How To Extract Text From Image Online [2024]: 11 Free Ways

Want to copy text from images? This tutorial will give you the possible methods to extract text from image online and offline on different devices such as Android, Google Chrome, and Windows10 and OneNote.

Table of Contents

When should I copy text from photos?

Have you ever meet some inspiring contents you want to save and share with others, but cannot copy/paste online? I assume yes, as there is a variety of useful info stored on images, protected documents, as well as websites where don’t support copy features. What if you really need to keep them? Retype all text seems tiresome.

Sometimes we do need the text in documents such as MS Word rather than images. What if the requirement is instant and is bulk, There is no question of typing all the text into MS word or something.

Here is your go-to guide on how to copy text from the picture in no time and without any mistakes.

What is OCR?

OCR is the short form of Optical character reader or optical character recognition. It is the process of electronic or mechanical conversion of images or scanned documents into word format. It is widely used in data entry works. You can read more about it here on the Wiki page.

Methods to Copy Text from the Image on Android

There are plenty of methods available for Copying the text from an image to an Android phone. Let us see what are those methods, and the steps to be followed in those methods.

1. How to extract text from image using Google Photos?

This is the simplest method for copying text from images than all available methods. Let us see the procedure on how to copy the text from the image in this method.

Total Time: 4 minutes

STEP-1: Launch Google photos

Google photos is one of the best apps that store all your photos for a long time. First, you need to open the Google photos app where your required image is stored. It has the best feature that is Google lens.

STEP-2: Select the image

After opening the Google Photos application, all the images available in your storage will be displayed. Tap on the image from which you want to extract the text.

STEP-3: Copy Text from Image

Now at the bottom of the image, you will see an option “copy text from image”. Click on it to copy the text. Then Google lens will start working to recognize the text from the image.

STEP-4: Select text

Google lens may or may not recognize the text exactly as you wanted. So, you are allowed to select the text using the cursor pointers. Place the start and end cursors to select the text.

STEP-5: Copy Text

After selecting the text using the cursors, you will find the options like Cut, Copy, Paste, etc., Choose the “Copy” option by tapping on it. Then the text will be copied to clipboard.

STEP-6: Paste the Copied text

Now, go to any notepad or word or wherever you want to paste it. Long press and choose the “Paste” option to paste the copied text.

These are the steps to be followed to copy the text from the image.

2. How to capture text from image using the Text Fairy app?

There are a number of OCR (Optical Character Recognition) apps such as Text Fairy, Google Keep, Text scanner, etc are available on Google Play Store for copy the text from an image. Here we are going to see the process to copy the text with the help of the Text Fairy app. Follow the below steps to copy the the text from image.

STEP-1: Open Playstore on your Android device. Tap on the “Search” icon and type “Text Fairy“ in the search bar. Install the application from the search results.

STEP-2: Launch the Text Fairy application after successful installation. As soon as you open the application, camera will be opened by default. You can capture a image to extract text or else, you can tap on the “Image” icon available on the right-bottom corner of the interface. Then it shows all the images available in the device. Double tap on the image to import it to the application.

STEP-3: After selecting the image, it asks you to select the portion of the image to select. Use the pointers to crop the image and then tap on “OK”. That’s it, the text from the selected portion of the image will be displayed. Tap on the “Copy Text” option available on the bottom menu to copy all the text shown above.

STEP-4: Open the notes application or any other application where you want to paste the copied text. Long-press on the screen, then a pop-up will appear. Choose the “Paste” option from that pop-up options.

That’s it, this is how you can easily extract text from images using Text Fairy.

3. How to extract content from the image using CamScanner?

CamScanner is a multipurpose app that is used for most of the works like scannings pages, photos, Image to excel conversion, QR code scanning, etc. In this method, we are going to see how to use CamScanner for Copying text from the image.

STEP-1: Open Playstore and download the latest version of CamScanner application. If you didn’t find it in the playstore, then visit the official site of CamScanner and download the application.

STEP-2: Launch the application after successful installation. On the homscreen of the CamScanner, you will find a camera option on the right bottom. Click on it.

