TextLens
Turn any picture into editable text
Photos, screenshots, scanned pages, receipts and neat handwriting. Drop, paste or snap an image and copy the words in seconds. It all runs in your browser, so your images stay on your device.
Drop an image here
or paste a screenshot with Ctrl+V / ⌘+V
Extracted text
Recent extractions
Saved only in this browser, never online.
How to get the best results
Good light, flat page
Shoot straight on, without shadows or glare. Fill the frame with the text.
Crop to the text
Use Crop area to skip logos, photos and margins. Accuracy jumps.
Handwriting mode
Best for neat print-style writing in dark ink. Joined-up cursive is hard for any OCR.
Try Black & white
For faded or grey text, turn on Boost contrast or Black & white. Use Invert for light text on dark.
Image to text: frequently asked questions
Is this image to text converter free?
Yes. TextLens is completely free, with no sign-up, no watermark and no daily limit. You can extract text from up to 20 images at a time.
Are my images uploaded to a server?
No. Text is recognised inside your browser on your own device, so your photos, documents and notes are never uploaded. The free open-source OCR engine (Tesseract) and the language pack you choose are downloaded once from the jsDelivr CDN, then your browser caches them.
Can it read handwriting?
It reads neat, print-style handwriting in dark ink reasonably well, especially with Handwriting mode, a tight crop and good light. Joined-up cursive, messy writing and pencil on lined paper are hard for any free OCR, so check and edit the result before you use it.
Which languages can it read?
24 languages: English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Polish, Swedish, Russian, Ukrainian, Greek, Turkish, Arabic, Hebrew, Hindi, Bengali, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Thai, Chinese (Simplified and Traditional), Japanese and Korean. Tick "Also read English" for mixed-language text.
What kinds of images work?
JPG, PNG, WebP, GIF and BMP photos, scans and screenshots. Paste a screenshot straight from your clipboard, or use your phone camera. iPhone HEIC photos open in Safari, while other browsers need them saved as JPG first. For a PDF, take a screenshot of the page.
How do I get the most accurate text?
Photograph the page straight on in good light, then crop to just the text. For faded or grey text turn on Boost contrast or Black & white, and use Invert for white text on a dark background. Pick the right language, and try Single block of text if the layout comes out jumbled.
Can I extract text from several images at once?
Yes. Add up to 20 images, then press Extract all. Each image keeps its own text, and Copy all copies everything with the image names as headings.
Does it work on my phone?
Yes. It works in current mobile browsers on iPhone and Android. Tap Camera to photograph a page, receipt or sign, then copy the text, listen to it or open it in Google Translate.