Overview
Ghost Text reinvents text recognition for macOS. Whether it's text locked inside an image, a PDF, a video frame, or a UI that won't let you select — Ghost Text captures it all with a single keyboard shortcut.
All processing happens entirely on your device using Apple's built-in Vision framework. Nothing is ever sent to a server.
How It Works
- Step 1: Click "Capture Text" from the menu bar or press ⌘C
- Step 2: Select any region on your screen — images, PDFs, videos, locked UI
- Step 3: The extracted text is instantly copied to your clipboard, ready to paste
Key Features
- Capture from anywhere: Extract text from images, PDFs, screenshots, video frames, and any screen region
- 100% offline: All OCR runs locally via macOS Vision — your content never leaves your device
- Customizable shortcut: Set your own capture shortcut from Settings
- Instant clipboard: Recognized text is automatically copied and ready to paste
- Capture history: Access all previously captured text with Copy, Load, and Delete controls
- Search captured text: Quickly find any previously captured text with built-in search
- Extract from image files: Drag and drop or select image files to extract text without screen capture
- Extract from clipboard: Recognize text from images already in your clipboard
- Sound effects: Optional audio feedback on successful capture
- Menu bar access: Quick one-click capture directly from the status bar
- Lifetime license: One-time payment of $4.99, all updates included
Verdict
Ghost Text is the fastest way to get unselectable text off your screen and into your clipboard. The offline-first approach is the right call — no accounts, no subscriptions, no data leaving your Mac.
