Extract Text (OCR) · Watchflows Docs

At a glance

Takes: An image path on the payload
Emits: extractedText, ocrConfidence, ocrLineCount, success
Good for: Screenshots, receipts, scanned pages, anything with words in it

Set it up

Point Image Path at the upstream file — {{filePath}} from a Photo Added or Directory Changed trigger, or any image path on the payload. The recognized text is merged onto the payload, so a later node can still act on the image itself.

The inspector for Extract Text (OCR): the image, how carefully to read it, and where the text lands.

Configure

Field	Default	What it does
Image Path	`{{filePath}}`	The image to read.
Recognition Level	Accurate	Fast trades accuracy for speed.
Language Correction	On	Dictionary-based correction. Turn it off for codes, SKUs and serial numbers, where correction hurts.
Output Key	`extractedText`	Where the recognized text lands.

Output

Every key is available downstream as {{key}}.

Key	Type	Value
`extractedText`	String	The recognized text. Renamed by Output Key
`ocrConfidence`	Number	Average per-line recognition confidence
`ocrLineCount`	Number	How many lines were recognized
`success`	Boolean	`false` when the image was missing, blocked, or still in iCloud
`error`	String	On failure only — which of those it was

Example: read a screenshot

Input picks an image file. Extract Text (OCR) reads it. Log prints {{extractedText}}.

Three nodes: pick an image, read it, log the words.

Paste this into the Flow Builder to get the same flow:

Let me pick an image with an Input trigger, run OCR on it, and log the text it found.

Good to know

A failure is a payload, not a stopped run. A missing file, a denied Photos permission, or an iCloud original that isn't on this Mac yet all come back as success: false with an error — branch on it with a Condition rather than expecting the flow to halt. A transient iCloud failure is also marked transient: true.

Photos access must be full. With Photos set to Limited rather than Full Access, the node refuses before any recognition runs, so a partial library can't quietly return nothing.

A photo whose bytes are still in iCloud is downloaded first when the payload carries its assetIdentifier, so the text comes from the original rather than a degraded copy.