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How to install an OCR language pack for the Awesome Screenshot Windows Desktop App

Awesome Screenshot
  • Updated

OCR (Optical Character Recognition) will be added to our Windows desktop app in the near future. 
If you see the following notice: 

The required language's OCR pack is not installed.

Please follow the steps below to install the OCR language pack to extract text from pictures in that language.

Method 1: Add that language OCR pack in Settings
Method 2: Install via keyboard shortcut and command line
 

Method 1: Add that language OCR pack in Settings

  1. Open Settings on your Windows computer.

  2. Click Time & language.

  3. Click Language & region.

  4. Click Add a language, then choose the language you want to install.

  • If Optical character recognition appears as a non-editable item under Required language features, it will be installed automatically along with the language — no further action is needed.

  • If Optical character recognition appears with a checkbox, make sure to check it.
  • No need to check Language pack, Text-to-speech, Enhanced speech recognition, or Set as my Windows display language if you don't need those specific features for that language. 

Method 2: Install via keyboard shortcut and command line

Using Japanese as an example:

1. Press Win + X simultaneously.

2. From the pop-up menu, select Terminal (Admin) or Windows PowerShell (Admin).

3. Grant permission for the app to make changes to your device.

4. Copy and paste the following command:

Add-WindowsCapability -Online -Name Language.OCR~~~ja-JP~0.0.1.0

Installation Process Notes:

  • After the command runs, Windows will automatically download and install the OCR package.
  • This may take a few seconds or many minutes. Please be patient.
  • Once the installation completes, the output will show Online : True.

5. To confirm the installation was successful, run:
Get-WindowsCapability -Online | Where-Object { $_.Name -Like 'Language.OCR*' }

If successful, the State of Language.OCR~~~ja-JP~0.0.1.0 will show as Installed.
 

Quick Reference Commands：

  • Install an OCR pack:
    Add-WindowsCapability -Online -Name Language.OCR~~~ja-JP~0.0.1.0
  • Check if a specific language is installed:
    Get-WindowsCapability -Online | Where-Object { $_.Name -Like 'Language.OCR*ja-JP*' }
  • Remove an OCR pack:
    Remove-WindowsCapability -Online -Name Language.OCR~~~ja-JP~0.0.1.0

  • List ALL available OCR packs on your device:
    Get-WindowsCapability -Online | Where-Object { $_.Name -Like 'Language.OCR*' }

     

P.S.

  • The OCR package name follows this format:

Language.OCR~~~language code-country code~version

  • Here is the full list of all built-in Windows OCR language packs - simply replace the code with the one matching your target language.


 

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