- Found a coding video but cannot copy the code?
- You're a dyslexic or know a dyslexic fella that has trouble spelling and copying things properly?
- Need texts from meetings share screen?
- Found a meme and wanna reverse search its origin?
- Want to quickly translate foreign text from screenshots?
- Working with scanned documents or textbooks?
Snipping Lens gotchu!
Snipping Lens is a cross-platform application that automatically detects when you take screenshots and searches them using Google Lens for quick image lookup, and text extraction and translation.
demo.mp4
Current demo is for older versions. Snipping Lens 3 demo will be uploaded soon.
Check Releases for the latest release and installation instructions.
Windows:
- Use Win+Shift+S, or left-click the tray icon.
- Screenshots are automatically detected and opened in Google Lens.
- Left-click: Takes a screenshot according to the system's snipping tool or equivalent.
- Right-click: Show context menu with options:
- Open App: Opens Snipping Lens main window.
- Exit: Close the application.
- Internet connection for Google Lens.
- Windows 10 or later.
Screenshots are uploaded to Litterbox, a free and anonymous image hosting service, solely for the purpose of generating a URL that can be used with Google Lens. Images uploaded to Litterbox are not stored permanently, they automatically expire and are deleted after 1 hour. No user information is attached to the upload, and the application does not keep any record of your screenshots.
Simplicity, getting an image from user's clipboard and uploading it to a file hosting site is more straightforward than figuring out where the image is saved on the device for each operating system.
I'm sure you're worried about privacy, but you shouldn't be uploading confidential information to Google in the first place anyway.
As long as Litterbox returns the expected response (a direct image URL) and as long as the Google Lens endpoint https://lens.google.com/uploadbyurl?url=<uploaded_image_url> still exists and works, this program will continue to function as intended. If either service changes or is discontinued, the program's automatic search feature may no longer work.
For Windows: setup_win.vbs already builds the application from source using its own Python 3.10 environment. If you want to use your own Python environment, you need to adjust the path inside the scripts in the bin/win folder.
If you like this project, please leave a star 🌟, and share it with your friends! Consider donating on PayPal to support development.
If you encounter any issue:
- Check the Issues page if issue has been raised.
- Create a new issue if necessary and provide in-depth details of the issue including the relevant logs (right-click tray icon > Show Logs).
This project comes with no guarantee or warranty. You are responsible for whatever happens from using this project. This is a personal project and is in no way affiliated with Google nor Microsoft.