Search and copy the text inside screenshots on Mac
Your Mac can read the words inside an image. ClipBuddy indexes that text on-device, so you can find a screenshot by what it says and copy the text straight back out.
You screenshot things all day, receipts, error messages, chats, slides, code. But once it’s an image, the text is locked away: you can’t search it, and you can’t copy it out. ClipBuddy fixes both. It reads the words inside every image you copy, right on your Mac, so you can find a screenshot by its text and copy that text back out, no retyping, no upload.
Find a screenshot by what it says
Every image you copy is run through macOS’s on-device text recognition. Search “invoice” and the screenshot of an invoice surfaces in your history. Search a name, an order number, an error string, if it’s visible in the picture, ClipBuddy finds it. The recognized text is indexed for fast, prefix-friendly search, alongside all your text clips.
Copy the exact text out of an image
- Press ⌘⇧V and open the image clip.
- Choose Copy Text. The recognized text appears in a selectable panel.
- Select the word, line or block you want, or “Copy all”, and paste it anywhere.
Great for pulling a code snippet out of a screenshot, a number off a receipt, or a quote from a slide.
100% on your Mac
Recognition uses Apple’s Vision framework on-device. Your images and their text never leave your Mac, no server, no cloud OCR, no account. It works offline and keeps your screenshots private.
More than screenshot search
Screenshot text search is one part of ClipBuddy, a native macOS clipboard manager: a full searchable clipboard history, keyword snippets, reusable slots, a paste stack, an emoji picker (⌘⌥E), and developer transforms, all on-device.
Frequently asked questions
Can I search the text inside a screenshot on Mac?
Yes. ClipBuddy reads the words inside every image and screenshot you copy, using on-device macOS Vision recognition. Type any word from the image into ClipBuddy's search and the screenshot appears in your history, no upload, no cloud.
How do I copy text out of a screenshot on Mac?
Open the image clip in ClipBuddy and choose Copy Text. The recognized text appears in a selectable panel, pick the exact word, line or block you need and copy it. Recognition runs entirely on your Mac.
Does the image text recognition work offline?
Yes, it uses Apple's on-device Vision framework, so it works without a network connection and nothing about your images ever leaves your Mac.
What languages does it recognize?
It uses macOS's built-in text recognition, which supports many languages automatically, including non-Latin scripts.