STEP-3: Now on the screen just above the camera symbol, you will see different tools like Image to Excel, ID Photo, OCR, Docs, etc. Go to the OCR section. Now take an image to copy text from it. You can take either a new photo using the Camera option or select an existing photo from the storage. Here I am taking an existing image, so clicking on the image symbol that is placed just beside the Camera symbol.

STEP-4: Now select a image from the storage and click on “select”. Use the pointers to select the area in the image from which you want to copy the text. Now click on the “Next” (arrow symbol) option available on the right-bottom of the image to perform the OCR process.

STEP-5: Now the extracted text from the image is shown on the screen. Click on the “Copy” option available on the bottom menu.

STEP-6: Now, you can paste it wherever you want to. This is how you can easily extract text from image using CamScanner.

4. How to Copy text from the image using the WPS Office app?

Nowadays most of the people have WPS Office app in their android for accessing word documents, pdf, excel sheets. The WPS Office can also be used to copy the text from the image. Let’s see how to copy text from the image using the WPS office.

STEP-1: Open Playstore on your Android device. Search for “WPS Office” and Install the application.

STEP-2: Launch the application after successful installation. Tap on the “Create” option available on the right-bottom of the interface. Then a popup will appear. Choose the “Scanner” from that list.

STEP-3: Move to “Text Recognition” section and Tap on the “Image” icon. Then it displays all the images available in the storage. Tap on the image to select and tap on “Ok” to import it.

STEP-4: After importing the image, it allows you to crop the image by tapping on the “Crop” option and select a particular portion of the image. Crop the image using the cursors and then tap on “Tick”.

STEP-5: Tap on the “Recognize” option once the cropping is done. Then the text will be recognized and shown in a column as shown in the below screenshot.

5. How to Copy Text from the Web Image on Google Chrome?

5.1 How to copy text from Image using Google Lens on Google Chrome

STEP-1: Open Google Chrome Browser on your computer and on the homepage of Google, beside the search bar you will find the “Google Lens” icon. Click on it.

STEP-2: A small box will open. Click on “Upload Image” and Then a window will pop-up. Choose the image and click on “Open” to import the image.

STEP-3: The uploaded image will be shown on the left side of the interface and under that, choose the “Text” option. Click on the “Select all Text” optin available on the right side of the interface.

Then the text available in the image will be selected and search results will be shown on the right-side of the interface as shown in the below screenshot. Click on “Copy Text” to copy the text to clipboard.

Now, Open notepad or any other application where you want to paste the copied text. Here, I selected the notepad application. Right click near the cursor, then an options list will open. Choose the “Paste” option from that list. Else, just press “Ctrl + V” to paste the copied the text.

5.2 How to Extract Text from Image using Chrome Extension

We are using An extension for Google Chrome that will copy the text from the web images on the web pages. Follow the below steps for copy the text from an image.

STEP-1: Open Google Chrome and go to the Web store page. Type “OCR” in the search bar and hit enter. Choose the extension from the search results.

STEP-2: Click on “Add to Chrome” option. Then a pop up will appear and asks for confirmation. Click on “Add Extension” and then the extension will be installed successfully to Google Chrome.

STEP-3: After the completion of installing the extension, you will find the extension on the top search bar. Click on it and it asks you to select the area from where you want to extract the text.

STEP-4: Once the selection completes, the tool starts analyzing the image and shows the text in a dialogue box. Click on “Copy” to copy the extracted text to clipboard.
Now, you can paste the text wherever you want to.

STEP-1: Search for OCR software in Google chrome and select the required Software extension

Open your Google Chrome and type OCR software for Google Chrome in your chrome search bar and click enter. Then the matched results will be displayed on the screen. Choose any one of the best OCR software and click on it.

I am selecting the One-click Image Reader software for chrome in my device.

STEP-2: Add OCR to Chrome

Now it shows the one-click image reader page. There on the left side, you will see the option “Add to Chrome”, click on that option. Then it preparing to add the one-click image reader to your chrome.

