This free app lets you grab text from anywhere on your screen

Have you ever tried to copy a line from a photo, scanned PDF, video, or app? In many cases, you can see the text but can’t select it. You then end up arduously typing it by hand. NormCap gives you a quick fix.

NormCap works like a screenshot tool, but it grabs words instead of an image. Open the app and draw a box around the text you want. NormCap reads the words and sends them to your clipboard. You can then paste them anywhere you like.

The tool uses optical character recognition, known as OCR, to turn text on your screen into text you can edit. This is great for copying an error code from a program or a quote from a video. It can also grab words from a scanned form, old web page, game, or photo. NormCap can even scan QR codes and barcodes. It can spot web links and email addresses as well.

NormCap is free and open source. It runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux, and it works with a bunch of different languages. Best of all, the developer says the app collects no tracking data. It scans the text on your own device, and your screen captures never have to leave your computer.

Like any OCR tool, it’s not always perfect—NormCap may get a word wrong if the text is small, fuzzy, or on a busy background. But with clear text, it turns an annoying roadblock into a quick drag, copy, and paste.

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