How to copy a table from a screenshot to Google Sheets on Mac
Press ⌘ ⇧ 2, choose Table in the toolbar at the bottom of the screen and drag over the table. Then click a cell in Google Sheets and press ⌘ V: every value lands in its own cell. The table is read on your Mac; only the pasted values go to Google, as with anything you type into Sheets.
How to do it with Copyable
Press ⌘ ⇧ 2 and choose Table
The screen freezes and a toolbar appears at the bottom. Choose Table there before you drag.
Drag over the table
Include the header row and leave out titles and footnotes around the table. Clear rows and columns give the cleanest result.
Paste into Google Sheets
Click the top-left cell where the table should start and press ⌘ V. Each value goes into its own cell.
Without Copyable
The free ways, and where they stop working. If one of them covers what you need, you don’t need an app.
Google Drive’s OCR
Upload the image to Google Drive, right-click it and choose Open with → Google Docs. Docs adds the recognized text under the image.
Where it stops: The image is uploaded, and a table comes out as text in a document, not as cells.
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 Google Sheets
- If everything lands in one column, select it and use Data → Split text to columns.
- Sheets reads numbers and dates with the spreadsheet’s locale (File → Settings). Check it if decimals or dates come out wrong.
- Merged cells and cells with several lines of text may need tidying after you paste. Tables with clear rows and columns work best.
Questions
Do I need a browser extension?
No. Copyable is a Mac app; you paste into Sheets as usual.
Does it work in Chrome, Safari and Firefox?
Yes. Pasting cells into Google Sheets works in any of them.
Can I paste into Excel or Numbers instead?
Yes. The same copy pastes as cells there too.
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