STEP-3: Click on Add Extension option

When you click on add to chrome option, it shows a screen asking permission for adding a one-click image reader extension. At the bottom, you will see Add Extension and cancel options. Click on the Add Extension option.

With this step, a one-click image reader extension is added to your Google Chrome successfully.

STEP-4: Click on One Click Image reader extension symbol in the Google chrome

Now open your Google Chrome. Open any web page that contains images. Now on the top left corner of the screen, you will find some options. Click on the One-Click Image Reader extension symbol.

Then a screen will appear with some options as shown in the below image.

Click on Capture Selection option as shown in the above image.

STEP-5: Select the area on the image for copying text

Now the entire screen will appear with low brightness (looks like a light-dark mask on the entire screen) and the only portion that you clicking on it will highlight with high brightness.

STEP-6: Copy the extracted text from the image

Within a few seconds, the OCR operation will complete and the OCR result box will appear on the screen. It displays the text that is extracted from the image, and in the bottom, you can able to see the image also from which you have extracted the text.

Now you will see the Copy option at the top of the text. Click on that Copy option.

When you click on Copy option, within a few seconds the text will be copied to your clipboard and shows the prompt dialogue box as shown in the below image.

These are the steps to be followed to copy the text from the web image on Google Chrome.

6. How to extract text from a photo on Windows 10 using Photo to Text OCR Microsoft app?

There is another situation we may face, that is we have to copy the text from the image on Windows 10 desktop or laptop. In this section let’s see how to copy the text from the image on Windows 10.

Microsoft offers many tools, apps, websites for accessing and working on data on Windows 10. One such kind is Photo to Text OCR a Microsoft office app for extracting text from an image. In this method, we will see how to copy text from the image on Windows 10 using Photo to Text OCR.

STEP-1: Search for Photo to Text OCR app in your Windows 10 desktop/laptop

Type Photo to text OCR in the search bar of your device. Then the matched result will be displayed on the screen as shown in the below image.

If you don’t have this app in your device, Search for Photo to Text OCR app in the Microsft store and install it and launch it on your device.

STEP-2: Open the app and click on the file

Give a double click on the app Photo to text OCR or click on the open option to open it. When you open it you will find two portions on the screen. On the right side, you will see a display for image and the left-side display for Text that is extracted from the image.

Now there are two ways for taking images. Either capturing a new image or select the existing images from the files. Click on any one of two options. I am selecting an image from the files, so click on the From File option that is available in the right screen top corner to add an image to the display.

STEP-3: Select any image and click on that image

Now we can select any image to copy the text from it. The thing you should remember is, our main aim is to extract and copy the text from the image. So select images that must have the text.

When you selected the photo it will be displayed on the right side screen and the text from that image will be displayed on the left side screen simultaneously. You have a text alignment option for changing the format on the right side screen. For better understanding, I am splitting the above image into two parts namely right side part and left side part.

The right side part that containing image is shown in the below image.

The left side screen containing the extracted text from the right side image will be shown in the below image.

STEP-4: Copy the Extracted text from the left side screen

Now select the text in the left side screen and give a right-click on mouse/touchpad and click on copy option to copy. So that the text will be copied to the clipboard. In this way, you can extract and copy the text from the image on Windows 10.

This is the stepwise procedure to copy the text from an image using Microsoft Photo to Text OCR app on Windows 10.

7. How to copy text from the image on OneNote using copy text from image option?

Microsoft OneNote is used to take quick notes on Android and desktop. In this section, we are going to see how to copy text from the image on OneNote and what are the steps to be followed.

STEP-1: Open your OneNote app on your desktop

The first thing you need to do is, open the Microsoft OneNote 2007 app on your desktop.

STEP-2: Open a note and click on the image in that note

When you open the OneNote account of yours, you will find your notes in the note pages. Open a note that contains the images. Now select any one of the images from the notes of your account.

STEP-3: Click on copy text from image option

Give a right-click on the image then some options such as copy text from the image, cut, copy, paste, etc will appear on the screen. Click on the “Copy text from image” option that is present at the top of the available options. With this, the text from the image will be copied to the clipboard.

