenshot of OCR. To batch OCR screenshots with PDNob Screen OCR:
Step 1: Press Ctrl + B on your computer to start batch OCR. Alternatively, you can right-click the app icon in your tray area to start it.
Step 2: Press Alt + Ctrl + Z on your Windows. Likewise, you can press Command + 1 on Mac. This will activate a screenshot function. Now, you can take multiple screenshots.
Step 3: A text editor will pop up with all of your text. You can edit, copy or translate the text as you like.
That’s how you screen capture to text with PDNob Screen OCR, easy-peasy, right?
People also ask: How many OCR languages does PDNob Screenshot OCR support?
You can OCR from screenshot in 14 languages, including Japanese, Russian, Korean, Chinese, English, French, Spanish, and other popular languages. And by simply pressing the Translate icon, you can translate the OCR result into more than 100 languages.
Which macOS versions and Windows versions do PDNob Screen OCR Support?
PDNob Screen OCR supports macOS 12 and newer, and Windows 7 to 11. You can freely OCR screenshot Mac and OCR screenshot Windows depending on which operating system your computer is.
Wrap Up
With PDNob Screen OCR, you will be able to OCR anywhere on your screen, web pages, and videos, and even do more. The program is not only quick but will accurately screen capture to text and still maintain the original format.