ScreenSearch

ScreenSearch lets you search for text visible on your screen regardless of the app it's in. If you can see it, ScreenSearch can find it.


ScreenSearch is a powerful, flexible tool that's not limited to any specific job, task, or workflow. It's up to you what it helps you accomplish. It is intended to fill in gaps in other software in different ways.

You may find it useful for a searching for UI in apps. You may want to use it to search on a web page when you don’t want the browser's built-in search to change the scroll position. Some apps don't have any search functionality at all.

Using ScreenSearch

Activating ScreenSearch will present you with a search box. Enter a search term and press return to search across all your Mac's screens. Any results will be highlighted in yellow boxes. A "No Results" message is shown if ScreenSearch could not find the text on screen.

Activating

Searches can be started with a configurable global keyboard shortcut (⇧⌘1 by default).

You can start a search by opening the global ScreenSearch Menu Item and selecting "Search On Screen…"

When the application icon is visible in the Dock, clicking on the icon will also initiate a search.

Customizing

ScreenSearch is most useful when it is always running. You can enable or disable launching ScreenSearch at login in ScreenSearch's Preferences.

But ScreenSearch is also best when you hardly realize it's there. By default, the app will appear in the Menu Bar. But the Menu Bar can be precious space for many people. In ScreenSearch's Preferences you can customize whether the app appears in the Menu Bar, in the Dock, both locations, or neither location.

When the app is visible only in the Dock, Preferences can be reached by right-clicking on ScreenSearch's Dock Icon, or by pressing the keyboard shortcut for Preferences while the search box is open (⌘, by default).

It is possible to run ScreenSearch and not have neither in the Menu nor in the Dock. The global shortcut will still work as long as ScreenSearch is running. In this mode, activating ScreenSearch, such as by double-clicking on the app icon in Finder, will show ScreenSearch's Preferences.

Privacy Policy

ScreenSearch never collects or transmits personal information, including photos, videos, and IP addresses. ScreenSearch uses your computer's Screen Recording functionality to capture images of what you see on your computer. It looks for text in those images so it can highlight the text on your screen. Images are not stored or transmitted. All processing is done locally on the computer running ScreenSearch. ScreenSearch only looks at your screen when you start a search. Information about the use of ScreenSearch is collected and aggregated by Apple, and delivered to the developer in an anonymized fashion for the improvement of the application.