Copy text from the screen

Press ⇧⌘5 and drag over any text you can see to copy it as text you can paste and edit. It works on text you normally can't select, such as images, videos, scanned documents and error messages.

Copy text from the screen#

1. Press ⇧⌘5, or click the catu icon in the menu bar and click “Copy Text from Screen”.
2. The screen dims. Drag a rectangle over the text you want.
3. Let go. catu reads the text and copies it.
4. Press ⌘V wherever you want the text.

catu confirms with “Text copied” and the number of words. To cancel before you drag, press Esc or right-click.

The screen is frozen the moment you press ⇧⌘5, so you can copy text from a playing video, a tooltip or a menu without it moving or closing.

The text is also added to your clipboard history with a From Screen label, so you can find it again later.

Copy all the text in a window or on the screen#

• A window: after pressing ⇧⌘5, press Space, then click the window.
• The whole screen: after pressing ⇧⌘5, press Return. catu reads the screen the pointer is on.

Copy code, keys and other exact text#

Normally catu corrects what it reads using a dictionary, which helps with ordinary sentences. For code, commands, serial numbers, order references or anything that isn't real words, you want the characters exactly as they appear.

1. Press ⇧⌘5 and drag over the text.
2. Hold ⌥ while you let go of the mouse button.

catu then copies the characters as they are, without correcting them.

QR codes#

If there is a QR code in the area you select, catu copies what the QR code contains instead of the text around it, for example a web address. It shows “QR code copied”.

Languages#

catu reads English and Spanish to start with. To read other languages:

1. Click the catu icon in the menu bar, then click “Settings…”.
2. Open Capture.
3. Under “Screen text (⇧⌘5) languages”, turn on each language you want catu to read.

The list shows every language your Mac can read. It depends on your version of macOS, and usually includes major European languages, Chinese, Japanese and Korean. At least one language must stay on.

If text in another language comes out garbled, check that the language is turned on here.

It stays on your Mac#

The text is read on your Mac. Nothing is uploaded to do it, and it works without an internet connection.

As with anything you copy, catu leaves secrets out of your history. If the text looks like a password, an API key or a token, it is still copied so you can paste it, but catu shows “Text copied · not kept in history” and does not remember it. More in Clipboard history.

Tips#

• Select one column at a time. catu reads line by line across the whole area, so two columns side by side would be mixed together.
• Line breaks are kept. Each line on screen becomes a line of text, with an empty line between paragraphs. To join lines into one paragraph, paste into your app and remove the breaks there.
• Small text works better bigger. catu enlarges small selections before reading them, but zooming in on the page (⌘+ in most apps) gives even better results.

If something doesn't work#

• catu says “Allow Screen Recording for catu, then try again”. catu needs permission to see your screen. Open System Settings › Privacy & Security › Screen & System Audio Recording, turn on catu, then quit and reopen catu.
• ⇧⌘5 opens the macOS screenshot toolbar instead. macOS uses ⇧⌘5 for its own screenshot tools. Switch that off in System Settings › Keyboard › Keyboard Shortcuts › Screenshots, or use “Copy Text from Screen” in the catu menu.
• catu says “No text found”. Drag over a larger area, zoom in on the text, or check that its language is turned on in Settings › Capture.
• Letters or numbers are wrong in a code. Hold ⌥ while you let go of the mouse button to copy the characters exactly as they are.
• The text is not in your history. It looked like a secret, so catu copied it without keeping it. Paste it straight away.