Copy German text from your screen on Mac
Press ⌘ ⇧ 2 and drag over German 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 the umlauts ä, ö and ü and the ß as part of normal German text. 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 German. 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.
Bitte nicht stören – Besprechung bis 14 Uhr
EnglishPlease do not disturb – meeting until 2 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 German text
- Long compound words split with a hyphen at the end of a line come out with the hyphen. Remove it if you join the lines.
- Old blackletter (Fraktur) type, common in print before the 1940s, is not the reliable case. Modern print is.
- Umlauts are small marks: zoom in on small text so ä and a aren’t confused.
Questions
Does it read ß and umlauts?
Yes, they are part of the German alphabet Copyable reads. Text set in capitals often writes ß as SS; then SS is what is on screen.
Do I need to set my Mac to German?
No. Copyable reads German whatever language your Mac and keyboard are set to.
Can it translate German?
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 German 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