TheJoeFin/Text-Grab

Use OCR in Windows quickly and easily with Text Grab. With optional background process and notifications.

Text Grab – Quick local OCR for Windows

What it is – A free Windows‑only desktop app that lets you capture any visible text (from screenshots, PDFs, videos, or UI elements) and turn it into clean, reusable clipboard content. All OCR runs locally – no cloud, no per‑use fees – and the app bundles several helper tools for post‑processing the extracted text.

Why it matters – OCR is a classic AI problem. Text Grab leverages the built‑in Windows OCR APIs, the newer Windows AI (WinAI) NPU‑accelerated model on Copilot+ PCs, and the open‑source Tesseract engine, giving users a choice of accuracy vs. configurability while keeping data private.

Core features

Feature	What you get
Four capture modes	• Full‑Screen – draw a region and copy text instantly. • Grab Frame – a movable window you can place over any part of the screen. • Edit Text – a built‑in editor with plain‑text, spreadsheet‑style, and markdown views. • Quick Simple Lookup – hot‑key‑driven personal dictionary for reusable snippets.
Local OCR engines	• WinAI – NPU‑accelerated, high‑accuracy (handwriting, stylized fonts) on Copilot+ PCs. • WinRT OCR – the standard Windows Runtime OCR API (fast, works on all Windows 10+). • Tesseract – optional open‑source engine for fine‑tuned control.
Direct UI Automation	Reads selectable UI text without OCR when possible, giving perfect accuracy and speed.
Post‑grab cleanup	One‑click actions: trim lines, remove duplicates, change case, replace characters, extract patterns (emails, phone numbers, GUIDs, etc.).
Spreadsheet & Calc pane	Treat OCR output as a table, transpose columns, and run live calculations (basic math, functions, unit conversion, date math) line‑by‑line.
Pattern / RegEx support	Save reusable regular‑expression patterns, auto‑suggest patterns from selected text, and apply them in Find‑Replace or Grab Templates.
Grab Templates	Record a combination of capture region(s), pattern placeholders, and output formatting so the same workflow can be replayed on future screenshots or bulk folders.
Bulk folder processing	Point the app (or CLI) at a directory of images/PDFs; it OCRs everything, optionally adds filenames, and opens the combined result for further cleaning.
Browser extension	Chrome/Edge add‑on that sends selectable web‑page text directly into Text Grab, bypassing OCR.
Command‑line interface	Launch any mode, process files/folders, or run a “windowless” OCR that returns text to the clipboard without UI.
Hot‑keys & background service	Global shortcuts (default Win + Shift + Q for Quick Lookup) work from any app; a background process can keep hot‑keys active all day.

Getting it

Microsoft Store – automatic updates, Windows 11 Copilot+ support.
GitHub Releases – download the portable installer.
Package managers – scoop install text-grab or choco install text-grab.

Building from source (Windows only)

Clone the repo.
Visual Studio 2022/2026 – install the UWP and .NET workloads, open Text‑Grab.sln, set Text‑Grab‑Package as startup, target x64/ARM64, press F5.
.NET 10 SDK – dotnet restore, dotnet build, dotnet test (tests live in Tests).
Optional VS Code debugging with the C# Dev Kit.

Typical workflow example

Press Win + Shift + Q → Quick Lookup to paste a frequently‑used SKU.
Hit Win + Shift + F (or click the tray icon) → Full‑Screen Grab, select the invoice table.
Choose the WinAI engine if available for best handwriting accuracy.
The text appears in the Edit Text window; click Trim each line and Remove duplicate lines.
Switch to Spreadsheet mode, align columns, transpose if needed.
Use the Calc Pane to sum the price column.
Copy the cleaned CSV to Excel or press Save to export a .txt file.

Who might use it

Office workers who need to pull data from screenshots, scanned PDFs, or locked‑copy UI.
Researchers extracting tables from journal figures.
Anyone who wants a privacy‑first OCR tool that works offline.

License & acknowledgments

The app itself is released under the MIT License (see LICENSE).
It depends on open‑source libraries: WPF UI – Fluent UI Style, ZXing.Net (barcode/QR), CliWrap, and Microsoft Community Toolkit.

Bottom line – Text Grab is a polished, locally‑run OCR utility that combines Windows AI APIs, classic OCR engines, and a suite of text‑cleaning tools to turn any on‑screen text into ready‑to‑use data without ever leaving your machine.