Description from extension meta
Copy any on-screen text directly from videos with Selectext.
Image from store

Description from store
Make online learning easier with a richer video experience.
Copy any text including handwriting, code, and links.
Works on all video sites including Youtube, Udemy, Coursera, Skillshare, as well as University lecture recordings.
Powered by the latest Computer Vision (OCR) technology.
Supports 50+ languages.
How to use Selectext:
1. Add Selectext to Chrome.
2. Watch a video.
3. When you pause the video, the Selectext toggle will appear in the top left corner of the video.
4. Click the toggle to use Selectext.
5. The first time you use Selectext you will be prompted to sign in with Google.
6. Once signed in the text in the paused video will be detected and shown on the video.
7. Select the text by clicking and dragging. The text will be automatically copied to your clipboard.
8. Paste the text anywhere using 'ctrl+v' (windows) or 'command+v' (mac).
Check out the tutorial at: https://selectext.app/tutorial
Make multiple selections at once holding 'ctrl' (windows) or 'command' (mac).
Change the colour, or turn Selectext off on the current site via the popup menu opened by clicking the extension icon.
If a Selectext isn't working on a video site you use, or if you want a feature to be added, reach out via [email protected] or raise an issue in the 'support' tab on this extension in the Chrome Web Store.
Latest reviews
- (2023-03-22) navieté: shame you have to pay for this. I can just use sharex and use a much better OCR than this.
- (2023-01-20) Daniel Amrani: wow very good and helpful, perfect! thank you!
- (2022-12-29) Moh Alotaibi: The fact that they want you to pay for it is just very funny!!
- (2022-12-21) Don't Trip Molly: You can only copy 20 things per month. The business model is that you pay to copy text a certain amount of times, instead of having a membership or premium version, which is hilariously stupid
- (2022-11-07) Ferran Buireu: Funciona bien, pese a necesitar unos arreglos estéticos bastante serios y tener un plan de precios reducido, la funcionalidad que añade es muy útil, sobretodo cuando copias código de videos.
- (2022-10-25) German Moyano: You need to register to use it.
- (2022-10-16) Dipankar Shaw: complicated, not very accurate. I waste my time
- (2022-10-11) Guille :D: hay que registrarse, para hacer algo simple, meh
- (2022-09-23) Jonalyn Dagaas: quick & very convenient, didn't even realize I needed this XD
- (2022-09-17) Liran Barsisa: Need registration, while in many others you don't need it.
- (2022-09-17) sarah milkstone: Works well for what I need
- (2022-09-07) Sasthi Naidoo: An absolute life-saver! It does the job and saves so much time.
- (2022-09-06) Jens Polomski: Such a great plugin! Once you figured out that the button will only show when you paused a video, you get used to it very quick. Its such a time saver to copy text in every video on the internet. I started to use it for YouTube but its also quite handy for LinkedIn! Thanks :)
- (2022-09-05) Croctoch: idk how to use it just says pause on this site choose a color and copy mode
- (2022-08-30) Rachel H: I can't believe this service is completely free, I've been using it for months now. This has saved me hours from copying text and code. However, it seems to be missing indentation detection but it looks like the developers are constantly releasing updates to improve it.
- (2022-08-15) Caryca: Not working
- (2022-08-06) james ryebread: Super sketchy that this is an unpaid service plus not open source and the devs pay the server fees for you for what reason? they are probably accessing your private data, avoid at ALL COST
- (2022-07-25) Evan Delgadillo: Great extension, doing exactly what I needed it too.
- (2022-07-22) Wanderley Rodrigues: Horrível
- (2022-07-22) Vy Khánh: minor errors but overall good
- (2022-07-17) ThinK WorsT?: Never download. this is worst extension ever.
- (2022-07-10) Marcelo Giacometti: Horrível :)
- (2022-07-04) Aditya Pandey: Hi while trying to copy, it is stuck on loading spinner
- (2022-07-04) Alonso Lucas: es muy buena para videos pero solo me gustaría que se pueda con imágenes
- (2022-06-11) Clip Creator: Nice .....Loved it
- (2022-06-08) Mark lll: there is a small bug, when text is behind the toggle on/off button then text is invisible and failed. perhaps smaller toggle button place at the very edge of the video. 2nd bug, some video players has the roll in/out control bar, it looks like selectext ocr the control bar with running time a text but not the video with text under it. similar to the bug above with the toggle buton.
- (2022-06-07) Misæl Bol: Hay que acostumbrarse.... reconoce todo el texto, seria mejor que se pudiera seleccionar el área, así optimizan recursos, pero igualmente así esta bien y cumple con lo que promete.
- (2022-06-02) JOSÉ ROBERTO VARGAS ORELLANA: sin funcionamiento aparente , y poco intuitivo si es que esta extension de verdad sirve
- (2022-06-01) Madita Bakija: Unfortunately it didn't work..
- (2022-05-26) Amin Ben Abdelmlak: barely even work and not user friendly AT ALL i regret installing this
- (2022-05-16) Teja patnala: i have added the extension but i cannot able to find any toggle or i cannot able to copy text can anyone please help me with this.
