NormCap as Linux Screen Capture and Text OCR Tool, a Windows Power Tools Alternative

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Background

Rarely am I jealous of "anything Windows," but one of those is the Windows Power Tool that takes a screenshot of an image file and allows you to OCR any text in the image. But while I covet an exact replica for Linux use, I have settled on NormCap as my favorite alternative. I tried some other Linux alternatives, but I won't waste time and space on details of why I did not like them. 

My only beef with NormCap is that the Flathub version simply will not work on my Ubuntu 24.04 machine. I am far from being a programmer, but my guess is that it has something to do with a clash between the Wayland compositor and the way that screenshots work in general. Regardless, I found that downloading and installing NormCap as an Appimage suits my purposes just fine.

Instructions

First, download NormCap as an Appimage and make it an executable program. After you download the Appimage, and before you do anything else, do the following command in your terminal: sudo apt install libfuse2 Don't ask why, and don't argue: just do it if you want your Appimage to work. Now go back to  your Appimage file (the one you just downloaded), right-click on it and select Properties, then use the slider button to choose "Executable as Program." Close the dialogue box. You should now have an executable Appimage program. (P.S. Once you have done "apt install libfuse2" as instructed above, you won't have to do it again to enable future Appimages.)

Using the NormCap Appimage

The next time you have a need to capture text from an image file (including non-text pdf images, "documents" that consist of graphics files, etc.) do this: 

• In Files (Nautilus) go to the folder that contains the NormCap AppImage, right-click on the Appimage file (in my case, NormCap-0.3.15-x86_64.AppImage) then click "Run." When properly launched, a thick red line will outline your entire screen, accompanied by a "cross-hairs" ( + ) cursor. Also, and this is important, at the top of your screen on the right side you should see a small icon that looks like a "magic wand." Right-click on it with your mouse, and a box should pop up with a choice of "Capture" of "Exit." This icon is the Appimage equivalent of having a program icon in your Dock. 
• Next, hit the escape key (ESC) then close the Files screen.
• Then open or go to the file / screen that contains the graphic(s) from which you wish to extract the text. In the example below, I have a non-ocr (cannot be copied or edited) pdf file and I wish to extract from it the 1st two paragraphs. See below.

• Now I go back up to the right-top of my screen, right-click on the NormCap icon, and click on "Capture." Then I use the cross-hairs cursor to select the title and the first two paragraphs. When I let go of the mouse button, there is a slight pause until I get a pop-up notification that my action has been completed. That means that my screenshot has been captured and is in my "paste" memory, and also resides as a file in my Pictures / Screenshots folder.
• Create a new document (.docx, .odt. .txt etc.) or select an existing doc into which you can paste the text. I always choose to Paste it as Paste Special / Unformatted Text. see below

Now all I need to do is a small amount of cosmetic editing—apply Styles, etc.

NOTES:

• Once you have opened the Appimage, the program will remain open until you either exit NormCap itself, or restart your computer. To verify the program is open and available, simply check for the NormCap icon at the top of the screen (again, it looks like a small "magic wand").
• I do a lot of conversions of public domain materials. Often, those materials have been scanned as graphics files (text is not editable). To convert multiple pages or entire large documents, I use gscan2pdf. But for a few paragraphs or pages, NormCap is faster and more efficient.
• Linux users don't have access to very many free tools to OCR text, especially when just a few paragraphs or pages are needed. Compared to paying for online pdf conversion services or buying a windows computer so you can use Adobe or similar paid products, a combination of NormCap and gscan2pdf can be a nice solution. (If you are going to use gscan2pdf for converting multi page docs or long works of text, we suggest you also add Calibre to your mix of apps. We have posted on that process elsewhere in this blog.)
• For small business owners, or others who might have legacy documents that are stored as graphics files, or documents and files sent to you by customers or clients—and those files have been scanned or saved as image files—if you need to convert those files but don't want to invest in expensive software that must be updated continually (additional cost), using "Foss" software such as NormCap can be quite beneficial and cost-effective.