Textify

Have you ever wanted to copy some text from a dialog box which doesn’t provide such functionality?
Textify was created to solve this problem: you can point your mouse over the text, click on the mouse shortcut (Shift + Middle click by default), and get a selectable view of the text.

Download

exe textify_setup.exe (593.16 kB, changelog)
Latest version: v1.10.4

Source code

https://github.com/m417z/Textify

Demonstration

Textify v1.6 Translation Demo

Translations

If you’d like to translate Textify to your language, please refer to this comment.

Posted in Releases, Software by Michael (Ramen Software) on March 5th, 2016.
Tags:

786 Responses to “Textify”

  1. Abraham can says:

    it can be made to only copy letters or numbers.

  2. angtae says:

    [Confirmed September 6, 2022]
    Close all windows when using textify in chrome. Edge can be used without any problems

  3. SCOTT says:

    been using Textify in chrome for some time without issue, now closes chrome if used.

    • angtae says:

      같은 질문을 한 사용자입니다.

      해결 방법은 본 페이지 설정 안내에 있었습니다.

      ①chrome://accessibility
      ⇒ 접속 후 모두 체크해 주시고.

      ② –force-renderer-accessibility
      ⇒ 크롬 바로가기 폴더에서 해당 값을 추가해주세요.(띄어쓰기로 시작)

      Ex) “C:\Program Files\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe” –force-renderer-accessibility
      ⇒ 유저별 경로가 다를 수 있습니다.

      ③수정한 바로가기 아이콘을 작업표시줄에 새롭게 갱신해주세요.

      저는 위에 설명한 방법으로 증상을 해결하였습니다.

      • angtae says:

        This is the user who asked the same question.

        The solution was in this page setup guide.

        ①chrome://accessibility
        ⇒ Check all of them after connecting.

        ② –force-renderer-accessibility
        ⇒ Add the corresponding value in the Chrome shortcut folder (start with a space).

        Ex) “C:\Program Files\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe” –force-renderer-accessibility
        ⇒ The path for each user may be different.

        ③ Update the modified shortcut icon on the taskbar.

        I solved the symptom by the method described above.

  4. Dear sir, thank you very much for the great program.

    I have a problem. I’m using a program at work, it is running on Java i believe. When i use Textify inside the program, only the headline of the frame returns. Textify can not retrieve anything inside. Is there anything can be done?

    • Textify relies on UI Automation. Unfortunately, not all text can be grabbed this way, depending the way the target program is implemented. There’s a tool from Microsoft called Inspect which shows automation-related information. It can be downloaded here. You can compare Textify and Inspect to make sure it’s not a bug in Textify.

  5. TextifiedUser says:

    Hello! Could you enable Textify, when capturing a word with an ampersand (& character) in it, to also capture the & character? Textify currently ignores the & character.

    Thank you!

  6. TextifiedUser says:

    Hello again! I took a look at the page you asked me to view, and I used Microsoft Inspect Object v7.2 [x64], and it indeed cannot see the “&” character, but this program, GetWindowText, can extract the “&” character from words. You can get it here → http://softwareok.com/?seite=Microsoft/GetWindowText/History

    I also think there is some confusion about what I was asking for, and what “Ted” was asking for in his post: https://ramensoftware.com/textify/comment-page-3#comment-10205

    Textify can capture the “&” character if it is separated from a word, that is, if there is at least 1 space between the “&” character and another letter/word.

    I am asking about extracting the full text, including the “&” character from text that is embedded in a program, like this:

    https://i.imgur.com/akGomfY.png

    Textify extracts the text as ‘SHOW COMMANDS CONTAINING:’ minus the “&” character.

    BTW, The above is from the super useful search tool called Everything. You can get it here: https://www.voidtools.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=9787

    Thank you for any help 🙂

    • Hi,

      I used Microsoft Inspect […] and it indeed cannot see the “&” character, but this program, GetWindowText, can extract the “&” character

      Right, that’s because both Microsoft Inspect and Textify use the UI Automation API, while GetWindowText uses the native API. That’s why the GetWindowText tool can’t grab text from many places, such as the taskbar, the browser, and modern apps such as Windows Calculator.

      I am asking about extracting the full text, including the “&” character from text that is embedded in a program, like this:

      Well, there’s no “&” character in your screenshot. It just so happens that the native Windows controls allow to use the “&” character for an accelerator shortcut. For UI elements in other frameworks, such as the web, or UWP, or Qt, there might be other rules. For example, the source text of some web element might be this is <b>bold</b>, but Textify will just grab “this is bold”, because that’s the text that’s visible on the screen. That’s what the UI Automation returns.

      If you need the original string from a native element, Textify is probably not the right tool for you for that specific task.

      BTW, The above is from the super useful search tool called Everything.

      Yeah, I’m familiar with it and use it on a daily basis. Everything is great!

  7. TextifiedUser says:

    Thanks for the info. Appreciated!

