Screenshot to Text & Image to Text

Smart File Extractor — free OCR for screenshots, photos and documents

Drop a file here

or press Ctrl V (⌘V on Mac) to paste from clipboard

Images, PDF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, CSV and text · 6 MB for images, 25 MB for documents

How it works

  • Documents are read locally. PDF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, CSV and text files are parsed entirely in your browser — nothing is uploaded and no AI allowance is spent.
  • Screenshots use AI vision. Images and scanned PDFs are sent to BuzPulse's AI provider to read text, decode QR/barcodes, and rebuild tables. The image is discarded after processing.
  • Tables become rows. Spreadsheets, Word tables, CSV data and tables in images come back as proper rows and columns you can paste into a spreadsheet.
  • Error screenshots explained. Software, browser or mobile error messages are read and explained in plain language with things to try.
  • Nothing invented. A value that is not legible is left out rather than guessed.

Worth knowing

  • Documents never leave your device. PDF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, CSV and text files are parsed on your own machine. There is no copy on a server to be leaked.
  • Images are processed by AI. Screenshots and scanned PDF pages are sent to the vision model. The image is discarded after the response — nothing is stored.
  • Free accounts get 10 AI extractions per day. Document extraction is unlimited. Image extraction uses the shared AI allowance.
  • Scanned PDFs read one page. A scanned PDF has no text layer, so the first page is rendered as an image and read by AI. A fifty-page scan is not returned in full.
  • Handwriting is not reliable. The tool is built for printed and on-screen text.

Need a PDF's contents in another format? PDF to Excel turns its tables into a spreadsheet, and PDF to Word gives you an editable document.

How to copy text from an image or screenshot

Turn a screenshot, a photo of a page or a document into text you can copy, edit and paste — free.

  1. 1Add the file. A screenshot or photo, a scanned PDF, or a PDF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, CSV or text file.
  2. 2Let it read. Documents are read in your browser. Images and scanned PDFs are read by an AI vision model, which also decodes QR codes and barcodes.
  3. 3Copy the text or the table. Tables come back as rows and columns you can paste straight into a spreadsheet.
  4. 4Check the numbers. Anything that is not legible is left out rather than guessed. Check amounts, dates and IDs against the original before you rely on them.

What you can extract

Text from screenshots and photos

Messages, web pages, receipts, slides and photographed pages, in printed or on-screen text.

Tables

A table in a screenshot, a PDF, a Word file or a spreadsheet becomes proper rows and columns. For a whole PDF of tables, PDF to Excel converts every page.

Text from PDF, Word and PowerPoint files

Read on your own device, with no upload and no limit. For an editable document instead of plain text, use PDF to Word.

Error messages, explained

A screenshot of a software, browser or phone error is read and explained in plain language, with things to try.

Getting an accurate result

Crop to the text you need, use the sharpest image you have, and avoid glare and steep angles in photos. Handwriting is not reliable — the tool is built for printed and on-screen text. A scanned PDF has no text layer, so its first page is read as an image; a long scan is not returned in full. How to get accurate text from a screenshot covers the details.

How to take a screenshot that converts well

On Windows

Press Windows + Shift + S and drag over just the text you need. Windows 11 can also copy text from a screenshot in the Snipping Tool.

On a Mac

Press Command + Shift + 4 and drag over the area. Recent macOS versions also let you select text in a photo directly.

On iPhone and Android

Take the screenshot with the phone’s button combination, crop it to the text, and add it here — or use the phone’s built-in text selection for a quick copy of one line.

Why use this instead

For a whole table, a long page, a QR code or barcode, or an error message you want explained, this tool returns structured rows and plain-language explanations that a phone’s copy-text feature does not.

Frequently asked questions

Is screenshot to text free?

Yes. Text from documents is unlimited and needs no account. Reading images and scanned PDFs uses AI, and a free account includes 10 AI extractions a day.

Are my screenshots stored?

No. Images are sent to BuzPulse’s AI provider to be read and are discarded after the response. Documents are read on your own device and never uploaded.

Can it extract a table from an image into Excel?

Yes. Tables come back as rows and columns that paste straight into Excel or Google Sheets.

Can it read handwriting?

Not reliably. It is designed for printed and on-screen text.

Can it read QR codes and barcodes?

Yes, from an image: they are decoded along with the text.

How do I copy text from a PDF?

Add the PDF: if it has a text layer, the text is extracted in your browser straight away. If it is a scan, its first page is read as an image.

How do I convert a screenshot to text in Word or Excel?

Extract it here, then paste: text goes into Word as editable text, and tables paste into Excel as rows and columns.

Getting a clean result from a photo or a scan: Getting clean text out of a screenshot — and knowing when not to trust it.

How the Smart File Extractor works: features, uses and limits