How do I extract text from an image on Mac?

Mac has built-in Live Text (macOS Monterey and later) — open an image in Preview or Photos, right-click text, and select Copy. For older Macs or scanned documents where Live Text does not work, use browser-based OCR: open Safari, drop the image into the tool, and copy the extracted text.

How do I extract text from an image on Windows?

Windows 11 has built-in OCR in the Snipping Tool — take a screenshot and click the text extraction button. For Windows 10 or for images already saved, use browser-based OCR in any browser (Chrome, Edge, Firefox). No software to install.

Can I extract text from an image on iPhone?

Yes. iOS 15 and later has Live Text — open the image in Photos, tap and hold on text, and select Copy. Works with most printed text in photos. For images where Live Text does not detect text (low contrast, unusual fonts, handwriting), use Safari and open the browser-based OCR tool.

How do I extract text from an image on Android?

Google Lens is built into most Android phones — open the image in Google Photos, tap the Lens icon, and select text. Alternatively, open Chrome and use browser-based OCR for an option that does not send images to Google servers.

Does extracting text from an image on Chromebook work?

Yes. Chromebooks run Chrome, so browser-based OCR works perfectly. There is no built-in OCR on ChromeOS, making browser-based tools the primary option. Open the tool in Chrome, drop your image, and copy the text.

Which is more accurate — built-in OCR or browser tools?

For standard printed English text, accuracy is nearly identical (95-99%). Built-in options (Live Text, Google Lens) have the advantage of real-time camera OCR. Browser-based tools have the advantage of supporting more languages, batch processing, and complete privacy (no cloud upload).

Can I extract text from a PDF on any device?

Yes. Use the PDF OCR tool for scanned PDFs (image-based) or the PDF-to-text tool for native PDFs (digitally created). Both work in any browser on any device — Mac, Windows, iPhone, Android, or Chromebook.

Is there a free desktop OCR app that works offline?

Browser-based OCR technically works offline once loaded (it processes locally). For a fully offline desktop app, GIMP with the OCR plugin or the open-source Tesseract engine work but require technical setup. The browser-based approach is simpler and works across all platforms identically.

Extract Text from Images on Mac, Windows, iPhone & Android — Free OCR

Last updated: April 20266 min readOCR Tools

Every modern device can extract text from images — Mac has Live Text, Windows 11 has Snipping Tool OCR, iPhone and Android have built-in recognition. But each has gaps. Here is exactly how to do it on every platform, plus a browser-based option that works everywhere identically.

Device	Built-in OCR	Limitations	Browser OCR Works?
Mac (Monterey+)	✓ Live Text in Preview/Photos	Only works with clear printed text, limited languages	✓ Safari/Chrome
Windows 11	✓ Snipping Tool text extraction	Only screenshots, not saved images	✓ Chrome/Edge/Firefox
Windows 10	✗ No built-in OCR	Need to install software	✓ Chrome/Edge/Firefox
iPhone (iOS 15+)	✓ Live Text in Photos	Misses low-contrast or unusual fonts	✓ Safari
Android	✓ Google Lens in Photos	Sends images to Google servers	✓ Chrome
Chromebook	✗ No built-in OCR	No native option at all	✓ Chrome
Linux	✗ No built-in OCR	CLI tools only (Tesseract)	✓ Any browser

Works on every device — drop an image, copy the text. No install, no account.

Open Image-to-Text OCR Tool

Mac: Extract Text from Images

Option 1: Live Text (macOS Monterey 12.0+)

Open the image in Preview or Photos
Hover over any text — your cursor changes to a text selection cursor
Click and drag to select text, then Cmd+C to copy

When Live Text fails: Handwritten text, low-resolution images, rotated text, non-Latin scripts. In those cases, use browser-based OCR which supports 8 languages and handles lower-quality images with preprocessing.

Option 2: Browser OCR (any Mac)

Open the OCR tool in Safari or Chrome
Drop your image
Copy the extracted text

Windows: Extract Text from Images

Windows 11: Snipping Tool

Press Win+Shift+S to open Snipping Tool
Capture the area with text
Click the Text actions button in the toolbar
Select and copy text

Limitation: This only works for screenshots you take — not for images already saved on your computer. For saved images, use browser-based OCR.

Windows 10: Browser OCR (only option)

Windows 10 has no built-in image-to-text. Open the OCR tool in Chrome or Edge, drop your image, and copy the text. Takes 5 seconds.

iPhone & iPad: Extract Text from Images

iOS 15+ Live Text

Open the image in Photos
Tap and hold on any text — selection handles appear
Adjust selection, tap Copy

Also works live through the Camera app — point at text without taking a photo.

When Live Text misses: Small text, low contrast (light text on light background), unusual fonts. Open Safari and use the browser-based OCR tool instead.

Android: Extract Text from Images

Google Lens (built into most Android phones)

Open the image in Google Photos
Tap the Lens icon (bottom bar)
Select Text mode
Tap and copy the recognized text

Privacy note: Google Lens sends your image to Google servers for processing. For sensitive documents (medical, legal, financial), use Chrome and the browser-based OCR tool which processes entirely on your device.

Chromebook: Extract Text from Images

ChromeOS has no built-in OCR. The browser-based tool is your primary option:

Open the OCR tool in Chrome
Drop or upload your image
Copy extracted text

Beyond Single Images: Specialized OCR Tools

The standard image-to-text tool handles single images. For specific needs:

Multiple images at once: Batch OCR — upload 10+ images, get text from all
Scanned PDFs: PDF OCR — extract text from image-based PDF pages
Receipts: Receipt scanner — structured data extraction (store, items, total)
Screenshots: Screenshot extractor — paste with Ctrl+V, instant text
Tables: Table extractor — converts table images to CSV
Handwriting: Handwriting-to-text — specialized handwriting recognition
Document photos: Document scanner — enhanced OCR with image preprocessing

Same tool, every device — Mac, Windows, iPhone, Android, Chromebook.