OCR Translator for Mac Screenshots and Unselectable Text
Not every useful sentence can be selected. Some text lives in screenshots, images, subtitles, video frames, or app interfaces.
Dictionary uses OCR capture for these cases so the text can become actionable before lookup or translation.
When OCR helps
- Text in a screenshot
- Subtitle text in a video frame
- Words inside an image or chart
- Interface text that cannot be copied
OCR translator workflow
- Capture the screen area that contains the text.
- Let OCR turn visual text into selectable text.
- Continue with lookup, translation, or rewrite in Dictionary.
OCR quality depends on the source image. Small text, blur, unusual fonts, or low contrast can reduce recognition quality.
What OCR changes
OCR turns visual text into text you can work with. After capture, the same Dictionary flow can continue with lookup, translation, or rewrite.
For selectable text, use Translate Selected Text on Mac.