Snip for Mac · Guide
OCR on Mac: copy text from anything on your screen
macOS has Live Text for images in Preview, Photos and Safari. To copy text from anywhere else — a streaming app, a screen share, a call, an app or a PDF that won’t let you select text — use Snip: press ⇧⌘8, select the area, and the recognized text is on your clipboard. Text recognition in Snip is free and works offline.
Copy text from your screen with Snip
No screenshot files and no windows to open: the text goes straight to your clipboard.
Press ⇧⌘8
Or click the Snip icon in the menu bar and choose Recognize Text. The shortcut works even when Snip is in the background.
Select the area
Drag over the part of the screen with the text: a video frame, a dialog, a slide, a scanned page.
Paste
Snip shows “Text copied to clipboard”. Paste the text anywhere with ⌘V. If there’s nothing to read, you’ll see “No text recognized”.
The first time, macOS asks you to allow Screen Recording for Snip. Turn it on, then restart Snip.
What it’s good for
Videos and screen shares
Subtitles, slides in a webinar, code in a tutorial, a shared screen in a call.
Documents that block copying
Scanned PDFs, protected files and images of text in email attachments.
Apps and dialogs
Error messages, settings screens, text in games and remote desktops.
Images on websites
Menus, posters, screenshots in articles and social media posts.
Built-in OCR on Mac: Live Text
Live Text is part of macOS Monterey and later and works on Macs with Apple silicon and Intel processors. It recognizes text in images inside apps that support it, and since macOS Ventura it can also read text in paused video in some apps.
Open the image
Open a photo or screenshot in Preview, Photos or Quick Look. To read text that isn’t in an image yet, take a screenshot with ⇧⌘4 first.
Select the text
Hold the pointer over the text and drag to select it.
Copy
Control-click the selection and choose Copy Text.
Languages
Snip uses Apple’s text recognition and detects the language automatically, so you don’t have to choose it. It reads the languages macOS supports, including English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Ukrainian, Chinese, Japanese and Korean.
What Snip’s OCR doesn’t do
- It reads what’s on the screen, so it doesn’t turn multi-page PDFs into searchable documents.
- You get plain text, line by line, without fonts or formatting.
- Small, blurry or decorative text may come out with errors.
- Protected video in some streaming apps can’t be captured, so its subtitles can’t be read either.
- The iPhone and iPad app doesn’t recognize text; use Live Text there.
Live Text or Snip?
Live Text is enough for text in a photo you already have open. Snip is faster for text anywhere else on your screen.
| Feature | Live Text | Snip |
|---|---|---|
| Where it works | Images in Preview, Photos, Quick Look, Safari and other apps with Live Text; paused video in some apps | Any part of the screen |
| Steps | Open the image, select the text, copy | Press ⇧⌘8, select the area |
| Text outside images | Take and open a screenshot first | No screenshot needed |
| Keyboard shortcut | Not available | ⇧⌘8, can be changed |
| Runs on your Mac, offline | Yes | Yes |
| Price | Free, part of macOS | Free |
Snip requires macOS 15.6 or later, on Apple silicon and Intel.
Questions about OCR on Mac
Does Mac have built-in OCR?
Yes. Live Text in macOS Monterey and later recognizes text in images in Preview, Photos, Quick Look and Safari, on Macs with Apple silicon and Intel processors, including MacBook Air, MacBook Pro and iMac. It isn’t available in all regions and languages.
How do I copy text from a screenshot on Mac?
Built in: take a screenshot, open it in Preview or Quick Look, select the text and choose Copy Text. With Snip, skip the screenshot file: press ⇧⌘8, select the area and the text is on your clipboard.
Is Snip’s OCR free?
Yes. Text recognition is free and doesn’t count toward the 3 free edits a day that apply to background removal, the eraser and the enhancer.
Does Snip’s OCR work offline?
Yes. Snip uses Apple’s on-device text recognition, so nothing is uploaded and it works without an internet connection.
Can Snip OCR a whole PDF?
No. Snip reads the part of the screen you select, so it’s made for quick copying, not for turning multi-page PDFs into searchable documents. For that, use a PDF app with OCR.
The ⇧⌘8 shortcut doesn’t work. What should I do?
Allow Screen Recording for Snip in System Settings → Privacy & Security → Screen & System Audio Recording, then quit and reopen Snip. If another app uses the same shortcut, assign a different one in Snip’s Settings → Shortcuts.