Text Grab

Grabs text out of any image, video frame or uncopyable part of a Windows app using on-device OCR, and puts it on the clipboard.

FreeOpen sourceWindows
Official websitetextgrab.netDownload pagegithub.comSource codegithub.com

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2 more ways to get Text Grab

Package managers

  • wingetwinget install --id JosephFinney.Text-Grab
  • Chocolateychoco install text-grab

About Text Grab

When text is trapped in a screenshot, a video, a PDF or a dialog box that will not let you select anything, Text Grab pulls it out. You trigger a capture with a hotkey, drag a region, and the recognised text goes to the clipboard or into an editor for cleanup.

All the OCR runs on your device using the Windows OCR API: no internet connection, no cloud service and no per-use cost, so nothing you capture leaves the machine. Beyond plain copying it has several capture modes, post-grab cleanup, spreadsheet-style editing and fast text reuse, and a background process for global hotkeys anywhere in Windows.

Its Full-Screen Grab mode is the basis of the PowerToys Text Extractor, so you may already have used it without knowing. Windows 11 on a Copilot+ PC with the Store install adds higher-accuracy recognition using the on-device NPU.

Strengths

  • All OCR runs on the device, with no internet connection and nothing uploaded
  • Several capture modes plus post-grab cleanup and spreadsheet-style editing
  • Global hotkeys anywhere in Windows through an optional background process
  • Its Full-Screen Grab mode is the basis of the PowerToys Text Extractor

Limitations

  • Windows 10 or later only, because it uses the Windows OCR API
  • Higher-accuracy AI recognition needs Windows 11 on a Copilot+ PC and the Store install
  • Accuracy depends on the image; small or low-contrast text still fails
  • Windows only

Details

Pricing
FreeFree on GitHub under the MIT licence. The Microsoft Store listing is a paid way to support the developer and adds Windows AI features on Copilot+ PCs.
License
MIT
Developer
TheJoeFin
Platforms
Windows
How it runs
Downloadable app
Account
Not required
Works offline
Yes
Best suited for
Copying text out of a screenshot, a video frame or an app that will not let you select it
Last verified
Added
Provenance
Selected from the TechWalrus downloads catalog (Utilities); facts checked against the developer's own pages, 3 sources on file.

Alternatives to Text Grab

Compare all

Software that can replace Text Grab for an important use case, and what changes if you switch.

  • PowerToys

    Microsoft’s own bundle of more than thirty Windows utilities, from window layouts to a key remapper.

    FreeOpen sourceWindows

    PowerToys includes Text Extractor, built on Text Grab's Full-Screen Grab mode, inside a Microsoft bundle of over thirty utilities, but it lacks Text Grab's other capture modes and editing.

Similar software

Related functionality, not necessarily a direct replacement.

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