Copy French text from your screen on Mac
Press ⌘ ⇧ 2 and drag over French text anywhere on your screen, in a photo, a video, a PDF, an app or a web page, and Copyable copies it the moment you let go. It reads accented letters such as é, è, ê, à and ç, and the ligature œ. It works on macOS 14 Sonoma and later, offline, and detects the language by itself.
How to do it with Copyable
Show the text on screen
Open the image, video, PDF or app with the text, and zoom in if it is small. Accents and small marks need a few pixels to be read correctly.
Press ⌘ ⇧ 2 and drag over the text
You don’t pick a language first: Copyable detects that the text is French. Select a line, a paragraph or a whole sign.
Paste it, or translate it
The text is in your clipboard the moment you let go. On macOS 15 and later, switch to Translate to see it in your language next to the original.
What you get
Capture a sign like this one and the panel shows its text, ready to paste or search. On macOS 15 and later, Translate shows the English next to the original.
Fermé le dimanche. Ouvert du lundi au samedi de 9 h à 19 h.
EnglishClosed on Sundays. Open Monday to Saturday from 9 am to 7 pm.
Without Copyable
The free ways, and where they stop working. If one of them covers what you need, you don’t need an app.
Live Text in Preview, Photos and Safari
For an image you can open in Preview or Photos, or one on a web page in Safari, Live Text may already let you select the text. It’s free and on your Mac.
Where it stops: Only in Apple’s apps, and the languages it reads depend on your macOS version and language settings. If the text won’t select, it isn’t available there.
Google Lens in Chrome
In Chrome, right-click the page, choose Search with Google Lens and drag over the text. Lens can select and copy the text it finds.
Where it stops: Only inside Chrome, and the selected area is sent to Google.
Tips for French text
- French typography puts a space before : ; ! and ? and inside « guillemets ». Check those spaces if the text goes into a form or code.
- Capitals on signs often drop their accents (ETE for ÉTÉ). The text is copied as written, so add accents back if you need them.
- Apostrophes in words like l’heure and aujourd’hui may come out curly or straight. Both read the same, but a search box may treat them differently.
Questions
Does it work for Canadian French?
Yes. The alphabet is the same, and the text is copied as it appears on screen.
Do I need to set my Mac to French?
No. Copyable reads French whatever language your Mac and keyboard are set to.
Can it translate French?
On macOS 15 Sequoia and later, yes. Switch to Translate before you drag, and the panel shows the translation next to the original. Which language pairs are available depends on your macOS version; the first time, macOS may ask to download them.
Is French text sent anywhere to be recognized?
No. Recognition happens on your Mac with Apple’s Vision framework. Copyable makes no network requests and has no account.
Copy text from anything on your screen
Copyable reads the text in any area you select with ⌘ ⇧ 2, on your Mac, without uploading anything. $4.99 once, plus tax where it applies. Requires macOS 14 Sonoma or later, Apple silicon or Intel.
Buy for $4.99