STEP-4: Paste the copied text from the image

If you want to check, just click on the paste option in an empty place. Here I am pasting it just beside the image on the same note itself. Then the copied text from an image will available on the screen as shown in the below image.

In this way, we can copy the text from the image simply on OneNote using Copy Text from Image option.

How to extract text from image Online For Free

Here I will be writing about 4 services that were used to copy words from pictures in no time and that too accurately. Do try out these once.

All the tools which we are mentioning use the OCR technology to do the work.

8. How to Copy text from the image using online LightPdf?

Up to now, we see the methods that need an app for copying text from an image. But in this method no need for any app. We just use an online website for copying text from the image. Let’s see the process in this method.

STEP-1: Type lightpdf.com in your browser search bar

Open your browser and type lightpdf.com in the search bar. Then the browsers will navigate you into the light pdf website.

STEP-2: Click on OCR tool

Slowly scroll down the screen then you will find a number of tools for documents, files conversions, file modifying on the light pdf website. Click on the “OCR” tool.

STEP-3: Select the image for upload

Now it will show you a screen for uploading a file either image or pdf from which you need to copy text. Click on the “Choose file” option and upload an image.

STEP-4: Select language and click on convert option

Once the file is uploaded, it asks you to select the language. Select the language as you wish from the dropdown menu. And at the bottom of the language option, you will find converts to options. Click on the “TXT” option, so that your image text will be converted to Text format. If you need, you can select a word, pdf, or any other format for the copied text. And after the selection of those two, click on the “Convert” option that is available at the bottom of the screen.

STEP-5: Download the text file

Once you click on convert option it starts recognizing your request for converting the image to a text file.

In this final step, it shows the dialogue box of the text file with a link and download option. We want to save it to our android. So click on the “Download” option.

Then the text file that contains the copied text from the image will be downloaded into your android. Click on the open option to see the text that you copied from the image.

The text that you copied is shows in the below image.

9. How to capture text from the image online using OCR.Space?

In the previous method, we have seen the process of copying text from the image using the LightPdf website. There is another website that copies the text from the image. An online website OCR.Space will copies the text from an image. Let’s see what are the steps to be followed in this method.

STEP-1: Search for OCR.Space website

Open the browser in your Android phone and search for the OCR space website by entering OCR.Space in your search bar. Then the home screen will display as shown in the below image.

STEP-2: Choose file for upload and select the language

Slowly scroll down the home screen then you will see the screen for uploading a file and for selecting the language. Click on “Choose file” and select an image to upload. And then select the language from the dropdown menu as shown in the below image.

You can choose an image from any one of the 3 ways as shown in the below

Once your photo was uploaded then the name of that image shows just beside the choose file option. I have selected the English language from the dropdown menu.

STEP-3: Click on Start OCR option

Now at the bottom of the language selecting section, you will see the Start OCR option. Click on that “Start OCR” option then the website will start the operation of recognizing the characters from the image. Once the OCR process is completed, it shows the dialogue box containing the message Parsed Successfully for the uploaded image. The image also displays in the image preview.

STEP-4: See the OCR’ed Result and download the file

When the Parsed successfully dialogue box is appeared on the screen, just below that section you will see the extracted text in the OCR’ed Result box. And you can download that text by clicking on the “Download” option.

When you open that downloaded file, you can see the text that is copied from the image.

This is the procedure to copy the text from the image using OCR.Space website.

10. How to copy text from a picture online using i2OCR:

i2OCR is the second free tool from our list and is specified for OCR services. It is far simple than any other and almost gives you accurate results. The best part you can change the desired language even after taking text from the image. It saves a lot of time for those who need the same image text in different languages.

Head on to i2OCR website.
Select the language of the text on the file.
Upload the image/File from which you want to extract the text.
Very captcha and click on extract text.
The tool is free but it might annoy you with ads often.

Download the extracted text from the options shown. One can directly translate them as well. A Preview will be shown too.

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11. How to Extract text from image Online Free using Easy Screen OCR?

Just follow these simple steps to extract words from images using Easy Screen OCR.

What is Easy Screen OCR?

