/Optical-Character-Recognition

MIT LicenseMIT

OCR Screenshot Shortcut

  • Capture screenshots, extract text using OCR, and customize text selection with this macOS Shortcut.
Example.Uses.mp4

Overview

  • This macOS Shortcut offers a swift way to capture screenshots, extract text using Optical Character Recognition (OCR), and customize text selection. It's particularly handy when you need to copy text from presentations, videos, or during virtual calls.

Features

  • Interactive screenshot capture.
  • Offline text extraction using OCR.
  • Combine and copy extracted text to the clipboard.

Download and Use

To download and use this shortcut:

  1. Download the latest release of ocr.shortcut for the OCR Screenshot Shortcut.
  2. Double-click the downloaded .shortcut file to open it in the Shortcuts app.
  3. Review the shortcut's actions and customize if needed.
  4. Save the shortcut with a name (e.g., "OCR Screenshot").

How to Create Locally

To create and use this shortcut on your Mac locally:

  1. Open the Shortcuts app on your Mac.

  2. Create a new shortcut.

  3. Add the following actions in sequence:

    a. "Take Screenshot" action: Capture a portion of the screen interactively. Set the capture area and an optional delay if needed.

    b. "Extract Text from Screenshot" action: Extract text from the captured screenshot. This action functions offline as well.

    c. "Choose from List" action (optional): Allows you to choose a subset of recognized text to copy. Feel free to delete this step for a fully automated process.

    d. "Combine into Single String" action: Combine extracted text into a single string for efficient copying.

    e. "Copy to Clipboard" action: Copy the selected text to the clipboard.

  4. Customize each action as desired.

  5. Save the shortcut with a name (e.g., "OCR Screenshot").

Customization

You can tailor the actions to match your preferences:

  • Adjust the capture settings in "Take Screenshot" to choose the area you want to capture.
  • Modify text extraction options in "Extract Text from Screenshot."
  • Use the optional "Choose from List" step to manually select a subset of recognized text for copying.

Please note that the provided actions are designed to be executed in sequence, with each activity using input from the previous step.

Project Maintainers & Admins

Abhinav Srinivas

Ishaan Adarsh

License