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Getting Started

Install and use GrabText in under a minute
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Troubleshooting

Fix common issues and error messages
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OCR Tips

Get better results from images and videos
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Privacy & Permissions

Understand exactly what GrabText accesses
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Contact Us

Reach us by email or report a bug

Getting started

Up and running in three simple steps.

1

Install from the Chrome Web Store

Click Add to Chrome on the GrabText listing. Confirm the permissions prompt — no account or sign-in is needed.

2

Click the GrabText toolbar icon

Find the GrabText icon in the Chrome toolbar. If you don't see it, click the puzzle-piece Extensions icon and pin GrabText. Clicking it activates the selection overlay on the current tab.

3

Drag a rectangle over the text

Hold left-click and drag over any area — webpage text, image, or video frame. Release the mouse and the text is instantly copied to your clipboard. Press Esc to cancel at any time.

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Choosing an OCR language

Before dragging, pick your language from the dropdown at the top of the overlay. GrabText remembers your last choice. Supported: English, Hindi, Bengali, Punjabi, Urdu, Spanish, German, Portuguese, Sinhala, Tamil, Kannada.

Troubleshooting

Common issues and how to fix them.

GrabText cannot run on Chrome internal pages (chrome://), the Chrome Web Store, or new-tab pages. Navigate to any normal website and the icon activates. If it's greyed out on a regular page, reload the tab after installation.

  • 1 Check the OCR language dropdown — wrong language = garbled output.
  • 2 Draw tighter around the text only; large empty areas reduce accuracy.
  • 3 Zoom in (Ctrl++) so text is larger before selecting.
  • 4 Highly stylised or very small fonts are a known limitation of Tesseract OCR.
  • Wait for the page to fully load before capturing.
  • Keep the browser window visible and in focus during the capture.
  • Reload the tab with Ctrl+R to re-inject the content script.
  • If it persists, disable and re-enable GrabText at chrome://extensions.

GrabText uses character-level precision — only characters whose bounding box overlaps your rectangle are captured. If extra text is included, draw a tighter selection that doesn't overlap adjacent lines.

Press Esc to force-dismiss the overlay. If it remains, reload the tab (Ctrl+R) to fully reset the content script.

  • Click the Copy Plain button in the result card for a second clipboard write.
  • Click inside the plain-text box and use Ctrl+A then Ctrl+C.
  • Ensure the GrabText tab is in focus when you release the mouse.
  • Pause the video before selecting — a still frame processes faster and more accurately.
  • Draw a tight selection around only the text (e.g. subtitles), not the full video area.
  • Zoom in first so you can select a smaller pixel area.

Close all Chrome windows completely and reopen. If that doesn't help, go to chrome://extensions, disable GrabText, then re-enable it. If the issue continues, contact us with your Chrome version from chrome://settings/help.

Tips for better OCR results

Get the most accurate text recognition from images and videos.

Zoom in before selecting

Use Ctrl++ to zoom the page first. More pixels per character means significantly better OCR accuracy.

Draw a tight selection

Include only the text you need. Excess background, decorative elements, or mixed-language content all reduce accuracy.

Pause video before selecting

A still frame is always cleaner than a motion-blurred capture. Pausing dramatically improves subtitle and caption recognition.

Select the correct language

The wrong language model is the most common cause of garbled output. Always check the dropdown before dragging — your last choice is saved automatically.

ℹ️ GrabText uses Tesseract.js — an industry-standard open-source OCR engine running entirely in your browser via WebAssembly. For very low-quality or highly stylised text, no OCR tool gives perfect results. Clear, high-contrast text at a reasonable size produces the best output.

Privacy & permissions explained

GrabText is designed to be as private as possible.

What GrabText collects

Nothing. No personal data, browsing history, screenshots, or extracted text is ever collected, stored, or transmitted. All processing is local. There are no analytics, telemetry, or tracking of any kind.

activeTab permission

Gives temporary access to the tab you're currently viewing — only after you click the icon. Used to inject the selection overlay. Access ends when the overlay is dismissed.

scripting permission

Required to inject the selection overlay and text-extraction code into the active page. The extension cannot function without it.

offscreen permission

Tesseract OCR runs in a hidden off-screen document, keeping it isolated from your visible page. The off-screen document only receives the cropped screenshot you selected.

Read the full Privacy Policy for complete details.

Still need help?

We're here for you. Reach out through any of the channels below.

✉️

Email Support

Send a detailed description of your issue and we'll respond within 1–2 business days.

Email us
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Report a Bug

Found a bug or want to request a feature? Open an issue on GitHub.

GitHub Issues
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Leave a Review

Enjoying GrabText? A Chrome Web Store review helps others discover it.

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⏱️ When contacting support, please include: your Chrome version (chrome://settings/help), your OS, and a description of what you expected vs. what happened. Screenshots help us resolve issues faster.