PRACTICAL IMAGE EDITING
Select Recognized Text from the List When Canvas Regions Overlap
When two recognized regions overlap on the canvas, clicking their shared area is an ambiguous way to express which text you want removed. Use the corresponding text-list checkboxes, then verify the green mask at the actual location. The list offers a clearer choice of recognized regions; it does not separate lettering that shares the same flattened image pixels or guarantee correct OCR positions.
Published 2026-10-26 · Updated
1. Establish whether the overlap is a location problem
Open an authorized image and compare the detected list with the visible lettering. Recognition is optional and asks permission before sending a resized working image. A correct-looking transcript can still have a broad or overlapping location. Read the relevant line and look at its canvas outline before deciding that clicking the word will isolate it.
A useful distinction is overlapping recognition boxes versus physically overlapping letter strokes. You can choose different boxes using the list. But where unwanted lettering and a needed line occupy the same source pixels, selecting a narrower box cannot recover their earlier separate layers. Stop promising a precise text-only change when the source does not support one.
2. Stop toggling repeatedly at the shared canvas point
In Select mode, a click can match a recognized region containing that point. When regions overlap, this does not mean the editor asks you which item you intended. Repeatedly clicking the same place can toggle a region without establishing that the adjacent item is the one you wanted. Do not infer a reliable semantic choice from the click location alone.
Instead, move attention to Text in your image and identify the relevant checkbox by its wording and position. Choose only the needed item, then look back at the mask. If similar items have identical text, work one at a time and observe the actual highlighted location; the repeated spelling by itself is not a unique positional identifier.
3. Interpret a mixed checkbox as a grouping state
Changing between Words and Characters reorganizes the available native recognition regions without a new scan. A listed group can contain several underlying regions. If only some are selected, its checkbox can show a mixed state. That is not an error message or proof that only half the visible word has been repaired.
Toggling the group applies a selection choice to that group’s underlying regions. Inspect the green coverage afterward. Where finer positions are unavailable, a listed region may still contain several letters. Do not assume that the Characters view creates trustworthy cuts through every connected glyph or that the list is an editable font layer.
4. Audit the combined mask, including previous manual marks
The checkboxes are only one contribution to the manual removal mask. Earlier Brush and Area strokes can add coverage; Erase can withdraw it, and Protect can exclude it. A checkbox alone therefore does not describe every pixel that will be replaced. Turn on Show mask and inspect both green removal and blue protection near the overlap.
If a recognized region remains too broad, deselect that item and draw a defensible manual boundary. Use short strokes and retain useful visible detail. Do not combine a broad selected box with a narrow brush and expect the brush to make the box smaller. You need to withdraw the unwanted selection contribution explicitly.
5. Run a new repair only after the choice is clear
Changing a checkbox invalidates the old repair candidate and returns to the source with the current selection. This prevents a stale result from standing in for the new region choice. Run Quick or Smart repair deliberately after completing the mask review. Neither mode turns an uncertain recognition box into a proven letter boundary.
Inspect the full result first. Use optional comparison to check the location and then hide it to read the retained text naturally. Confirm both that the unwanted annotation is gone and that the neighboring line still says what it should. A clean-looking blank gap does not compensate for a changed number or a missing accent in useful text.
6. Use the source or manual route when the list cannot decide
If the list cannot provide a safe region and a manual boundary is also uncertain, use the editable design or a clearer authorized source. Another recognition request is justified by a concrete changed condition, not by the expectation that repeated clicks will separate shared pixels. Keep a useful downloaded candidate before changing the draft or leaving the page.
Manual selection, local repair and downloads remain free during beta. The separate automatic cleanup trial uses the whole image after sign-in and separate upload consent; the checkbox list is not its processing boundary. Download and reopen the accepted file, keeping the original separately, rather than treating a checked list item as completion.