7 Effective Methods to OCR Screenshot on Mac (Image Included)

Are you distressed about re-typing amounts of texts from a screenshot (PNG format by default on Mac)? Since it’s time-consuming, boring and inefficient. Why not OCR screenshot on Mac with the best OCR software so that you can extract text from image? In this article, we will introduce 7 effective tools to help you perform Mac OCR screenshot in few steps.

Can Preview Extract Text from Image on Mac?

No, it can't.

Preview only supports to copy text from PDF document. You just need to:

1. Open a PDF file in Preview.

2. Go to “View” from the menu bar > Click on “Show Toolbar” option. (If your toolbar has already appeared, skip this step.)

3. Click on the ​ icon, and now you can copy words from the PDF file.

Unfortunately, when I repeat the steps with a screenshot or image, it doesn’t allow me to copy text from image on Mac.

Top 4 Software to OCR Screenshot on Mac

#1. Enolsoft PDF Converter with OCR

Enolsoft PDF Converter with OCR is a piece of convenient and reputable Mac OCR software that empowers you to convert scanned or native image/ PDF into an editable format. You can OCR screenshot on Mac with top-ranking speed and a high level of accuracy. Even there are complex layouts (e.g. table) in the screenshot.

Chief features of the OCR software:

• OCR both PDF or image (screenshot included) files
• Manage files in bulk
• Convert files to 16 formats (searchable PDF, Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Keynote, Pages, ePub, Text, etc.)
• Specify page ranges of a multi-page input file
• Advanced OCR settings
• Selectable recognition languages
• Convert encrypted files
• OCR a wide range of recognition languages, including Japanese, French, German, Arabic, Korean, etc.

Free Download

Download the free trial of PDF Converter with OCR>>

Step 1. Load screenshots

Open Enolsoft PDF Converter with OCR, and then drag-n-drop screenshots into the program window.

Alternatively, you are able to click on “+’ button on the home screen to browser screenshots that you intend to perform OCR on.

Step 2. Customize OCR settings

Enable the OCR button > select a target OCR language > click the gear icon to bring up the “Advanced Settings” dialog > tweak the OCR applied zone.

Note: Different from PDF file, a screenshot doesn't contain multi-pages. So you can ignore the option to choose page range.

Step 3. Select output format

You can choose any editable format as output, such as DOCX, TXT, etc.

Step 4. Start screenshot OCR on Mac

Click on ‘Convert” button in the lower right corner. In the pop-up window, choose a destination to save your OCRed screenshots.

#2. Easy Screen OCR for Mac

Easy Screen OCR blends a simple interface with some conductive features to let you OCR screenshot Mac simply. It supports to capture the screenshot and extract text from image within the software. You can do screenshot OCR on Mac freely up to 20 times.

1. Click on Easy Screen OCR from the menu bar.
2. Choose “Capture Screenshot” to take a screenshot of any content.
3. Click on “OCR” button from the “Image” tab.
4. Once the screenshot OCR process has done on Mac, copy text and past it to a text editor.

Pros:

• Light in weight, only 1.1 MB for Mac
• Support more than 100 recognition languages
• Translate to 25+ languages
• Save the screenshot as PNG or PDF
• Begin the screen selection by hotkey
• Offer easy screen OCR for Windows (two versions)

Cons:

• Can’t OCR screenshots or images in batches (although multiple OCR windows can be opened at a time).
• Only support to OCR the captured screenshot
• Unable to convert extracted text to other formats

#3. Picatext

Picatext is a piece of ultra basic Mac OCR software, making it easy to scan and dump text from screenshots or native images. It scores exceptionally well to accuracy when it comes to performing screenshot OCR Mac. But it doesn’t support the free version. You have to purchase it from the App Store at first.

OCR screenshot Mac:

1. Click on computer icon on the main window.
2. Pick the area of the screen that you desire to capture.
3. After releasing the cursor, the editable and selectable text will be in Picatext.

OCR image Mac:

1. Click upload button on the Picatext window.
2. Choose an image you want to deal with, and click on “Open” button.
3. Your image file will be OCRed in few seconds.

