Are you looking for some of the best Chrome extensions to copy text from PDF files?
If yes, then you have just landed on the correct page, because this article is specially curated keeping the main query in mind.
Top 5 Chrome extensions to copy text from PDF
Chrome extensions have been a part of the Chrome browser for years, and these small but useful utility tools work wonders.
Plus, now that the technology has improved a lot, the developers have started creating some of the best Chrome extensions that use the latest Optical Character Recognition (OCR) system to detect text from images, PDFs, and videos.
So, without any further ado, we present to you our top 5 curations of some of the best Chrome extensions that can help you extract text from your favorite PDF file in no time.
- Copyfish.
- OCR – Image Reader.
- Quixy Toolbox.
- OCR Editor – Text from Image.
- Blackbox.
The first Google Chrome extension to copy text from any PDF file is the Copyfish extension by OCR.Space.
As mentioned earlier, it is based on the OCR technology that captures the screen in the form of an image and then extracts the text using its AI.
How to use the Copyfish extension?
- Download the Copyfish extension on your Chrome browser.
- Then, access it via the “Extensions” tab.
- Now, select the area that contains the text.
- And that’s it. Copyfish will automatically detect the text that is inside the selected area and convert it into text.
You can now either select the “Copy to clipboard” option to copy the text or else select “Redo OCR” and “Recapture” respectively if you are not happy with the output.
and done.
OCR – Image Reader by Brian.Girko falls second on this list of recommendations.
This extension is also based on the OCR technology that extracts text from the image.
Moreover, it uses the “tesseract.js” library that supports more than 100 languages and has features like automatic text orientation and script detection.
How to use OCR – Image Reader?
- Download the extension on your Chrome browser.
- Then, access the extension via the “Extensions” tab to activate it.
- Now, select the appropriate part of the image using the image selector tool.
- It will now start downloading the image and recognizing the text.
- Lastly, it will present you with the result under the results box.
You can now use the “Copy Text” option to copy the text or use the “Accuracy” drop-down menu to select the accuracy type.
Copy the text and done.
Quixy Toolbox by Quixy is yet another OCR-based text extractor Chrome extension, that allows its users to copy text from PDF, image, and video files.
It also supports more than 75 languages worldwide.
How to use the Quixy Toolbox?
To use the Quixy Toolbox on your Chrome browser, all you need to do is download the extension via the Chrome Web Store, and then follow the instructions that are mentioned below;
- Access the “Quixy Toolbox” via the “Extensions” menu to activate it.
- Now, click on the language drop-down menu to select a language other than English followed by the “Select an area” option.
- Then, drag the mouse to select the appropriate part of the screen.
- It will automatically start to recognize the text and present you with the result in another window.
- Lastly, select “Copy text” to copy the converted text, or else click the “Select again” option to re-select the text.
Now moving to the next extension.
Next on our list is the OCR Editor by Ocreditor.com which also works on OCR technology to extract text from the PDF files.
The key features of this extension are as follows:
- Simple user interface.
- Easy to use.
- Allows translation to your desired language.
- Keeps the same text format.
- Supports file formats like; PDF, JPG, JPEG, and PNG.
- Converts low-resolution images to text.
- Is accurate.
How to use the OCR Editor extension?
- Download the extension via the Chrome Web Store.
- Then, access the extension by navigating to the “Extensions” tab.
- Now, select the “Detect Now” option.
- Next, drag the mouse to select an appropriate part of the screen.
- The extension will automatically start recognizing the text and throw out the results into the “Result” box.
- Lastly, click on the “Copy” icon to copy the text.
You can also download the text in the “.txt” format as well as change the language via the “Choose a language” option.
Last on our list is the Blackbox extension by useblackbox.io. It also used the OCR technology to extract text from the PDF.
How to use the Blackbox extension?
- Download the extension on your Chrome browser via the Chrome Web Store.
- Now, navigate to the “Extensions” tab and select “Blackbox” to activate it.
- Then, select a part of the screen that you want to capture.
- That’s it. The text will automatically get copied on your “Clipboard.”
Now use the “Paste” command to paste the copied text.
Note: If you have opened up a downloaded PDF file inside the Chrome browser, then you will need to grant these extensions the “Allow access to file URLs” permission that is available inside the settings page of that particular extension.
Conclusion:
After this discussion, it can be said that copying text from PDF files is now as easy as eating a slice of a pizza.
All you need to do is head to the Chrome Web Store, pick one of the extensions from the list, install it, and then use it according to the instructions that are mentioned above.
