Text Extractor - GNOME Shell Extension

A OCR text extraction tool for GNOME Shell that captures text from screen selections and copies it to the clipboard. Similar to PowerToys Text Extractor for Windows.

Features

• 🖼️ Screen Area Selection: Select any area of your screen to extract text from
• 📋 Clipboard Integration: Automatically copies extracted text to clipboard
• 🌐 Multi-language Support: Supports English and Tamil (தமிழ்) languages
• ⚡ Fast & Reliable: Uses Tesseract OCR engine for accurate text recognition

Screenshots

Requirements

System Dependencies

The extension requires the following packages to be installed:

• tesseract-ocr: OCR engine for text extraction
• xclip: Clipboard utility for copying text
• gnome-screenshot: Screenshot utility for capturing screen areas

Optional Dependencies

• tesseract-ocr-tam: Tamil language pack (only if you need Tamil text recognition)

Installation

Method 1: Automatic Installation (Recommended)

1. Download the extension:

   git clone https://github.com/imshaaz21/text-extractor-gnome.git
   cd text-extractor-gnome

2. Install dependencies automatically:

   chmod +x scripts/install-dependencies.sh
   scripts/install-dependencies.sh

   This script will detect your Linux distribution and install the required packages.

3. Install the extension:

   # Copy to extensions directory
   glib-compile-schemas extension/schemas
   mkdir -p ~/.local/share/gnome-shell/extensions/[email protected]
   cp -r extension/* ~/.local/share/gnome-shell/extensions/[email protected]/
   
   # Restart GNOME Shell
   # Press Alt+F2, type 'r', and press Enter
   # Or log out and log back in

4. Enable the extension:

   • Open GNOME Extensions app
   • Find "Text Extractor" and toggle it on
   • Or use command line: gnome-extensions enable [email protected]

Method 2: Manual Installation

Ubuntu/Debian:

  sudo apt update
  sudo apt install tesseract-ocr tesseract-ocr-tam xclip gnome-screenshot
  sudo apt install tesseract-ocr-tam # Optional for Tamil support

Fedora:

  sudo dnf install tesseract tesseract-langpack-tam xclip gnome-screenshot
  sudo dnf install tesseract-langpack-tam # Optional for Tamil support

Then follow steps 3-4 from Method 1.

Uninstallation

To remove the extension, run the following command:

  rm -rf ~/.local/share/gnome-shell/extensions/[email protected]
  gnome-extensions disable [email protected]

Usage

1. Quick Access: Click the Text Extractor icon in the top panel
2. Extract Text: Select "Extract Text from Screen" from the menu
3. Select Area: Use your mouse to select the area containing text
4. Get Results: The extracted text will be automatically copied to your clipboard

Menu Options

• Extract Text from Screen: Start the text extraction process
• Language: Shows currently selected OCR language
• Check Dependencies: Verify all required packages are installed
• Preferences: Configure language and display settings

Configuration

Language Settings

• Open the extension preferences to change the OCR language
• Currently supports:
  • English (eng)
  • Tamil (தமிழ்) (tam)

Display Settings

• Toggle the panel indicator visibility

License

This project is licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0.