Pros:

• Identify over 40 languages
• Set shortcuts for capturing the screen at your option
• Not only OCR screenshot but the image from your Mac
• Automatically put recognized text into the clipboard

Cons:

• OCR screenshot and image only
• No batch option

#4. OCRKit

OCRKit, a reliable Mac OCR open source tool, promises fast OCR speed and supports all primary image formats (PNG, JPEG, TIFF, BMP, GIF, etc.) along with PDF document. Unlike Picatext, it provides a trial version for you to download before purchasing it. But you have to receive the trial (fully functional for 14 days) through email.

1. Drag any native screenshot into the free OCR software Dock icon or interface.
2. It will start to OCR screenshot on Mac. Just wait for the scanning.
3. Choose a file name to save the OCRed screenshot.

Pros:

• Batch screenshot OCR scanning and processing on Mac
• Export PDF or image (including screenshot) to PDF, HTML, RTF and TXT
• Handle 100+ pages of imported documents (PDF or TIFF)
• Merge/ sort files in one batch
• Support 27 languages

Cons:

• Not powerful and user-friendly enough in terms of coping with screenshot OCR Mac
• Can’t export file to Microsoft Word

Test Result of DigitEyeOCR for Mac:

The enthusiasm for digitEye OCR seems not to have waned. I indeed download the DigitEyeOCR for Mac from digiteyeocr.en.softonic.com/mac, and install it by following the instruction, but failed finally. I check the site digiteyeocr.free.fr, which says, “DigitEyeOCR is no longer available”.

How to Perform Screenshot OCR Mac Online?

#1. Structurise.com

Structurise.com makes certain impressive claims. It assists to OCR screenshot on Mac without file-size limits and registration. The site is safe and packed with no ads for the moment. But structurise.com supports to do image or screenshot OCR on Mac.

1. Visit structurise.com, and click "Online OCR" on the navigation bar.
2. Import a screenshot. You have three ways: paste the captured screenshot from clipboard; drag and drop the screenshot to the workspace; click the grey button to browser a file.
3. Choose the language and output type.
4. Click on "Process Whole Image button to OCR screenshot on Mac.

Pros:

• Support 100+ languages
• Export screenshot or image to HTML, Text, and RTF
• Crop the uploaded screenshot
• One-click to restart the screen OCR on Mac

Cons:

• Take a long time to process
• Get messy or incorrect layout sometimes
• May occur error while importing file

#2. NewOCR.com

NewOCR is a celebrated, free OCR service that can extract text from image (PNG, JPEG, GIF, BMP and TIFF) or scanned document (PDF and DjVu). It supports up to 100+ recognition languages and fonts, making it stand out from other online screenshot OCR tools.

1. Upload your screenshot from Mac.
2. Click the "Preview" button.
3. Choose your recognition language (multiple languages can be selected but not recommended because of low accuracy).
4. Click the "OCR" button to finish screenshot OCR on Mac.

Pros:

• Can recognize a good deal of languages
• Convert input file to TXT, DOC, and PDF
• Support to OCR images in the ZIP archive
• Rotate image before performing screenshot OCR

Cons:

• Cluttered interface, with ads floated
• Only can convert one screenshot at a time

#3. Docs.zone/ocr

Docs.zone/ocr is an extremely easy-to-use, web-based OCR tool that’s used to convert images or scanned PDF to Word format. The free version merely allows you to add 2 files a one time. Otherwise you have to sign up for a premium account.

1. Navigate to docs.zone/ocr.
2. Click on the “Select files” button to import a screenshot locally.
3. Choose the OCR language from the pop-out “Online OCR Software” window.
4. Click the “Start” button to OCR screenshot on Mac.
5. Download the OCRed file.

Pros:

• Support 7 recognition languages
• OCR multiple screenshots (free one up to 2 files)
• Freely delete and download files in inbox
• OCRed screenshots will be saved for 6 hours

Cons:

• Limited function of free version (e.g. only obtain 2 pages of a multi-page file)
• Export file to Word document only

Conclusion

It's an urgent demand to OCR screenshot on Mac for saving your valuable time. We have recommended 7 best OCR tools (desktop software and online) above for you to extract text from image Mac. Each of them can meet your most basic needs, but for further document handling (OCR and conversion), Enolsoft PDF Converter with OCR should be the most robust and professional.