Chromebook OCR: how to copy text from an image or screenshot

How to copy text from an image on a Chromebook

1. Make Google your default search engine. Search my screen with Google Lens depends on it[1].
2. Open Screen Capture and take a partial screenshot. Press the Screenshot key, or Shift + Ctrl + Show windows if your keyboard has none[2]. Choose Take partial screenshot and drag over the text[1].
3. Select Search with Google. The results open in a Google Search window[1].
4. Choose Copy text. The text from your selection goes to the clipboard. The option appears when text is detected[1].

You can start the same search from the Launcher, then Lens, then drag over the area you want[1].

Other built-in ways on ChromeOS

Gallery app

Open an image or PDF, select Search with Google Lens at the top and choose an area. Google lists copying text and translating a PDF among the uses[3]

Text capture

Partial screenshot, More actions, Copy text. Chromebook Plus only, for users 18 or older in supported countries[4]

Chrome browser

Right-click an image on a web page and choose Search with Google Lens[5]

All of these copy a selection. They are made for a line or a paragraph, not for turning a five-page handout into a document you can edit.

Paste a screenshot into the free OCR

ChromeOS copies every screenshot to the clipboard as soon as you take it[2]. That makes the free tool above the fastest route for a whole screen. Take the screenshot, click on this page and press Ctrl+V. Paste up to 5 screenshots before you press the button, and the text of all of them comes back together.

1. Take a screenshot. Full screen, a window or a partial selection all work.
2. Press Ctrl+V on this page. The screenshot appears in the box. Repeat for up to 5 images.
3. Get the text. Copy it, or download it as a .txt or Word file. No account, nothing to install from the Chrome Web Store.

The same box takes JPG, PNG, HEIC and PDF files from the Files app, up to 5 MB.

Chromebook OCR for school work

A web page needs no install, so LoreAI works on a school Chromebook the same way it works on any computer with Chrome.

• A worksheet as a PDF from Google Classroom: upload it to get the text, or convert it to Word to type your answers in.
• Photos of a textbook page from your phone: send them to yourself and drop them in the box.
• Handwritten notes: the handwritten notes guide shows how to turn a notebook into one Word file.

For a long scan, upload the PDF in the LoreAI app. It reads every page with OCR and returns an editable Word file with headings, lists and tables. Your first document is free, up to 3 pages.

Questions people ask