- (2022-05-10) Bhupender Behwal: Not Working
- (2022-05-02) Linh Thái: Excellent!
- (2022-04-17) Tyler Anderson: I really like this extension, however I'm running into an issue where when I copy and past a paragraph from a lecture to my listed notes (like 1. Main topic A. subtopic A(1) sub-subtopic etc... It pastes the paragraph with many indentations leaving 5 new "main topics" when I really only want the paragraph under the main topic. Any advice on this? or is this an issue you're aware about and it's just too hard to fix? Any update would be great. Love it otherwise! 5/5
- (2022-04-02) Alex Work Email: I've had this extension downloaded for a while and stopped using it because I did not need it as I don't use it on YouTube that often. However, I got a notification saying now it works on all sites I have been loving it for copying from my courses on udemy. The toggle does now come up on all my videos which can be annoying but there is an option to turn off on the site, which I recommend. Thanks for all the hard work dude so pleased that now that it works on more than just youtube !
- (2022-03-19) Mohamed Kotb: Very Useful Extension and very easy to use. Thanks for your good work.
- (2022-03-19) Tarxio “Tarxio”: would never copy the right thing and numbers somehow ended up in text and there would often be 4-7 letters missing in each text copied
- (2022-03-16) Haley Nicoulin: Just added this to help me copy large amount of code of of youtube so I can try it out without wasting the time of typing everything down. I have had it loading for 10 min and nothing is happening, it is still loading.
- (2022-02-19) Gaurav Chaudhari: Best ocr extension out there please keep improving
- (2022-01-20) Bhavesh Kumar: It also works on the Brave browser
- (2022-01-20) Syed Yusuf Ahmed: Still very inaccurate. What a waste of time!
- (2021-11-10) Zarwa Aftab: How does it work? Sorry but I click on the puzzle piece while watching a YouTube video but I can't select any text.. Is there anything else I need to do?
- (2021-11-07) Misoi Alvin: I cannot go past login
- (2021-10-17) Amr Alkhatib: I delete this extension after "sign in with Google via that button to authorize Selectext" I find it unsafe anymore to have it.
- (2021-09-26) Fredrik Andersson: been using the application just fine, copying text and code. but i ran into a problem where the application asks me to log into a google account while i am already log in to one. The button to sign in does not do much and i can no longer use the application sadly. edit: 2021-09-26 going to the site you linked worked fine, sadly i cant seem to reproduce my issue now after fixing it so sadly i cant help you debug it. but yeah the button didnt do anything, might be some weird interaction between Grammarly or add block but i am just grasping at straws at this point. but i updated my review since i do very much enjoy your app.
- (2021-09-21) Eduardo Felipe: Fantastic extension for the future of copying and pasting content !
- (2021-09-10) Malik Jaiteh: No longer working Unable to login in to Goggle
- (2021-05-26) A rose Tomlin: Such a great extension! So helpful for my studies ! Works fast and not in the way when im just watching videos normally ! Love this extension !! Thank you for making this !!
- (2021-05-25) Matthew Bates: I love the idea. I don't love the implementation. I would use this tool for copying code from video tutorials but the first one that I tried it wasn't recognizing all of the parenthesis and curly braces. That alone would only get as low as 3 or 4 stars because the ocr did a good job picking up the bulk of the code however I'm giving 2 stars because it dropped individual operators like '=' from the middle of the code. If I have to compare the text manually anyway I'd rather type it out by hand.
- (2021-05-21) A: I love it. Makes my life SOOOOO much easier.
Latest issues
- (2023-03-17, v:3.0.49) Allen Davidson: Extension only works on the first video thats on the webpage
Hello! I absolutely love the tool you created, thank you so much. I wanted to inquire about an issue I've been having. The tool is great for copying text, however the "select" tab in the video only shows up for the first video that's on a webpage. I would love to use this tool for school and taking lecture notes, but my professor posts 4 parts to the lecture on the same webpage in different videos. The select button only shows up on the first video and will not show up on any of the other ones. Is there any way to fix this? - (2023-02-28, v:3.0.49) KuldipChole: how can i unsubscribe the subscription
how can i unsubscribe the subscription - (2023-01-25, v:3.0.48) Rohan Patel: unable to sign in
I am not able to sign in and use this extension. Earlier it was fine - (2022-11-24, v:3.0.37) shac: doesn't work on datacamp
datacamp pandas part 1 code does not get registered on your application. - (2022-11-21, v:3.0.26) navieté: Vertical lines support
Add Japanese support for vertical text. A video of the issue is shown below. Horizontal text works properly with no flaws (even though maybe if the text was selectable instead of copying i think it would be better), the vertical text just shows gibberish. Video here: https://streamable.com/1eoyto - (2022-11-21, v:3.0.25) Phong Phan: Make text directly selectable, without having to drag a rectangle box
