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Screen OCR

Press ⇧⌘2 from anywhere on macOS. ClipSlop captures a screen region, runs OCR locally, and opens the recognised text in the panel — ready to translate, rewrite, format, or chain.

When to use it​

  • The text is in an image, a PDF, or a screen-shared window — you can't ⌘C it.
  • A native app refuses to expose its text via Accessibility (Slack huddles, video players, some Electron apps).
  • You want to grab a quote from a YouTube subtitle, a webinar slide, or a screenshot you were sent.

Permission​

Screen OCR needs Screen Recording permission in System Settings → Privacy & Security → Screen Recording. Granting Accessibility alone is not enough.

If the screen capture appears as a black rectangle, the permission is missing or was revoked after a ClipSlop update. See Install & first run for the re-grant procedure.

Behind the scenes​

OCR runs on-device using Apple's Vision framework — the captured pixels and recognised text never leave your Mac unless you then run a prompt that calls a remote provider.

For more on data handling, see Privacy & data.