How to search for text in images on Windows 11

Try Windows' own search

1. Choose your picture folders. Open Settings > Privacy & security > Search > Find my files. With Classic selected, choose Customize search locations, then Modify, and select your picture folders. Enhanced offers broader indexing.
2. Search from the taskbar. On a Copilot+ PC, open Windows' own taskbar Search and type a description of the picture you remember.
3. Try Photos too. On a Copilot+ PC, open Photos and type a description into its search bar to find matching indexed local photos.

These descriptive searches depend on indexed pictures and supported formats and languages. Glassline's Read the words in pictures setting lets you search screenshots, scans and receipt photos by their words.

Turn on picture reading

1. Install Glassline from the Microsoft Store. Open Glassline to follow the remaining steps in its own Settings and Search.
2. Open Glassline Settings. Right-click the menu bar, choose Glassline Settings, then open Search.
3. Turn on Find files by meaning. Under Model for finding by meaning, choose Download if the model has not been downloaded yet. The model is downloaded once.
4. Turn on Read the words in pictures. Screenshots, scanned pages saved as pictures and photos of receipts can now be found by the words on them.
5. Add your picture folder. Under Folders to find by meaning, choose Add... and select the folder containing the pictures you want to search.

Find the bill you photographed

1. Press the Windows key. This opens Glassline's Search. These steps use Glassline's Search throughout.
2. Type electricity bill. Once the picture has been read, the photo of your bill appears among the results, even when its file name says nothing about the bill.
3. Preview the result. Select the picture and press Ctrl and Space. The photo appears large enough to check before you open it.

The same setup covers the screenshots and receipt photos in the folders you add. Search for words you remember seeing in the picture.

Give the first reading time

Glassline reads the folders in the background, slowly. A folder full of photos takes a while. If a picture is missing from the results, check that its folder is listed under Folders to find by meaning, then allow time for it to be read.

On a laptop, check Read documents on battery. With it off, reading waits until the PC is plugged in. Picture reading happens on your PC, offline; your documents and what you type stay on this PC.

For other file-search questions, see how to speed up file search. For the Search layout and its other uses, see Spotlight-style Search on Windows 11.

You can try Glassline free for 7 days: on its Microsoft Store page, choose Free trial. Glassline is bought once after the trial.