What it solves
You see text you cannot select: subtitles in a video, an error dialog, a screenshotted PDF, an image someone sent. A normal screenshot gives you a picture, and then you still need another way to get the text out. Shotbox's Capture Text folds those two steps into one.
How to use it
- Press the Capture Text shortcut. The default is Shift-Command-1, and you can change it in the Shortcuts group in Settings.
- The screen freezes. Drag over the area you want read.
- When you release, the recognized text is already on the clipboard. Paste it anywhere.
The first time, grant Shotbox the Screen Recording permission once. Any macOS tool that lets you drag-select an area needs it.
What happens with a QR code
If the area contains a QR code, what gets copied is the decoded content, such as a URL, rather than an image or gibberish.
How it differs from a normal screenshot
Capture Text wants only the words and saves no image, so it adds nothing to your library. If you want to find the image later, use the normal screenshot shortcut. After the shot, a thumbnail card appears with "Saved · searchable" and a Copy text button, and the image and its text go into the library, so one remembered word finds it again. See local OCR full-text search.
Honest notes on accuracy
Recognition uses an open-source OCR model that runs on your Mac, entirely offline. Clean print and clear screenshots come out well. Handwriting, decorative fonts, steep angles and dense multi-column layouts produce errors, and sometimes the order of a block gets scrambled. For amounts, IDs and code, check the image after you copy.
FAQ
Does Capture Text save the image to my library?
No. Capture Text puts only the recognized text on the clipboard and does not save the image. To keep the image and make it searchable, use the normal screenshot shortcut.
Does it need an internet connection?
No. Text recognition runs on your Mac and works offline.
Why does the result have typos?
OCR is good on clean print. Handwriting, decorative fonts, steep angles and dense multi-column layouts cause errors. Compare against the image before relying on anything important.
