Text Grab
Open-source Windows OCR utility for copying any text visible on screen.
- Verified facts
- 4 of 4
- Alternatives ranked
- 3
- Approved reviews
- 0
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About Text Grab
Text Grab is a Windows tool for pulling text off the screen: press a hotkey, draw a box around text in any app, video, game or PDF, and it goes straight to your clipboard. Beyond the basic snip, it has a Grab Frame overlay that sits on top of a window and updates as the content changes, an edit window for cleaning up results, table and list capture, and QR code reading. You can choose the recognition engine: the built-in Windows OCR, Tesseract, Windows AI on Copilot+ PCs, or a mode that reads native UI text directly. Recognition runs locally. The code is MIT-licensed on GitHub and a free developer build is available there; the Microsoft Store version is paid and adds auto-updates, local AI and translation features. Its capture code is the basis of the Text Extractor in Microsoft PowerToys. A companion browser extension is also offered. It suits Windows power users who copy text from images often.
Best for: Windows users who regularly copy text out of images, videos and apps.
Pros and cons
What works
- Free open-source build, with a low-cost Store version
- Several OCR engines to choose from, all running locally
- Live overlay mode and table capture go beyond simple snipping
Why people leave
- Windows only for the desktop app
- AI and translation features are limited to the paid Store build
- Free GitHub build has no auto-updates
Top Text Grab alternatives
See all 3- 1
TextSniper57.2A polished paid equivalent for anyone moving to a Mac.
- 2
Microsoft PowerToys56.8Its Text Extractor uses Text Grab's code and comes free with many other Windows utilities.
- 3
ShareX52.6A free all-in-one screenshot tool with built-in OCR, annotation and upload.
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Text Grab: common questions
Is Text Grab free?
Yes. Text Grab is free, open-source software.
Is Text Grab open source?
Yes. The source code is on GitHub at TheJoeFin/Text-Grab.
What platforms does Text Grab run on?
Text Grab is available for Windows and Browser extension.
What are the best alternatives to Text Grab?
The highest-ranked Text Grab alternatives right now are TextSniper, Microsoft PowerToys and ShareX. See the full ranked list for pricing, platforms and verified facts.