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Text Capture

Global Hotkey

The default hotkey is ⌘⇧7 (Command + Shift + 7). It works system-wide in any application. The hotkey can be customized in settings under General.

Area Selection

After pressing the hotkey, the screen freezes and is slightly dimmed. A hint text appears briefly: "Select area · ESC to cancel".

  • Drag: Hold the mouse button and drag a rectangle around the desired area
  • Size indicator: While dragging, the current size of the selection rectangle is displayed
  • Cancel: Press ESC to cancel the capture

OCR Processing

Once the area is selected, text recognition starts automatically. Processing typically takes less than 0.3 seconds. The recognized text is:

  1. Cleaned up according to text processing settings (line breaks, whitespace, hyphenation)
  2. Shown in the text editor (if enabled) or copied directly to the clipboard
  3. Saved to history (if enabled)

Multi-Display Support

FreezeText supports multiple displays. When you press the hotkey, all connected monitors are frozen simultaneously. You can select an area for text recognition on any screen.

QR Code and Barcode Detection

In addition to text, FreezeText automatically detects QR codes and barcodes in the selected area. The contained text or link is copied to the clipboard along with the recognized text.

OCR Languages

Recognition languages can be configured in settings under OCR. By default, German and English as well as system languages are active. Additional languages improve recognition for foreign-language texts.

macOS Services Integration

FreezeText integrates into the macOS Services menu. In any application (e.g. Finder), you can select images and use Services → FreezeText: Extract Text to recognize the contained text via OCR. The recognized text is copied to the clipboard and optionally saved to history.