Search the text in your screenshots

You copied a screenshot of an order number, an error message, or a slide. Days later you remember a word in it, not when you took it. On Hand finds it by that word.

Find a screenshot by what’s in it

1. Copy a screenshot or image as usual. For example, press ⌃ ⇧ ⌘ 4 to screenshot part of the screen straight to the clipboard.
2. Later, press ⌘ ⇧ Space to open On Hand.
3. Type a word you remember from the image, like an order number or a name.
4. Press Return to copy the image again, or ⌘ O to preview it.

Images in the list show the text they contain instead of “Copied image,” so you can tell screenshots apart at a glance.

Copy the text out of an image

Preview an image clip to see its text under Text in image. Select what you need and press ⌘ C.

If you only need the text from one image you have open right now, macOS Live Text also works: in Preview, Photos, Quick Look, or Safari, drag across the text in the image and copy it. On Hand is for the screenshots you copied earlier and need to find again.

Private by design

• Text recognition runs on your Mac. Images and their text are never uploaded.
• The text is stored in On Hand’s local history, next to the image.
• If a screenshot contains a card number, Social Security number, or secret key, On Hand deletes it from history instead of keeping it. Pinned images are kept, but their text isn’t searchable.

Read the privacy policy for details.

Questions

Which images does it read?

Every image you copy after capture is on, up to 10 MB, plus images already in your history when you install On Hand 1.1.0.

What kinds of text does it read?

It uses the Vision text recognition built into macOS and reads English text best, especially printed and on-screen text like screenshots, receipts, and slides. Results for handwriting vary.

Which Macs does it run on?

On Hand 1.1.0 and later, on Apple silicon and Intel Macs running macOS 14 or later.