3 Ways to Extract Text From Images on Windows 11

Key Takeaways 

• To copy text from images, you may use the Snipping Tool’s Text Action, OneNote’s OCR feature, and Windows PowerToys Text Extractor.
• The Snipping Tool offers a quick way to copy text from screenshots, while OneNote allows you to extract text from any image on your PC.
• Windows PowerToys Text Extractor provides the most flexibility, letting you capture text from any area of your screen, including images and videos.

Method 1: Using Snipping Tool’s Text Action

The Snipping Tool comes with a very capable Text Action feature. It helps you copy texts from screenshots to the computer clipboard. Here is how it is used.

Step 1: Launch the Snipping Tool and take a new screenshot.

Step 2: Click the Text Action icon at the top, select the text you wish to copy, right-click and click the Copy text option.

Method 2: Using OneNote

Microsoft OneNote is one of the most versatile note-taking apps available on Windows. Its built-in OCR (Optical Character Recognition) feature allows you to quickly extract text from images. Here’s how you can use OneNote on your Windows 11 PC to extract text from images:

Step 1: Press the Windows + S keys and type OneNote. Then, from the results for OneNote, click on Open to launch it on your PC.

Step 2: When the OneNote window opens, click the Insert tab, and in the Images group, click on Pictures.

Step 3: When an Insert Picture window appears on the screen, select the image from which you want to extract text and click Insert.

Step 4: When OneNote imports the image, right-click on it and select the Copy Text from Picture option.

Step 5: Click anywhere on the blank area beside the image and press the Ctrl + V keys to paste the text you just extracted. You may have to adjust the formatting of the text.

Method 3: Using Windows PowerToys

Windows also packs an easy way to extract text from an image through the Text Extractor feature built into the latest Windows PowerToys version. After enabling this feature, you can extract text from images, videos, or anything on your computer’s screen. Here are the steps.

Step 1: Navigate to the PowerToys page on the Microsoft Store and click the Install button.

Step 2: When the download completes and a UAC (User Access Control) prompt appears on your screen, click Yes.

Step 3: Press the Windows + S keys and type PowerToys. Then, from the results for PowerToys, click on Open to launch it.

Step 4: In the PowerToys Settings window, scroll down using the left scroll bar and click on the Text Extractor.

Step 5: Click the Enable Text Extractor toggle on the Text Extractor page to turn on the feature.

Step 6: Press the Windows + Shift + T keys together to access the Text Extractor anywhere on your PC.

The Text Extractor triggers the selection interface where the mouse pointer turns into a plus sign, and the rest of the area on the screen is greyed out.

You must left-click and drag the plus pointer to create a box over the text you want to extract. Then, lift your finger from the left mouse button to copy the text.

Afterward, you can press the Ctrl + V keys to paste the text you extracted from the image into a Notepad, Word document, or anywhere.