Some text cannot be selected at all: subtitles burned into a video, text inside an image, a scanned PDF, an error dialog. Screen capture reads it directly off your display.
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Press Ctrl+Shift+O (⌘⇧O on Mac). The screen freezes and dims.
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Drag a box over the text you want.
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Quick Actions opens with the recognised text, where you can translate, summarise, or rewrite it.
Built for subtitles
The screen is frozen the moment you press the shortcut, so a subtitle stays put even if the video keeps playing while you drag.
Recognition runs entirely on your device using the text engine built into your operating system. Nothing is uploaded, and it costs no credits. Only the action you run afterwards, such as a translation, uses AI.
Languages follow your system settings. On Windows, add a language pack under Settings → Time & language if the text you are reading is not recognised.
On macOS, allow Screen Recording first
Open System Settings → Privacy & Security → Screen Recording and turn on KeyShift AI. Without it macOS hands back your desktop wallpaper instead of the actual screen, so the capture looks like it found no text rather than showing an error.