PrivTab

Image to Text (OCR)

Turn the text in a picture into text you can copy, edit and search.

Runs in your browser · No uploads

Drag & drop pictures with text here

or

Photos, scans or screenshots: JPG, PNG, WebP, HEIC, TIFF and more · one or many

Your files stay on your device. Nothing is uploaded.

  • Nothing leaves your device
  • No server-imposed size limits
  • No sign-up, no watermark
  • Free

How to get text from a picture

  1. Choose one or more pictures.
  2. Tick the language (or languages) of the text.
  3. Press Read the text, then copy it, download it, or save a searchable PDF.

For best results

  • Sharp, straight and well-lit pictures read best.
  • Pictures that are sideways or upside down are detected and read the right way.
  • Printed text works much better than handwriting, which is usually not recognized.
  • Small text in small screenshots is enlarged before reading.

Good to know

  • Languages: English, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Italian, Russian, Arabic, Hindi and Chinese (Simplified).
  • The text recognition engine is Tesseract, the open-source OCR engine, running in your browser. The first time, the engine and each language you choose (1–4 MB each) take a moment to download.
  • Text recognition is never perfect: check names and numbers that matter.
  • The searchable PDF shows your pictures with invisible text on top, so you can search and copy it.

Your pictures stay on your device

Everything happens in your browser. Your pictures are never uploaded, and this site's security policy blocks the page from sending files anywhere.

Frequently asked questions

Does it read handwriting?

Rarely well. It is made for printed and typed text.

Can I read text from a PDF?

If the PDF already has text, use PDF to Text. For scanned PDFs, use OCR PDF.

Are my pictures uploaded?

No. They are processed in your browser and never sent anywhere.