No Ticket Needed

Appearance

5 min fix Updated 8 Aug 2026Beginner

By , IT support technician

Quick Answer

Capture the text with Snipping Tool (press Windows + Shift + S), open the snip, and click Text actions. Click Copy all text, then paste anywhere with Ctrl + V. Proofread the result — OCR confuses similar characters like 0 and O.

How to Copy Text from a Scanned PDF or Picture ​

Applies to: Windows 10, Windows 11; OneNote; Microsoft Word
Article Type: How-To
Last Updated: 2026-08-08

Summary ​

A scanned contract, a photo of a whiteboard, a screenshot of an error message — the text is right there, but you cannot select it, because it is a picture of text rather than text. This guide shows three free ways to extract it so you can paste it anywhere: Snipping Tool's Text actions, OneNote's Copy Text from Picture, and Word's built-in OCR for scanned PDFs. To turn a whole digital PDF into an editable document, use How to Convert a PDF to an Editable Word Document instead — this guide is for text trapped inside an image.

Before You Start ​

  • Windows 11 for the Snipping Tool method — the Text actions button is not in the Windows 10 version. On Windows 10, use the OneNote method.
  • The OneNote or Word desktop app for methods 2 and 3 (both come with Microsoft 365).
  • Realistic expectations: OCR reads clean printed text well. Handwriting, decorative fonts, and complex tables come out garbled — plan to proofread.

Instructions ​

1. Copy Text from Anything on Screen with Snipping Tool ​

The fastest method: capture the text as a screenshot and let Snipping Tool read it.

  1. Put the text on screen — open the scanned PDF, photo, or web page and zoom in until the text is comfortably readable. Bigger text means fewer OCR mistakes.
  2. Press Windows + Shift + S and drag a box around the text. The screen dims while you drag, and a notification appears when you release.
  3. Click the notification. The capture opens in the Snipping Tool window.
  4. Click Text actions in the toolbar. Snipping Tool scans the image, and every word it recognizes becomes selectable on the picture.
  5. Drag across the words you need, right-click the selection, and choose Copy text — or click Copy all text to grab everything in the capture.
  6. Paste with Ctrl + V wherever the text needs to go.

2. Pull Text from a Picture with OneNote ​

OneNote runs OCR on every picture you add and offers the result on the right-click menu — and it works on Windows 10 as well as 11.

  1. Open the OneNote desktop app and paste the picture onto any page with Ctrl + V, or add an image file via Insert > Pictures.
  2. Right-click the picture and select Copy Text from Picture. OneNote indexes new images in the background, so on a large image the command appears after a short wait — right-click again in a minute if it is missing.
  3. Click where you want the text and press Ctrl + V. The recognized text pastes as normal, editable text.
  4. The scratch page has done its job — deleting it removes nothing but your own paste area.

3. Open a Scanned PDF in Word ​

For a multi-page scan, Word converts the whole file in one pass instead of one screenful at a time.

  1. Open the Word desktop app, click Open in the left sidebar, then Browse, and select the scanned PDF.
  2. A dialog appears: "Word will now convert your PDF to an editable Word document." It warns that the result can look different from the original — on a scan, believe it: expect the layout to shift. Click OK.
  3. Wait while Word converts. A long scan takes a minute or more, and the file then opens as an editable document.
  4. Copy the passages you need, or keep the whole converted document. Word works on a converted copy — your original PDF is untouched.

4. Proofread the Result ​

OCR output needs a human pass before it goes anywhere important.

  1. Read the extracted text against the original, character by character for anything that matters.
  2. Check every number twice — 0/O, 1/l, and 5/S are the classic swaps, and a wrong digit in an account number costs more than the retype would have.
  3. Expect tables to arrive as plain lines of text with the columns collapsed. Rebuild the layout by hand where it matters.

Troubleshooting ​

INFO

OCR accuracy depends on the source. Clean printed text at a readable size comes out nearly perfect; low-resolution scans, decorative fonts, and handwriting do not. The tools in this guide are for quick extraction — proofread anything that matters before you use it.

Symptom / ErrorPotential CauseSolution
Text actions is missing from Snipping ToolWindows 10, or an outdated Snipping ToolOpen the Microsoft Store, search for Snipping Tool, and click Update. On Windows 10 the button does not exist — use the OneNote method.
Copy Text from Picture never appears in OneNoteOCR indexing has not finished, or you are in OneNote for the webWait a minute and right-click the picture again. The command lives in the OneNote desktop app — the web version does not have it.
Word's conversion produces gibberishScan resolution too low for OCRRescan the paper at 300 DPI or higher — see How to Scan a Document to PDF or Email from a Network Copier. For a one-off passage, zoom the PDF in and use Snipping Tool on the enlarged text.
Copied numbers are wrongOCR confuses similar charactersCheck every figure against the original — 0/O, 1/l, and 5/S are the usual swaps.