Copy text from anything on your screen.
Press ⌘ ⇧ 2 and drag over a paused video, a photo, a slide or an error message you can’t select. The text is in your clipboard the moment you let go, read on your Mac and never uploaded.
Coming soon · $4.99 once · macOS 14 Sonoma or later · Works offline
Works like a screenshot. Gives you text.
Press the shortcut
The screen freezes, so a playing video or a scrolling feed holds still while you aim.
Drag over the text
A word, a paragraph or a whole window. Only the area you select is read.
Paste it anywhere
The text is already copied. Keep the line breaks, or join them into paragraphs.
Videos, slides and screen shares
Pause a tutorial and copy the command from the slide. Grab the link someone shows on a call. Copyable reads pixels, so it works in every app, including Chrome, Zoom, Teams, Figma, a remote desktop or a game, not only where macOS Live Text is available.
Tables come out as tables
Switch to Table before you drag, then select a table in a PDF, on a web page or in a screenshot. Paste into Numbers, Excel or Google Sheets and every value lands in its own cell. You can also copy it as CSV or a Markdown table.
Read and translate other languages
Copyable recognizes Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Ukrainian, German, Spanish and more, and picks the language by itself. On macOS 15 and later, switch to Translate and the panel shows the text in your language, translated on your Mac with Apple’s translation, next to the original.
10:00–20:00
Closed on Tuesdays
Everything you copied, in the menu bar
Recent captures stay in the menu with the app they came from, so you can paste them again later. Press ⌘ ⇧ 1 to read the same area again, handy for slides that change or subtitles. History keeps only text, and you can turn it off.
QR codes and barcodes
Select a QR code on a slide or a poster and open its link, no phone needed.
Links, emails, phone numbers
They show up as buttons in the panel: open, write an email or copy the number alone.
Code keeps its indentation
Commands and snippets from videos and screenshots paste with their spaces intact.
Line breaks your way
Keep every line as it was on screen, or join lines back into normal paragraphs.
Your screen stays on your Mac
Copyable needs to see your screen to read it, so here is exactly what it does with that.
Recognition happens on your Mac
Text is read with Apple’s Vision framework, built into macOS. Copyable makes no network requests and has no account.
Only after you press the shortcut
It looks at the screen when you start a capture and reads only the area you select. The image is thrown away; history keeps text only.
One permission, explained
macOS asks you to allow Screen Recording once. On macOS 15 and later the system reminds you about it every month. That is macOS, not us.
Reads the languages you work in
The language is detected for each capture. The exact list depends on your macOS version.
Guides
Step-by-step answers for the places where text gets stuck, with the free macOS way where there is one.
- Copy text from a video on Mac
- Copy text from an image on Mac
- Copy text from a Zoom screen share
- Copy text from a scanned PDF
- Copy an error message you can’t select
- Copy text from a YouTube video
- Copy a table from a screenshot to Excel
- Scan a QR code on your Mac screen
- Translate text on your screen
- Japanese text recognition on Mac
- Chinese text recognition on Mac
- Copy text from a remote desktop
Questions
Isn’t this built into macOS?
Partly. Live Text lets you select text in photos in Preview, Photos and Safari, and in paused videos in QuickTime Player and Safari. If that covers you, you don’t need Copyable. It helps everywhere else, such as Chrome, Zoom, Teams, app windows and remote desktops, with one shortcut, plus tables, QR codes and translation.
Does it work offline?
Yes. Recognition and translation run on your Mac. Translation may ask macOS to download a language once.
Why does it need Screen Recording permission?
macOS doesn’t let apps see other windows without it. Copyable uses it only during a capture and never saves the image.
Why can’t it read Netflix or Apple TV?
Protected video appears black to every screen capture on macOS, including Copyable.
Does it read handwriting?
Neat handwriting often works; messy notes may not. Printed text is the reliable case.
Can I change the shortcut?
Yes, in Settings. You can also start a capture from the menu bar icon.
How much does it cost?
$4.99, once, plus sales tax or VAT where it applies. No subscription and no account, and you can use it on every Mac you use.
Which Macs does it run on?
Any Mac with macOS 14 Sonoma or later, Apple silicon or Intel. Translation needs macOS 15 Sequoia or later.
What if it doesn’t work for me?
Ask for a refund within 14 days, no questions asked. The refund policy explains how.
Stop retyping text from your screen.
Coming soon · $4.99 once · macOS 14 Sonoma or later · 14-day refund
From the maker of FileFlip, which converts files right from Finder.