# Free Image to Text OCR: Photos and Screenshots

> Extract text from a photo, scan or screenshot in your browser. Local OCR, editable results and free TXT download without an account.

Canonical: https://pocketorbitnotes.app/tools/image-to-text
Language: en-US
Published: not provided
Last updated: 2026-10-18

## Workflow

1. Choose a photo or screenshot, or try the printed sample image.
2. Select its text language and extract the words. Review and correct the result against the image.
3. Copy or download the TXT. Keep the source image, and explore scanning into a Pocket Orbit note for repeated capture.

## Get editable words from a photo or screenshot

Choose one PNG, JPEG or WebP up to 20 MiB and 32 megapixels. Recognition uses English, German, French, Italian or Spanish resources hosted on this site. Large images are reduced to 8 megapixels for recognition. The result is editable text, not a recreated document.

## Printed text works best

A sharp, upright image with clear contrast gives the recognizer more useful input. Compare names, numbers, negation and reading order against the original. Handwriting, diagrams, tables and equations may need substantial correction or may not yield useful text.

## Keep the image and the corrected words

Download the TXT or copy your corrected text into a note. TXT contains no original image or editable pen strokes. Keep the photo separately. For a scanned PDF, use the PDF tools so you can review source pages. For repeated paper capture, explore the iPhone/iPad scanning workflow.

## Frequently asked questions

### Is this image OCR free?

Yes. Recognition, correction, copy and TXT download need no account or purchase. Pocket Orbit app subscriptions and availability are separate.

### Does the image leave my browser?

Image contents and filenames are not uploaded for processing. Recognition workers and the chosen language download from this site. Reset clears the current image and text; download your result before closing the tab.

### Can it read handwriting?

It can attempt recognition, but printed text works best. Handwriting can be missing or misread. This tool does not recover editable Pencil strokes, and no accuracy guarantee is made.

### Can I turn a PDF into text here?

Use PDF to text for a PDF document. This tool accepts one PNG, JPEG or WebP image. PDF to Markdown also preserves original pages and the PDF in a ZIP.

### Is the same local OCR already in the mobile app?

The browser uses Tesseract.js. Pocket Orbit 1.0.13 has a separate mobile scanning workflow. This page does not claim that the engines, processing boundaries or text results are identical; local AI processes supported tasks on your device.

## Related pages

- https://pocketorbitnotes.app/features/scan-handwritten-notes-to-text
- https://pocketorbitnotes.app/help/scan-paper-notes
- https://pocketorbitnotes.app/pricing
- https://pocketorbitnotes.app/tools/pdf-to-text
- https://pocketorbitnotes.app/tools/pdf-to-markdown
- https://pocketorbitnotes.app/learn/handwritten-notes/handwriting-to-text-vs-ocr

Source: Pocket Orbit. Please cite the canonical URL.