How to extract text from images in Windows 11

We often take screenshots of important things, such as a document, a card, or an image with something useful. But it becomes frustrating when you need to type the same things in another window while looking at it.

Fortunately, Windows 11 has several apps that offer optical character recognition (OCR) capabilities. With them, you can scan and extract text from images and save it or use it to fill out a form or document.

This post will cover several methods to help you copy text from images using natively available Windows applications and third-party software.

1. Using the crop tool

Snipping Tool is the default screenshot application in Windows 11 that has evolved a lot. You can scan images from captured screenshots and even scan QR codes.

Open the image you want to copy text from in a photo viewing application. Press the button Win + Shift + S shortcut to start the crop tool. Drag the mouse to select the text area and take a screenshot. Then click on Text actions button

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It will identify the text in the image and highlight it. Use the mouse to select the required text or click Copy everything button to copy all. That’s it! The text is available on the Windows clipboard for later use.

2. Use of Copilot

Copilot is an AI assistant that is now pre-installed as a web app in Windows 11. You can use its AI capabilities to scan the image for text and copy it.

Open Copilot by clicking the icon on the taskbar. Then drag the image into it, followed by a prompt to “extract the text.” Press Enter to see a line-by-line listing of all the extracted text. Note that some data may appear out of place, so please compare the text with the image before using it.

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For example, put “Chrome Family Enterprise Education Dev and Partners Stay Connected” on one line because they appear on the web page on the same line. But in reality, these are four different sections of the page.

3. Use of the Phone Link application

Microsoft recently added an OCR feature to Phone Link to copy text from images to your Android or iOS device. Just update the Phone Link app to the latest version and connect your phone to it.

After that, start the phone link and switch to the photos tab Double click on the photo to open it in preview mode. Click on text option in the menu bar.

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It will select and highlight all the text in the image. Click on Copy the text option You can also copy a word or line by highlighting it with the cursor.

4. Use of Power Toys

PowerToys is an excellent tool to add multiple features to Windows 11 that make your life easier. It has dozens of valuable uses, including Text extractorwhich can help you copy text from images.

It’s an official tool, so you don’t have to worry about a creepy utility stealing your data. Install it from the Microsoft Store or GitHub and launch it. find Text extractor in the vertical menu on the left side and click on it. Then click on alternate to enable the feature.

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Open the image in an image viewing application. Press the button Win + Shift + T shortcut to start the Text Extractor function. Select the text area and it will scan and copy the text automatically.

Note: PowerToys recommends using the crop tool and requires dedicated OCR packages for other languages.

5. Use of Google Lens

Like Copilot, you can use Google Lens to scan and search image content. In this case, we’ll simply use it to highlight the text in the screenshot. Note that when you use Google Lens, it uploads the screenshot to Google.

Open a new Google Chrome window. Then drag the image from File Explorer into the Chrome window to copy it. Right click on the image and select “Search with Google Lens” option.

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Like the crop tool, Google Lens finds all the text fragments in the image. Use the cursor to highlight the text, then press Ctrl + C to copy it.

Frequently asked questions

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Copying text from images is not a problem in Windows 11. There are several options for doing this, and it even works with several languages. Google Lens was the go-to web tool for scanning text until Microsoft pushed OCR to several Windows 11 apps.

There are some third-party options available in the Microsoft Store, but why go there when Snipping Tool does an excellent job?

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