# How can I extract text from a Flash Web site?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-extract-text-from-a-flash-web-site/484828>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [February 7, 2009, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-extract-text-from-a-flash-web-site/484828 "2009-02-07T19:11:43Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\
**Post date:** [February 7, 2009, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-extract-text-from-a-flash-web-site/484828/1 "2009-02-07T19:11:43Z")

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I regularly need to cut and paste text from various Web sites I visit, and a site I use frequently has just been redesigned as all Flash.\*

I HATE FLASH!

Where it used to be a simple matter to cut and paste text from ordinary HTML into a Word doc (for instance), now I have to manually retype from the screen or use a screen capture utility and do OCR on the image, which is a major PITA.

Does anyone know of a program (preferably free) that will allow me to cut and paste text from a Web site’s flash image easily and quickly? I’ve found a couple that seem to be more about extracting images, and didn’t work so well for text.

I’m interested in programs you actually use and know about, not just found on a Google search. Thanks.

- I just found another really infuriating thing it does: it hijacks \<CTRL\>\<TAB\> to jump between links on the page instead of switching between Firefox tabs! ASSHOLES!