  8. Tom says:

    I just found that textify actually has access keys. There are comments in the ini file. This software is really fantastic, thanks for your hard work and selfless dedication.

  9. Aa says:

    Hi, the tool seems nice!
    But it doesn’t seem to work with telegram. Is there a way to make it work?
    Thanks 🙂

  10. knock knock says:

    I need to copy some file names within a software but I am only able to copy one row at a time which isn’t really much helpful. Is there any way to counter this? I need to copy-paste these file names in Excel in bulk, any help plz?
    https://imgur.com/a/1beaTEY

  11. Aaron S says:

    Dear Michael, thank you very much for this tool!

    I want to use it in a specific program but it unfortunately does not work.

    I tried Microsoft Inspect. In UI Automation mode, I receive an error:
    “Cannot get object from point:
    [Error: FromPoint: hr=0xFFFFFFFF80070005 – Access denied]”

    However, if I switch to MSAA Mode in Inspect, the text is recognized and marked as “Read Only”.

    In Textify, I found that I can switch from UIA to MSAA in the .ini. However, this does not seem to solve my problem and I still cannot mark or copy any text in this program.

    Can you please help me? This would help me so, so much!

    Thank you in advance.

    • Hi Aaron,

      In Textify, I found that I can switch from UIA to MSAA in the .ini.

      Yes, but by default Textify tries both, and if only one of them returns a result, it uses that. The option is mainly for cases when both return a result, but one is better than the other.

      I still cannot mark or copy any text in this program.

      What do you see? Does Textify say that the text couldn’t be retrieved?

      One reason Textify may fail to retrieve the text is that it might get an incorrect element. In Inspect, can you use the “Watch cursor” mode and make sure that once you point on the desired element, it switches to the element with the text?

      Also, can you upload a video recording showing how Textify behaves and how Inspect behaves (also with “Watch cursor”)?

  12. Added web search button for spanishdict.com and youglish.com

    download: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ErmUxRYAj2uyslaIRPn3ccJiJ3YqBwi9

  13. Textextraktor ist eine bequeme Möglichkeit, Text von einer beliebigen Stelle auf dem Bildschirm zu kopieren.

  14. newboy2008 says:

    Possible to have keyboard shortcut? better than ALt/Ctrl or MAj + mouse

  15. Dave says:

    Does not work in Macrium Reflect.

    • Textify relies on UI Automation. Unfortunately, not all text can be grabbed this way, depending the way the target program is implemented. There’s a tool from Microsoft called Inspect which shows automation-related information. It can be downloaded here. You can compare Textify and Inspect to make sure it’s not a bug in Textify.

      • Dave says:

        Thanks. Inspect shows the following wherever I move mouse in Macrium. It looks like software prevents reading from its dialogs and menus?

        “Cannot get object from point:
        [Error: FromPoint: hr=0xFFFFFFFF80070005 – Access is denied.]”

        • I think that it’s just not supported, and the error is “Access is denied” for some unrelated reason. Also, if the program runs as administrator, it may help to run Inspect/Textify as administrator as well.

  16. Pratyush says:

    Hi Ramen, is it possible to disable the popup box entirely? I just want to silently copy the text with an alt-click. I do not want that popup box that shows the selected text. Is this possible? I tried to reduce the font to 1, but a tiny box still appears. Font 0 doesn’t work.

  17. Zara Wraca says:

    Hi, could someone explain the benefits of having that installed??
    By default any windows info message (error, warning etc) can be copied implicitly jus by hitting Ctl+C. Then copied text can be pasted anywhere.
    What problem exactly this program solves?

  18. Rapino says:

    Does it have an limit of characters ?
    I use to copy an text, and it looks it could not show it all.
    Any solution for this ?
    Thank you in advance

  19. mario says:

    the program is great, however is it possible to capture text over an entire area somewhat like textgrab (but with the capture accuracy of your program) ?

    https://apps.microsoft.com/store/detail/text-grab/9MZNKQJ7SL0B

    • Currently that’s not possible. Text Grab, like some other similar programs, uses OCR, i.e. it treats the screen as an image and tries to find text in that image. This approach has pros and cons depending on the situation.

      • mario says:

        thank you for your response,

        that’s exactly why your program not using OCR works much better, but I for example have to “capture” some times tables with hundreds of values, the OCR approach doesn’t work because very often the values are wrong, that’s why your program works very well but even better if it would work on whole work areas.

        Mario

  20. rhys says:

    I almost use Google Translate in Textify
    Is there a setting that pops up immediately when I press the mouse shortcut?

  21. vir says:

    the textify program doesn`t function on telegram app in the channels that have copytext protection, even if the mouse highlight it, that makes a traceable link if we click the link in the telegram app

    • Textify relies on UI Automation. Unfortunately, not all text can be grabbed this way, depending the way the target program is implemented. There’s a tool from Microsoft called Inspect which shows automation-related information. It can be downloaded here. You can compare Textify and Inspect to make sure it’s not a bug in Textify.

