All guides

How to translate text on your Mac screen

A menu in a language you don't read, a slide from a colleague abroad, a caption in a video: copy the words and translate them without leaving what you're doing.

« Couper, copier, coller »Text copied · FrenchTranslate to EnglishUndo

Steps

  1. Press ⇧⌘2 and drag over the text.
  2. Press T to copy it as text.
  3. If the text isn't in your language, the confirmation shows Translate to English (or your language).
  4. Click it. The translation replaces the copy in your clipboard; Undo brings the original back.
  5. Paste wherever you need it.

Tips

  • Translation runs on your Mac with Apple's own on-device models. Nothing is sent to a server.
  • It needs macOS 15 or later. The first time you use a language, macOS may ask to download it.
  • It works on text inside images, videos and screen shares too, because Pluck reads the pixels.

Without Pluck

macOS can translate selected text with Control-click › Translate in many apps, and Live Text in Preview and Photos. Neither works on text you can't select, like a video frame or a screen share.