OCR - Image Reader

Optical character recognition is a well-known process of converting text captured from images to machine-readable form. This means you can access text that would otherwise be impossible to send to the clipboard. As most examples of image text are found on the internet, having a browser-based tool could be the best way to go. OCR - Image Reader is a smart Chrome extension that does what any OCR tool should do, and that is scanning and cloning text.

OCR - Image Reader is the type of add-on that works best while exposed to the extension bar. Use the blue square to activate the selection grid. When the grid is up, the icon will turn red. Press Escape if you wish to cancel the selector and continue to the page.

The selector's dynamic is similar to how the Snipping tool in Windows works. Drag the mouse across the screen to include the characters you wish extracted. A new pane pops up after the scanning is over. If you execute multiple scans at once, an equal number of panes will be generated. The conversion results can be taken from the pop-up and copied to the clipboard. If you wish to change the language or the accuracy level, you can do it from the secondary prompt.

In case the page you visit has not imaged text, the extension will stay locked. This means the selector won't become available unless the page is swapped for a compatible source.

To sum things up, OCR - Image Reader is a very handy extension, especially for users who must deal with image text that cannot be freely handled. This tiny OCR tool is more than enough to scan and extract any piece of text from any Chrome page.