TRex
TRex is a macOS OCR utility that lets you capture and copy text from images, videos, PDFs, and other content visible on your screen.
What is TRex?
TRex is a macOS utility for extracting text from anything you can see on screen, including images, videos, PDFs, screenshots, and shared presentation windows. It is designed for people who regularly need to copy text that is not normally selectable, such as text inside scanned documents, video frames, or screen sharing sessions. The app runs as a menu bar tool and provides quick capture workflows with keyboard shortcuts for fast access during everyday work. TRex supports local OCR on Mac, can recognize handwritten text, and can decode QR codes shown on screen. It also includes features for multi-region capture, capture history, and table extraction to formats such as Markdown and CSV. Optional AI integrations can be used for enhanced OCR or text post-processing, while core OCR features are available offline for local use.
Key features
- Capture text from images, videos, PDFs, screenshots, and other on-screen content
- Recognize handwritten text and printed text in many languages
- Select multiple screen regions and combine the extracted text into one result
- Extract tables and export them in formats such as Markdown and CSV
- Browse capture history and quickly recopy previous results
- Decode QR codes and barcodes shown on your Mac screen
- Launch captures quickly from the menu bar or custom keyboard shortcuts
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Safety overview
Status: Mostly safe
TRex is a legitimate OCR utility for macOS from Ameba Labs, LLC. Its screen capture and text recognition features are consistent with requesting Screen Recording access on Mac, because it needs to read visible content from your display. Core OCR functions are described as local and offline, but optional AI integrations may send content to external providers if you enable them. Review any connected AI service settings before using those features with sensitive material.
Recommendation: Keep TRex if you use it to copy text from non-selectable content, scanned documents, videos, or screenshots. If you do not use OCR or screen text capture on your Mac, you can remove it without affecting macOS itself. Before using optional AI-powered features, choose providers carefully and avoid sending confidential on-screen content unless that matches your privacy needs.
Common paths
/Applications/TRex.app
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