Copy Text from Your Screen with PowerToys Text Extractor

Can’t select or copy text from an image, video, or application? Text Extractor in Microsoft PowerToys lets you grab visible text from almost anywhere on your screen in just a few seconds.

How it works

1. Press Windows + Shift + T.

2. Drag the mouse over the area containing the text you want to capture.

3. The recognized text is automatically copied to your clipboard.

4. Paste it into a document, email, browser, or other application with Ctrl + V.

Text Extractor uses OCR (Optical Character Recognition) to recognize text displayed on your screen. This makes it especially useful for screenshots, images, videos, or applications where text cannot normally be selected.

Good to know: OCR isn’t always perfect. Quickly check the extracted text, especially when working with small, stylized, or low-quality text.

Microsoft PowerToys