It’s a quite flexible freeware to extract content from images on your browser screen instantly. No need to download and upload any image to OCR tool, now you can just select the image and get the editable text within a click. Additionally, Easy Screen OCR offers an excellent selection of features you may find useful:

Recognize over 100 languages around the world.
Easily capture a section of the screen with no need to upload any images.
Self-customized hotkeys to grab the screen on the spot.
Extract text from various files including images, protected PDFs, scanned files and more.
Convert the captured screen into editable text in the popped-up window directly.
Save the captured snapshot on your laptop as image or PDF automatically.

C:\Users\Administrator\Desktop\how-to-OCR-by-capturing-screen.gif

Visit easyscreenocr website to download and install this free program. Run it on your computer and an ‘A’ icon would pop up in the system tray.
Click on the “Capture” button to start OCR capturing process. Or take a capture with a customized hotkey.
Drag your mouse over the area you’re going to capture. The captured image would be displayed in a popped-up window automatically.
Simply press the “OCR” button and waiting for seconds, the OCR process will be done quickly. You can then edit, copy or share the converted text with others if needed.
Right-click the “Preference” button in the system tray, here you are allowed to select the corresponding language with text and customize hotkey to start OCR.
In the meantime, if you’d like to save selected part on your screen as images (GIF/PNG/JPG/BMP) or PDFs, Easy Screen OCR would be a right choice.

12. How to extract text from image on Windows using Adobe Acrobat

Below are the steps to extract text from images using Acrobat DC on windows.

Download and install the Adobe Acrobat DC application on your device. Launch the application, go to “Tools” and select the “Scan & OCR” option under create & edit.

Click on the select file option to upload the image from your device. Once the image is uploaded, click on “Start”.

The uploaded image will appear on the screen. Select and copy the text from the image. paste the text at the plate you want. If you want to edit the text, then select the edit option from the right panel.

Conclusion: Which is the best methods to Copy text from images online?

I suggest using these free tools for basic works and for small data works. Then there are good chances of being accurate. If you are up for some professional work, I never suggest the free tools as there is a big difference between the paid and free things. Do remember, whatever the tool you use to check the terms and conditions of the uploaded files before using them. Recently I used Ocr.space for some of my basic and was completely satisfied.

I hope this tutorial helped you to copy text from images. If you like this article, please share it and follow WhatVwant on Facebook and Twitter for more tips.

Copy text from images – FAQs

How do I extract text from images in windows OS?

There are paid software and web-based free tools to do the work. If it is some basic work then free online-based tools will work well. If it is a bit professional I suggest you go with paid software.

How can I copy text from an image online?

Through OCR-based web tools. Most of these tools are completely free upto some limit. They just extract the text online without the process of installation. Some of them are OCR.space and i2OCR.

Can I convert text from image to MS word file?

Yes, OCR tools had wide options to download the text in different file formats. You can set the settings before downloading the file.

Can I convert text from images to different languages?

Yes. But only a few OCRs support most of the languages. Just check out the web for free online OCR tools and check their supporting languages. i2OCR and LightPDF support multiple languages upto some extent.

When I click on the image in the OneNote, I could not see the copy text from the image option. What is the problem in it, how can I solve that problem?

See, this problem arises due to the user. When the user clicks the ” Make text in image searchable” option to disable then you can’t see the copy text from the image option.
To avoid this problem make the option ” Make text in image searchable ” to some language such as English, French. Now the copy text from the image option will appear on the menu.

Can I access the LightPdf from the desktop to copy the text from the image?

Absolutely, You can access it on your desktop. To work with the LightPdf on your desktop, you need to add a LightPdf extension to your browser. This extension can be download from the lightpdf.com website. Then you can easily extract and copy the text from any image.

Sometimes Text and text in the image are looking the same. How to find the difference between those two?

It’s a common problem for most people. To recognize the difference, do a simple test. Give a double click on it, if it is highlighted then it is text otherwise it’s text in the image.

What does mean by OCR software?

OCR stands for Optical Character Recognizing. The software that is used to recognizing the characters from different files like image, pdf is called OCR software.