Screenshots, Annotations, and OCR

Cherry Studio can capture a screen region with a global hotkey, add rectangles, arrows, brushes, text, or mosaics, and copy or save the result. After enabling local OCR, you can also directly select and copy text in the screenshot.

Goals and prerequisites

• Path: [Settings] → [Screenshot];
• On macOS, you need to allow Screen Recording the first time you use it; after authorization, restart the app as prompted on the page;
• OCR requires downloading a text recognition model in [Settings] → [Local Models];
• The screenshot feature is disabled by default, and automatic text recognition is enabled by default, but OCR will not run if the model is not ready.

Terms

Terms	Meaning
Global hotkey	A hotkey that can be triggered even when the current focus is not in Cherry Studio
OCR	Recognize text in an image as selectable, copyable text
Mosaic	Obscure accounts, paths, keys, or other sensitive areas in the screenshot

Operation path

[Settings] → [Screenshot] → turn on [Enable Screenshot] → press the screenshot hotkey → select an area → annotate or recognize text → copy or save.

Steps

1

1. Enable screenshots and check permissions

Open [Settings] → [Screenshot] and turn on [Enable Screenshot]. If [Screen Recording Permission] appears on macOS, choose [Authorize]; after authorization, click [Restart Now].

2

2. Set the hotkey

The default hotkey is macOS's Command+Shift+Aand Windows and Linux's Ctrl+Shift+A. Click [Set Hotkey] to jump to the corresponding row; if it is already occupied by the system or another app, the page will show a conflict warning.

3

3. Select and annotate

After pressing the hotkey, drag to select a region. Use [Rectangle], [Arrow], [Brush], and [Text] to highlight key points, and use [Mosaic] to cover sensitive information; the property panel lets you adjust color, line width, and font size.

4

4. Copy text or image

When the OCR model is ready, the page will automatically recognize text; you can also click [Recognize Text]. Directly select text or choose [Copy All Text]; after finishing annotations, choose [Copy and Close] or [Save Image].

Expected results

The screenshot contains only the selected area; the annotations are clear and sensitive information has been obscured; after copying, you can paste the image into the target app, or paste the OCR text as editable text.

Key screenshots

① [Screenshot] is a customizable global hotkey; after changing it, test it once in a non-Cherry Studio window first.

Configuration notes

Configuration item	Product default	Recommended starting point	Function	Applicable scenario	Notes
Enable screenshot	Disable	Turn on when needed	Register global screenshot hotkey	Daily screenshots, tutorials, issue reports	macOS requires Screen Recording permission
Screenshot hotkey	Command/Ctrl+Shift+A	Keep the default unless there is a conflict	Trigger screenshots from any app	High-frequency cross-app use	Will not trigger when it conflicts with other apps
Automatically recognize text	Enable	Keep it on if you often copy text from screenshots	Automatically run OCR after taking a screenshot	Error screenshots, tables, interface text	Need to download a local OCR model

User case

A tester captured a configuration error, used a rectangle to frame the error message, used a mosaic to obscure the account and local path, and then copied it into the issue feedback assistant. Later, they copied the error code from the same screenshot and pasted it into the reproduction steps to avoid mistakes from manual entry.

FAQ

What should I do if pressing the hotkey does nothing?

Make sure [Enable Screenshot] is turned on, then check whether a conflict warning appears next to the hotkey. On macOS, also check Screen Recording permission and restart after authorization; on Windows and Linux, try changing to a combination not used by the system.

Why can't I copy text?

Open [Settings] → [Local Models] and make sure the OCR model status is Ready. Text cannot be recognized while annotating; finish or undo the current annotation first, then run OCR.

References

• Issue feedback and feature requests
• Input toolbar and productivity tools