  22. sdgsrgregre says:

    Can it provide a blacklist function, some software does not need to read

  23. jill says:

    HI , thank both , if you will and have time , can you tell me how to let texify
    auto copy the content of texify pop-up ballon into clipboard ?

    Or , indeed , i want to accumulate all the content into a date/time/wintitle/content log ,

    or if i can auto copy , i can use a dirty cmd batch to dump it in to a log.

    thanks !!

  24. Rei Narumiya says:

    “Textify” is the most convenient and easy to use. Thank you for developing this software.

  25. Donna says:

    Just want to chime in and say that I’m a big fan of this tiny but extremely useful utility.

    While it could use a few minor tweaks (e.g., settings for text and Icon sizes, popup position options like Ditto’s Popup: At Cursor / At Previous Location, etc.), functionally-wise it’s pretty much perfect – which is not something I can say of most programs I use. Thanks a lot.

  26. Mr.Swan says:

    Hi, I tried to create a new web button in the settings:

    [web_button_6]
    icon=icons\deepl.ico
    command=popup-web!https://www.deepl.com/translator
    width=400
    height=700

    The popup window opens, but the query does not start or I cannot enter any text.
    What am I doing wrong?

  27. Mr.Swan says:

    Okay, I have sent a screenshot by e-mail

  28. tuska says:

    Hi,
    This works for me – examples:

    [web_button_4]
    name=Deutsch – Englisch
    icon=icons\DeepL.ico
    command=https://www.deepl.com/translator/m/translate#auto/en/%s
    width=1200
    height=900

    [web_button_5]
    name=Englisch – Deutsch
    icon=icons\DeepL.ico
    command=https://www.deepl.com/translator/m/translate#auto/de/%s
    width=1200
    height=900

  29. Mr.Swan says:

    Thank you very much, it works for me too!
    Too bad it doesn’t work with the popup window!
    Thanks for the effort!

    • With the popup window option, Textify tries to detect the main browser and use it, and if the detection fails, it opens an Internet Explorer popup. That’s some old code which probably should be removed, as many websites don’t support IE anymore.

      What’s your default browser?

  30. Mr.Swan says:

    I use Firefox. The command “popup-firefox!” in Textify does not work. With the command “popup-chrome!” it works partially, but the popup window is too big and the stored dimensions are ignored!
    Thanks again for your patience!

    • The command “popup-firefox!” in Textify does not work.

      The command tries to launch the following:
      firefox.exe -width 123 -height 123 -new-window "https://..."
      You can click Win+R and try it. Does it work? If not, perhaps Firefox isn’t properly registered on the computer.

      As a workaround, you can use something like:
      command=""C:\Full\Path\firefox.exe" -width 123 -height 123 -new-window "https://www.deepl.com/translator/m/translate#auto/de/%s""

      With the command “popup-chrome!” it works partially, but the popup window is too big and the stored dimensions are ignored!

      Right, the are no command line flags for dimensions for Chromium-based browsers. You can try this workaround but it doesn’t work perfectly.

  31. Mr.Swan says:

    I try your workaround…
    Then I get the following error message:
    “Could not execute command.In order to use web links, you need to have a web browser (e.g. Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox).”
    Although I have both browsers installed…

  32. Mr.Swan says:

    [web_button_8]
    icon=icons\deepl.ico
    command=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe -width 123 -height 123 -new-window “https://www.deepl.com/translator/m/translate#auto/de/%s”

  33. Mr.Swan says:

    Oh, I forgot the 2 “”
    now the Firefox browser opens, but still no pop-up window

  34. Mr.Swan says:

    Still the same as before, the Firefox browser opens, it is also translated, but still no pop-up window.

    My command:

    [web_button_8]
    icon=icons\deepl.ico
    command=””C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe” -width 123 -height 123 -new-window “https://www.deepl.com/translator/m/translate#auto/de/%s””

    • I tried that, and indeed it seems that the width, height flags no longer work. I remember that they worked when I implemented this feature, not sure why Firefox changed it. An app mode (opening a popup window without an address bar) never worked.

      Unfortunately, that has to be implemented on Firefox’s side rather than Textify. It was suggested before, but it seems that the suggestion for app mode in Firefox was rejected.

  35. tuska says:

    Textify – command / DeepL Translator / Pop-up window

    command=”C:\Program Files\Zero Install\0install-win.exe” run –no-wait https://appdownload.deepl.com/windows/0install/deepl.xml
    … opens the pop-up window of DeepL.

    The installation of DeepL has been carried out in this path:
    C:\Program Files\DeepLFürWindows\

    I don’t know how to combine this with this search query:
    https://www.deepl.com/translator/m/translate#auto/de/%s
    Several attempts were unsuccessful.

    For me, the Deepl window opens after Ctrl + C C.
    _________________________________
    Windows 11 Pro (x64) Version 23H2 (OS Build 22631.2861)

  36. Mr.Swan says:

    Hello Michael
    After restarting the computer, the dimensions were adopted. Now everything works as desired!!!
    Many thanks for your support

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