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, or iPad, you can turn screenshots into text through an exclusive platform and AI-based solution. 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 opposite mode that can make your PDF into a non-searchable or image-only format through an advanced MRC-based image compression algorithm. It is crucial when you need to avoid unauthorized editing into your PDFs and want to decrease the file size without impacting quality. Apart from that, it offers 3 formatting layouts while converting screenshots into text, so you can pick one format that best aligns with your needs.

UPDF also facilitates users with other cutting-edge technologies, such as UPDF AI, that can summarize, translate, and explain text in PDFs. Since it's a fruitful platform, you should immediately download UPDF and activate its Pro version by availing the big discount on instant purchases.  To learn more about UPDF, you can watch the below video guide.

Unlike other software, you can use UPDF on up to 4 devices simultaneously without paying a single extra penny. Thus, let’s explore how to convert screenshots into text through OCR technology in UPDF while using a Windows PC or Mac operating system:

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.

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.

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 with AI

Microsoft Edge offers an AI Copilot powered by GPT-4 technology that allows you to create images and summarize documents with text instructions. Additionally, users can upload an image or capture a screenshot to convert it into text through prompts. If you are interested in exploring this ability of Microsoft Copilot, head to the next steps to convert screenshots into text.

Step 1: Launch Microsoft Copilot in Edge by tapping the “Copilot” icon at the top-right corner of the Edge browser. Now, click the “Add a Screenshot” icon from the bottom and obtain a free-hand screenshot capture. Using it, capture the area of the screens that you wish to convert into text and confirm it through the “Tick” symbol.

Step 2: You can also use the “Add an Image” icon to upload an existing screenshot for the conversion. Once the screenshot is uploaded, insert the command to extract the text from the image and press the “Send” icon. There, wait until the Copilot writes the text of the screenshot you provided there.

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 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. Surprisingly, it’s sale season, and you can get up to 60% off on your UPDF purchase, which can be used on all devices simultaneously.