How to Copy Text From Windows Error Message Boxes, Windows Explorer Etc Using GetWindowText

Getting errors with weird error codes while working on Windows is not unusual and when we get one, thank God we have Google (or any other search engine you prefer) to answer what the error message or the error code means.

Now the problem with these error boxes is that one cannot copy the error messages directly on to their clipboard with simple select and drag. Writing down the error word by word in the search field while frequently toggling Alt+Tab is the only option left.

Now, with GetWindowText, you can convert all those error box’s messages into text, which can be copied onto your clipboard and could be used wherever required. Talking about the tool, GetWindowText is a very small and portable utility which can work on the OCR (Optical Character Recognition) principle to read the message box as an image and convert it into editable text. It can read text from virtually any Window or icon, the kind of text that you cannot readily copy.

Whenever you have a windows error box which you want to copy, run the GetWindowText application. Now, left click

button and drag it over the message box from which you want to read the text. When you see that the outline of the text in your message box has a black frame release the left mouse click to reveal the text in the GetWindowText.

Note: While testing the product, I was not able to generate any error message box with fatal error codes. However I have used it on some Windows dialog boxes and I am sure it will work on error messages as well.

You can now copy this text on your clipboard and use it in anywhere.

The program can also read list view, tree view, combo view and selection fields on the Windows Explorer. One can enable and disable these features from the program option menu. Furthermore, you can auto-start the program with Windows, and it hardly takes up any memory.

To try the program, I dragged the button to the taskbar, desktop full of icons, the status bar, the title bar, the clock in the task bar and the program was able to read the text.

My Verdict

Every Windows user will definitely find GetWindowText useful eventually. I found the application very handy to read and copy all the error messages giving the search to fix the problem an easy start.