How to Use PowerToys to Extract Text From Images
Tired of transcribing images? Here’s how to let PowerToys extract text from images for you on Windows.
Few Windows tools are as useful as PowerToys. The toolset that debuted in Windows 95 has been significantly expanded in the latest versions. With the latest update, PowerToys finally has a text extractor that allows you to copy text from any image.
Let’s see how to extract text from images using PowerToys.
What are PowerToys on Windows?
PowerToys are a set of free utilities packaged together. With these handy tools, you can perform a variety of tasks on Windows, including but not limited to remapping keyboard keys, keeping your PC always awake, and more. PowerToys are available for both Windows 10 and 11.
To get started with PowerToys, all you have to do is download and install the program. Then head over to our PowerToys guide for Windows to learn how to use these utilities.
Microsoft recently updated PowerToys to include a range of new tools, one of which is an OCR utility that allows you to extract text from images. As with almost all PowerToys, using the Text Extractor is fairly simple.
After downloading and installing the latest version of PowerToys, click the Windows key and type “PowerToys”. Click on the most relevant result to launch PowerToys.
Once PowerToys is up and running, click on the hamburger menu in the top right corner to view the list of available utilities. Scroll down the list to text extractor and click on it.
In the Text Extractor, make sure that the Enable text extractor is set to On. Also note the button
combination under shortcut. If you are okay with this combination, exit the program and open an image from which you want to extract the text.
However, if you want to set a different shortcut to launch the text extractor, select the edit button (the pencil icon). In the panel that appears, press the key combination you want to use as a keyboard shortcut and click Save on computer.
Now open the image you want to extract text from and press the Text Extractor shortcut. Hold down the left mouse button and select the text by dragging the cursor. Release the keys when you’re done. The text from the image is now on the clipboard.
Finally, paste the text where you want it by pressing CTRL + V.
PowerToys can make you a Windows Power User
From batch renaming to remapping keyboard keys, PowerToys can come in handy on a few occasions. So learn how to use PowerToys and greatly improve your Windows experience.