Extract text from an image in seconds with PowerToys

Copying text from images and videos has never been faster. And it's also free.

In today's piece I'll show you how I extract text from an image in just a few seconds.

Why would I want to extract text from an image? 

Plenty of reasons, but I'll only give you just one example.

You take pictures with your phone camera not just for leisure, but also for "digitalization" reasons, aka you take a picture of a printed document with some info you want to save. Wouldn't it be nice to just save that text to a document?

Why don't I just copy paste it?

I assume you already know you can’t copy and paste text you see in an image. It doesn't work like text found in a Word document for example. Your brain can read the text and knows what it says, but most software can't read like humans do. Notice I said, "most software".

This also applies to videos and apps, not just text in images. You can’t select text from a video, or from app interface elements. You can’t select the text because the computer doesn’t see it as text. That's the simple reason.

The solution

One of my favorite small free Windows utilities, PowerToys, includes a function called Text Extractor. I wonder what it does…

Let's not mystify this: PowerToys Text Extractor uses OCR (Optical Character Recognition) on demand, with a press of a shortcut. OCR is a few decades old, but it's not particularly mainstream, or easy to use. With PowerToys it's a breeze.

How to use PowerToys TextExtractor

The first thing to do is download and install the PowerToys app. You can find this free utility in the Windows Store or on GitHub if you prefer an executable file.

Launch PowerToys and enable the TextExtractor from the left side menu.

The default keyboard shortcut to activate the TextExtractor whenever you need it is Win + Shift + T.

You can change this shortcut, if you wish, but why bother?

Once TextExtractor is activated, your mouse cursor changes to a cross.

Left click and hold (!) to start a selection.

Draw an approximate rectangle over the text content you want to copy and release the mouse button when you have selected everything you need.

The text is automatically placed in the clipboard as soon as you end the text selection. You can use Ctrl + V to paste it wherever you want.

You can use this guide to extract text from your images, videos, scanned documents, and everything you see on your monitor in Window.

It’s convenient and works extremely fast, as you can see below:

Limitations:

OCR is great for typed text, but it won't work on handwritten notes. OCR can also mess up detection quite badly with fonts that look weird and sometimes makes mistakes that you'll have to fix yourself, even if the text is clear.

Text Extractor only works with languages you have installed on your Windows PC (to install more you'll have to go Settings app > Time & Language > Language & Region).

I suggest you also read my PowerToys review. This free utility is full of cool stuff you can use.

Be aware that at first the app may look intimidating. Just remember that each item on the left menu is a feature you can turn on or off. You don’t need to use everything.