Currently you have to drag a rectangle box to select the areas you want to copy. Is it possible to directly make selection on the text just like when you select normal text (like how Live Text works on macOS) and then if you want to copy you can just ctrl/cmd - C like usual. If this is possible, it would be tremendously helpful because then you can use Selectext together with other tools like macOS three-finger tap to Look Up, Inkah pop-up dictionary, macOS Shortcuts integration, Raycast hotkey shortcut, etc. It opens a whole new lots of way to interact with the text, rather than just copy it. Thank you for this wonderful extension. - (2022-11-21, v:3.0.14) Jadon Padayachee: Copying text from video on certain sites
Hi, I have been trying to use Selectext on Shaw Academy, not sure if you are familiar with it. It doesn't work to copy text from the videos in full screen however it does work if full screen is exited & then the copy is attempted. I'm unsure if this is due to their privacy settings, however if there are any suggestions on what could be done it would be much appreciated. - (2022-11-19, v:3.0.31) מתן לוי: it doesn't work in alison.com
I played the same class 4 times and its still loading. can you please help me? https://alison.com/topic/learn/137532/fashion-and-trends#course-plan this is the link - (2022-11-19, v:3.0.34) yukhei: Toggle does not appear
When I pause the video, the SelectText toggle does not appear. I am playing a video in YouTube. - (2022-11-19, v:3.0.36) Hamo Ahmed: i cant login with google
I can't use it because I can't sign in with Google - (2022-11-19, v:3.0.37) cuongthylvp: How to contact
I want to use this widget unlimited number of times. Please quote and tell me how to contact - (2022-10-23, v:3.0.37) shac: doesn't work on datacamp
datacamp pandas part 1 code does not get registered on your application. - (2022-10-16, v:3.0.37) cuongthylvp: How to contact
I want to use this widget unlimited number of times. Please quote and tell me how to contact - (2022-10-03, v:3.0.36) Hamo Ahmed: i cant login with google
I can't use it because I can't sign in with Google - (2022-09-22, v:3.0.34) yukhei: Toggle does not appear
When I pause the video, the SelectText toggle does not appear. I am playing a video in YouTube. - (2022-09-10, v:3.0.31) מתן לוי: it doesn't work in alison.com
I played the same class 4 times and its still loading. can you please help me? https://alison.com/topic/learn/137532/fashion-and-trends#course-plan this is the link - (2022-08-18, v:3.0.26) navieté: Vertical lines support
Add Japanese support for vertical text. A video of the issue is shown below. Horizontal text works properly with no flaws (even though maybe if the text was selectable instead of copying i think it would be better), the vertical text just shows gibberish. Video here: https://streamable.com/1eoyto - (2022-08-05, v:3.0.25) Phong Phan: Make text directly selectable, without having to drag a rectangle box
Currently you have to drag a rectangle box to select the areas you want to copy. Is it possible to directly make selection on the text just like when you select normal text (like how Live Text works on macOS) and then if you want to copy you can just ctrl/cmd - C like usual. If this is possible, it would be tremendously helpful because then you can use Selectext together with other tools like macOS three-finger tap to Look Up, Inkah pop-up dictionary, macOS Shortcuts integration, Raycast hotkey shortcut, etc. It opens a whole new lots of way to interact with the text, rather than just copy it. Thank you for this wonderful extension. - (2022-07-25, v:3.0.17) Hanaf Khan: Cannot copy video recording from d2l platform of my university
I cannot copy text from my uni lectures, please help - (2022-07-22, v:3.0.17) Sandesh Jangam: Can not copy the ruby code correctly
Go to 6.48 and try to copy the code. Video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWdwts1cgjI - (2022-06-21, v:3.0.14) Jadon Padayachee: Copying text from video on certain sites
Hi, I have been trying to use Selectext on Shaw Academy, not sure if you are familiar with it. It doesn't work to copy text from the videos in full screen however it does work if full screen is exited & then the copy is attempted. I'm unsure if this is due to their privacy settings, however if there are any suggestions on what could be done it would be much appreciated. - (2022-06-07, v:3.0.13) Md. Mahir Islam: Bug
It would be better if there is no space before the full stop or comma or any other punctuation but space after a punctuation is good. Try to fix this ! - (2022-05-21, v:3.0.10) Tyler Watkins: Since the last update.
Since the last update. It seems that the copy line breaks after each space or a dash. I'm using single line and it seems like its acting like multi line. - (2022-05-04, v:3.0.10) Mack: strange behavior on udemy
it glitches the video and moves it down for some reason - (2022-04-20, v:3.0.9) AndyTheKid: Doesn't show up
I tried to use it on youtube and the icon thing is not showing up - (2022-04-17, v:3.0.9) Yagna Surya: Toggle not Shown
After add this extension toggle not shown. I refreshed my web page but its not shown, Reply for this problem. - (2022-03-26, v:3.0) Discover Royale: Is This A Virus?
Is This A Virus And I Want Proof! - (2022-01-03, v:2.6.3) Ricky: Allow lasso select text on webpage
Can you please extend the functionalities of this extension to allow lasso select (like LinkClump) for text on a webpage? Sometimes, the text I want to copy are in a column, but the column is invisible as there is no table. It's just lines of text that look something like this: text1 abc text2 def text3 ghi and I want to copy just the first column of text, without copying the 2nd column of text. If we can use lasso select to draw a rectangle around what we want to copy, that would be awesome.