Head to head
Sincron vs PowerToys Text Extractor
PowerToys is free, it ships from Microsoft and it runs on your machine. If it solves your case, that ends the conversation.
Reviewed on August 11, 2026
Does PowerToys Text Extractor replace a screen translator?
No, because it does not translate. Text Extractor does one thing very well: you press Win + Shift + T, select an area, and the recognized text lands on your clipboard. Recognition runs locally, nothing is sent to any server, and it costs nothing.
What is missing is everything that comes after. Translating is on you, in another window. The translation comes back as running text with no relation to where each block was — so a chart with labels becomes a list of loose words. And it only recognizes languages whose Windows OCR pack you installed.
If your case is copying an error message that will not let you select, or pulling text out of a scanned PDF to paste elsewhere, PowerToys handles it for free and there is no reason to pay for anything.
Side by side
| PowerToys Text Extractor | Sincron Screen Tools | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free with daily limits · US$36/year or US$89 lifetime |
| Extracts screen text | Yes | Yes |
| Translates | No | Yes |
| Local recognition, nothing uploaded | Yes | No |
| Languages | Only installed OCR packs | Broad, no pack to install |
| Result in the original position | No | Yes |
| Summarize what was read | No | Yes |
| Annotate and share the screenshot | No | Yes |
| Account and login | Not needed | Needed for the paid plan |
Checked in August 2026. Third-party tools change without notice.
When PowerToys is enough
When you read the language and only need the text. Copying an error code, a serial number, a passage from a scanned PDF.
When the content must not leave the machine. Confidential documents, internal system screens, customer data. PowerToys sends nothing — no cloud-translating tool can say the same, including ours.
When the budget is zero. It is free, it is Microsoft's, and it is still maintained.
When something is missing
When you do not read the language. Then text on the clipboard is only the start of the work.
When position carries meaning. Chart labels, panel fields and log columns lose their sense out of place.
When the language has no OCR pack installed. Installing a Windows language pack is an extra step, and not every language is available.
When there is a step afterwards: summarize, mark, send. Each of those is another window.
Frequently asked questions
Can I use both?
You can, and it makes sense. PowerToys when the content is sensitive and must not leave the machine; Sincron when you need to understand a language you do not speak.
Will PowerToys add translation?
There is an open community request in the PowerToys repository, but it is not implemented. Do not factor it into a decision today.
Does Sincron run locally too?
Recognition happens on your machine, but translation goes to a cloud service. If the requirement is that nothing leaves the computer, PowerToys is the correct option — not us.
Which recognizes better?
It depends on the language and the installed pack. On Latin script with crisp text, both do well. On vertical Japanese and Arabic, results vary a lot with resolution, in both cases.
Keep reading
Start with the free one
Install PowerToys first. If after extracting the text you still need to understand it, then it is worth trying Sincron.
Download and try