Screen Text Capture

Screen Text Capture is a Pro capability for capturing text at the pointer without selecting it first. Its trigger, capture range, and next action depend on the workflow you configure. The built-in Screen Text Translation workflow captures a word and shows its translation in the mini panel near the source. It works with ordinary text and with visible text inside images, videos, games, and other screen content.

Set the shortcut

1. Open Settings → Shortcuts.
2. Search for Screen Text Translation.
3. Click its shortcut field, then press the key combination you want to use.

See Shortcuts if the combination conflicts with another action or cannot be registered by the system.

How Screen Text Capture reads text

On Windows, Float Translate first tries UI Automation (UIA, the Windows interface that lets accessibility tools read text from application controls) at the pointer position. If UIA cannot return usable text, Float Translate falls back to OCR on the visible screen pixels. OCR quality can vary with text size, contrast, font, and the content behind the word.

This OCR fallback uses Windows built-in OCR by default. Recognition may be inaccurate when the source language does not match the installed or selected OCR language. Follow Windows OCR language support to install and select the matching language, or choose another OCR capability in the workflow.

On macOS, Float Translate also tries Accessibility first to read text exposed by the target app. If that does not return usable text, it uses Screen Recording access to capture the visible pixels for OCR. If the current task needs access, follow the in-app prompt. You can also open Permissions under Settings in the main panel to review the current status.

Translate a word or sentence

1. Move the pointer over the word you want to translate.
2. Press the Screen Text Translation shortcut.
3. Float Translate captures the word and opens its translation in the mini panel beside the source.

You do not need to click, drag, or change the focused app first.

When you need more context, press the same shortcut again while the pointer remains over the same word. The current lookup switches from the word to its surrounding sentence. Pressing it again over the same target switches back to the word.

Moving the pointer elsewhere starts a new lookup instead of changing the previous one.

Use the captured text in another workflow

The built-in Screen Text Translation workflow is a preset: it captures text with Screen Text Capture, runs a translation capability, and displays the result in the mini panel. You can edit the preset to replace translation with an online dictionary, local dictionary, AI, or another compatible text capability. You can also replace “display in the mini panel” with “open in the full translation panel” or another compatible action. To keep the original preset, create a new workflow that starts with Screen Text Capture and combine the later steps as needed.

The choices shown in the workflow editor depend on the services and capabilities you have configured and on whether each step can accept the previous step’s output.

Improve recognition

• Keep the pointer near the center of the word.
• Use a frame where the text is sharp and unobstructed.
• Increase the display or content scale when the text is very small.
• For a dense paragraph or a larger region, use Screenshot Translation instead.

If Screen Text Capture does not finish

• Confirm that the signed-in device has access to Pro features.
• Check that the shortcut is active and does not conflict with another action.
• On macOS, follow the in-app permission prompt or review Settings → Permissions if Float Translate cannot read the target text.
• If no text is found, place the pointer closer to clear text or use Screenshot Translation for a larger selected region.
• If text is captured but no translation appears, confirm that at least one suitable translation capability is enabled, configured, and available for the current language pair. See Mini Panel for problems that appear after the panel opens.

Choose the right translation path

• Use Translate Selected Text when the source text can be selected normally or when you want to compare longer results in the full panel.
• Use Screen Text Capture for a word or its surrounding sentence without selecting it.
• Use Screenshot Translation when you want to translate a larger selected screen region.