“Live Text” is a new feature in macOS Monterey that allows you to use text from an image. It is quite practical. For example, if you’ve ever been to a meeting or class and taken a photo of the whiteboard, you can now select that text, copy and paste it into a document.
There are many ways to use the “Live Text” feature, and it is a tool that will save you a lot of time. “Live Text” is also available in iOS 15 and iPadOS 15, and precisely because you probably use the cameras on these devices more often, you probably use the feature more on an iPhone or iPad than on a Mac.
But in the fall, it will arrive on macOS Monterey and it will work with the Photos app, Safari, Quick Look, and the screenshot feature.
We explain how ‘Live Text’ works on Mac using the public beta of macOS Monterey. Although Apple does not include Intel Macs in the compatibility list, the feature became available on these devices with the fourth beta.
How to use Live Text in Photos, Quick View, and Safari
The “Live Text” feature works the same in the Photos app, in Safari, and in Quick Look. At the time of writing, the feature does not appear to be active with the screenshot app in public beta.
When you have an image in front of you, place the cursor over the text and you will see the text selection tool appear. You can then select the text and copy and paste it into a document.
You will also have the option to take the text from the image and drag it to another app and then drop it, as we teach you in this GIF.
‘Live Text’ works great for identifying characters. In the GIF above, you can see how “Live Text” identified the emphasis on the letter “O” (although it should go in the “A”).
You may also have noticed that there are a few marks in the corner of the front panel with the “S” for “SOY”. The function interpreted it as a thumbnail.
Also, “Live Text” interpreted the “O” in “GARBAGE” as a “D”, but it’s really hard to fault it when it looks a bit like a “D” in the image too.
How to use the Visual Finder
Once the text is selected, you can right click to display the context menu and you have the option to use Finder. If you are using Safari, it will appear in the third section of the menu, under “Save Image” and “Copy Image”.
Three options are available in the search engine:
Knowledge of Siri: Displays information based on the context of the selected text.
Plans: Search for maps by text and display a location.
Websites suggested by Siri: Search the Internet using the selected text and return a web page that you can read.
Original article published in igamesnews US.
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