Scani - an instantly capture text from images and more..
Edit: Really thank you all for the love you're showing to Scani.. Hey everyone, I’m Steven I’m launching Scani today: a native macOS app notarized by apple I built to make screen text/image capture and search faster and less painful. The problem A lot of useful text on your Mac is not actually selectable. It could be inside: screenshots PDFs videos scanned documents etc.. I really didn’t like apple’s default implementation for OCR and found text selection glitchy. Also most of the time, the workflow is really slow: Take screenshot -> open another app -> crop -> OCR -> copy text -> search manually. That felt broken to me. The comparison: There are already good tools for screenshots, OCR and search like ludylens. but I felt the interface and UX for the same could be better and some more features can be added. I wanted something focused on one job: Hold a shortcut, detect text on screen, select what I need, and act on it instantly. No heavy workspace. No complicated setup. No switching between different apps or interfaces. The solution: So I built Scani. It sits in the menu bar and works with a global hold hotkey. When triggered, it scans the active screen and gives you a clean overlay to select text visually. You can: detect text from anywhere on screen. auto-frame text clusters. draw your own selection box. drag, resize, and nudge the frame ( using shortcuts) copy selected text search it on the web Even send the images to Google Lens for Search. preview/edit extracted text before using it. Scani includes a 10-day free trial, so people can test it properly before buying. Why I built it The goal was not to build another bloated productivity suite, but simple app that does the job. I use it everyday and have eliminated a lot of bugs users might encounter. Would also love you here feedback ,feature suggestions and improvements to the app for you and to answer any questions you may have. Pricing: Scani is launching today and wanted to do a small launch offer for my reddit fam.. Scani has a 10 days free trial with then option to upgrade to full version.. Pricing: 2.99 USD Discount Code : flat100 (20 discount codes avaliable , 100% off) Also for those who miss it: flat50 (50 discount codes avaliable , 50% off) Apply the code received in your mail in the settings of scani. Link for Scani: https://www.erdente.com/scani/ A little bit about me for trust: I'm Steven - I'm Steven, a software developer passionate about building software that solves real problems , starting with my own ;). My LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/in/steven-moses-aa2909244/ My Twitter : https://x.com/TechSnow7 Edit: Scani's first update is out based on your feedback: Scani v1.1.0 Update Hey everyone, Scani v1.1.0 is out. What’s new Multi-language OCR Added support for Korean, Japanese, Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional, German, Spanish, French, Italian, and Russian. Custom global hotkey Set your own key combo to trigger scans instead of using the default ⌘ hold. QR code & barcode scanning Scan QR codes and barcodes, then quickly search or copy the detected content. Automatic updates Scani now supports automatic update notifications via Sparkle. Improved text selection Larger selection handle hit areas make grabbing and dragging text easier. Bug fixes Miscellaneous stability and reliability improvements. Would love to hear feedback from anyone trying it out.
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no time to read through now. sry. why superior to apple ocr? its a shortcut away. i use it 50 times a day. maybe more
let me give you an example.. in the video shown, as you can see the text selection is finicky.. It's the same for me while using apple's ocr in YouTube in safari or images for example.. That prompted me to build this app..
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How do I set up apple ocr shortcut?
google it. on zhe road can’t check it
I actually sometimes screenshot on my phone to copy long text in images. This is good!
Thanks..
Does this capture mathematical and chemical formulas , mathematical to latex would be fantastic, that said the site takes a long time to load
It's does work but the accuracy is a little less for chemical formulas specifically.. math equations are fine seem ok.. Though the chemical formula feature with good accuracy is noted for the next update.. Math to latex is also noted.. As for the site.. My vps is under some load right now as lots of people are visiting the site.. Though I'll try to fix it..
I just tried it on matrices on a pdf was not legible at all , I think you might need to add latex support ,if you decide to road map it I'll get it now
Also the text selection is currently hit or miss , the move handle very easily pops up every time I try to select a text
Outstanding work! Might it be possible to include an option to change/customize the hotkey?
Sure.. I wanted to ship the first version fast so the feature didn't make the cut, but will sure be added in the next version..
And I just did in the new version.. you can check it out at https://www.erdente.com/scani/
Awesome work ... the update is great! Thanks for being so responsive. 👍🏼
I am interested in purchasing your product, but I would like to clarify a few points before proceeding: 1 Concurrent License Activation: Could you please specify the maximum number of devices that can be activated simultaneously using a single license? 2 Machine Replacement Policy: What is your policy concerning the reassignment of a license to a new machine? Specifically, what happens if I replace my current computer with a new one? 3 Academic and Student Pricing: Are there any academic or student discounts currently available, or are any planned for the future? Thank you for your assistance and for addressing these inquiries.
Excellent questions, let me answer: Upto 2 devices can be activated concurrently via the same license key so you basically get license key for two devices on a single purchase. If you are going to stop using Scani on a machine, Scani lets you deactivate the license on the current machine to then reactivate on the next machine. Edge Case: If your device is lost/inaccessible and you want to deactivate the license on the machine, you can always contact support@erdente.com so the license can be deactivated on the machine. Currently, there are some 50% discount codes left and I feel that's good enough for students as well for now. In future when they get over, I'll happily offer discount codes provided you are a student. Interface for Scani license deactivation. Also thank for the reminder, will add all these points on the website itself.
Thank you, I have purchased a license!
Can’t wait to scan 400 things into beautifully organized notes that I will absolutely never open again.
the "hold shortcut, overlay appears, select text" flow is exactly what I wanted. Apple's built-in OCR works but the UX around it is clunky. trying the trial now
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Thank you..😇