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How to copy text from an image on a Mac with OCR

By Mohammed Chaara · Updated October 22, 2026 · 4 min read · Checked on macOS 26 Tahoe. How these guides are made

To copy text from an image on a Mac, open the image in Preview or Photos, drag across the text to select it, and press ⌘C. This is Live Text, the Mac's built-in OCR. For text it can't reach, like a paused video or an app, take a screenshot first, or use Copy Text from Screen.

OCR (optical character recognition) turns a picture of text into text you can copy, edit and search. Macs have done it on their own since macOS 12 Monterey, without any app, and the recognition happens on your Mac.

Live Text: the Mac's built-in OCR

Live Text is built into macOS and works in Preview, Photos, Safari and Quick Look, the preview you get by pressing Space on a file in Finder. You don't turn anything on: when the pointer turns into a text cursor over the words in a picture, you can select them like normal text.

How to copy text from an image in Preview

  1. Double-click the image to open it in Preview. If it opens in another app, right-click it and choose Open With › Preview.
  2. Move the pointer over the text, then drag to select it.
  3. Press ⌘C, or right-click the selection and choose Copy Text.
  4. Paste it anywhere with ⌘V.

If dragging draws a box instead of selecting text, choose Tools › Text Selection and try again.

How to copy text from a photo in Photos

  1. Open the photo in Photos and double-click it to see it full size.
  2. Drag across the text to select it. To see all the text Photos found, click the Live Text button in the lower-right corner of the photo.
  3. Press ⌘C to copy.

Phone numbers, addresses and links in a photo can be clicked too, to call, get directions or open the website.

How to copy text from an image in Safari

On a web page, drag across the text in a picture just as you would across normal text, then press ⌘C, or right-click the selection and choose Copy. It works in pictures on web pages, not in videos while they play.

How to copy text from a scanned PDF or anything else

A scanned PDF, a frame of a video or a window that won't let you select text is still just pixels on your screen. Turn them into an image first:

  1. Press ⌃⇧⌘4 (Control-Shift-Command-4) and drag over the text. The screenshot is copied to the clipboard, not saved as a file.
  2. Open Preview and choose File › New from Clipboard (⌘N).
  3. Drag across the text in the new image and press ⌘C.

If you can't select the text

Copy text from anywhere with one shortcut

Live Text works in a few apps, and the screenshot trick takes three steps. Copy Text from Screen in MrFixable does it in one, anywhere on your screen:

  1. Press ⇧⌘2, or click Select Area… in MrFixable's menu.
  2. Drag over the text: in an image, a paused video, a scanned PDF, a photo of a page, an app's window.
  3. The text is copied, and a message tells you how many lines. Paste it with ⌘V.

Press Esc instead of dragging to cancel. It uses macOS's own text recognition, detects the language by itself, and everything stays on your Mac: no screenshot is kept and nothing is uploaded.

  • It needs Screen Recording access, which macOS requires for any app that reads what's on your screen.
  • You can change the shortcut in its settings. If another app already uses ⇧⌘2, MrFixable shows it so you can pick another.

Questions

Does a Mac have OCR?

Yes. Since macOS 12 Monterey, Live Text recognizes text in images in Preview, Photos, Safari and Quick Look, so you can select and copy it like normal text. It runs on your Mac. Copy Text from Screen in MrFixable uses the same recognition on any part of your screen.

How do I copy text from a PDF image on a Mac?

Open the PDF in Preview and try dragging across the text. If it's a scan and won't select, press ⌃⇧⌘4 and drag over the text, then in Preview choose File › New from Clipboard and select the text in that image. Copy Text from Screen does it in one step.

How do I extract text from an image on a Mac?

Open the image in Preview, drag from the first word to the last to select all the text, and press ⌘C. Then open TextEdit, create a new document and press ⌘V. Save it, and the text from the image is in a file you can edit and search.

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