Copy text from images and videos with these free and easy tools

With the launch of MacOS Monterey last fall, Apple introduced a neat feature called Live Text, which lets you highlight and copy text directly from images, both in Safari and in system apps such as Photos and Quick Look. (It also works on iOS.) But what if you want to grab text from images in other apps or web browsers? And what if you don’t use MacOS at all? Luckily there are several other text extraction tools that can help. For Chrome, Firefox, and other Chrome-based browsers, check out Copyfish. Once installed, clicking the extension icon brings up a selection tool, letting you draw a box around any text on the screen. Copyfish then scans the text and displays it in a pop-up window for copying to your clipboard. It even works for text that appears inside of YouTube videos.

Copyfish isn’t the only extension of its kind, but I appreciate its minimal data collection and clear business model, which involves subscription access to advanced features such as auto-translation. I’ve seen some tools with much sketchier privacy policies that, in my view, are best avoided.

For a text extraction tool that works with any app on your computer, try Normcap, a free and open-source program for Windows, Mac, and Linux. (The installation files are here.) Once installed, you can simply run the application to launch the selection tool on your desktop. Draw a box around any text you want to capture, and Normcap will instantly add it to your clipboard. The entire character recognition engine runs offline, so it’s both fast and private. Neither of these options match the seamlessness of Live Text, which lets you select text without having to draw any boxes around it first, but they’re also less restrictive in where and how you can use them.

This story first appeared in Jared’s Advisorator newsletter. Sign up to get tips like these every week.

https://www.fastcompany.com/90721213/text-copy-tools?partner=rss&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=rss+fastcompany&utm_content=rss

Creată 3y | 14 feb. 2022, 13:21:39


Autentifică-te pentru a adăuga comentarii

Alte posturi din acest grup

Tinder wants you to flirt with an AI bot before you flop with a human

Think you’ve got game? Time to put it to the test with Tinder’s latest launch in collaboration with OpenAI.

On Tuesday, Tinder rolled out The Game Game—a new experience designed to help

1 apr. 2025, 21:20:06 | Fast company - tech
‘Imagine having Cybertruck money and buying a Cybertruck’: TikTok is full of people trading in their Teslas to the sounds of Taylor Swift

The old Tesla can’t come to the phone right now. Why? Oh, ‘cause she’s dead.

Over the past few days, a new trend has emerged on TikTok: people are posting their Tesla trade-ins accompani

1 apr. 2025, 19:10:03 | Fast company - tech
Kickstarter isn’t just for indie passion projects anymore

Despite a ">triumphant world premiere at Cannes last May, the politically unsparing Donald Trump biopic The Apprentice was stuck in

1 apr. 2025, 16:40:05 | Fast company - tech
‘inZOI’ challenges ‘The Sims’ with a fresh take on life simulation

Countless hours, days—perhaps even weeks—of my life have been spent creating Sims characters, building them houses, marrying them off, and making babies. Now, there’s a new life-simulatio

1 apr. 2025, 14:20:11 | Fast company - tech
SpaceX flight launches 4 space tourists into first-ever polar orbit

A bitcoin investor who bought a SpaceX flight for himself and three polar explorers blasted

1 apr. 2025, 14:20:10 | Fast company - tech
AI researchers want to map the 3D world. That means going vertical—and possibly nuclear

Spatial intelligence is an emerging approach to deploying AI in the physical world. By combining mapping data with artificial intelligence, it aims to deliver “smart data” tied to specific locatio

1 apr. 2025, 12:10:05 | Fast company - tech
3 years into war with Russia, this Ukrainian startup is powering a drone revolution

Ukraine’s war with Russia—sparked by Russia’s invasion in the spring of 2022—is now entering its fourth year. So t

1 apr. 2025, 12:10:04 | Fast company - tech