How to Convert Screenshot to Text? A Comprehensive Guide

In this digital era, e-books and online educational materials are common sources of information because of their convenient accessibility. Many people take screenshots of textual information to utilize them later but struggle with editing the text and end up manually typing. To streamline their productivity, this article has stepwise guides to convert screenshots to text within seconds.

Whether you have screenshots on your Windows, Mac, iPhone, iPad, or online, you can have solutions here. Without further delay, explore this guide to learn solutions and gain more valuable insights related to this topic through commonly asked questions.

Method 1. How to Convert Screenshot to Text on Windows and Mac

If you have captured screenshots with text and wish to convert them into text, using UPDF always remains a preferable choice. The reason is its innovative OCR (Optical Character Recognition) technology, which can turn scanned or image-based PDF documents into editable PDFs. For accurate results, it supports more than 38 languages for detecting text in bilingual documents.

Moreover, it has an AI tool that allows you to screenshot or upload the image, then, extract the text directly and accurately.

Thus, let’s explore how to convert screenshots into text through OCR and AI technology in UPDF while using a Windows PC or Mac operating system:

Use OCR

Step 1: Get UPDF and Import Your Screenshot via Drag-Drop

Press the “Free Download” button below to install its latest version on your Windows or Mac system. Then, launch UPDF to access its intuitive interface and drag-drop your screenshot to initiate the conversion. Once you import the screenshot in UPDF, it will be automatically converted into PDF, and you can use the OCR feature.

Step 2: Assign Parameters to Apply OCR on Your Document

Go to the top-right corner and hit the “Recognize Text Using OCR” icon to get an extended menu for customization. Now, head to the “Layout” section and use its drop-down icon to choose the layout option as required. Then, navigate to the “Document Language” and pick the language of your screenshot image. Here, I pick "English" as my screenshot is an image.

Step 3: Performing OCR and Save Results in Your System

Following this, you have to press the “Perform OCR” button, select a folder on your system to save the file, and click the “Save” button. After a few seconds, your PDF screenshot will be converted into an editable document and saved to your chosen destination on the PC.  Also, it is opened automatically in the UPDF. You can click on the “Export PDF”, select “Text” to convert screenshot to text successfully.

Use AI

In case you want to convert handwriting screenshots to text or OCR does not support the screenshot language, you can use AI. Here is the guide for you.

Step 1. You can open any PDF file, go to "File" > "Create" > "Blank page" or drag the screenshot to the UPDF interface. This step is to make sure that you can access to UPDF AI feature.

Step 2. Now, you can click on the "UPDF AI" icon, go to "Chat" mode, choose "Add image" to upload the screenshot, or use the "Screenshot" to screenshot directly. Then, enter the prompt "convert screenshot to text" and press "Enter" to convert screenshot to text directly.

Step 3. Now, you can copy the text extracted.

Method 2. How to Convert Screenshot to Text on iPhone and iPad

Have you captured a screenshot of textual information on your smartphone and need instant text? If so, UPDF is also supported on iPhones and iPads to transform your screenshots into text within seconds. To use UPDF's OCR technology in your iOS, consider the following guide and streamline your productivity.

Step 1: Import the Screenshot and Convert It into a PDF

Install UPDF on your iPhone or iPad through the App Store and access its user-friendly interface. Then, touch the “+ (Add)” icon to import the screenshot using “Photos” or “Files”  options. Now, tap the “Three Dots” below your screenshot and press the “Convert to PDF” option from the menu.

Step 2: Apply OCR and Extract the Text to Copy-Paste as Required  

Open the PDF document obtained from the screenshot and long-press the file to get a menu. There, choose the “Forward” icon twice and get the “OCR” option to tap on it. Later, hit the “Text Scanner” icon and select the text from your document to use the “Copy” option. Finally, you can paste the copied text of the screenshot into a new document or elsewhere required.  Now, you convert screenshot to text successfully with UPDF on iOS.

Method 3. How to Convert Screenshot to Text Online

If you do not want to download any software to convert screenshots to text, you can use UPDF AI Online. Just click the button below to visit UPDF AI Online.

Steps: Log in or create an account after visiting ai.updf.com. Click on the "Image" icon in the message box. Enter the prompt "Convert screenshot to text" and press enter. In a few seconds, the texts will be extracted.

Conclusion

Let’s summarize the discussion by stating that there are multiple effective ways to convert screenshots to editable text. Hence, you can turn your screenshots into text on web browsers, smartphones, or operating systems. If we infer the best platform for conversion, UPDF stands at the top due to its availability on devices and advanced OCR and AI technology for accurate conversion.

Besides, it's a top-tier application because it gives you more abilities than just a screenshot-to-text converter. To explore them all, download UPDF to gain valuable insights to go far beyond the conversion process. Or you can visit UPDF AI Online to extract text from screenshot without downloading any software. Surprisingly, it’s sale season, and you can get big discount on your UPDF purchase, which can be used on all devices simultaneously.