FAQ — Describe Image AI Tools, OCR, Alt Text & Prompts

Start on the Describe Image tool and add your image in the upload area. You can drag and drop a file, click the upload area to choose a file, paste a screenshot with Ctrl+V, or paste a public image URL into the URL field and click Add image. After the preview appears, choose what you want to generate, such as Detailed Description, Brief Description, Alt Text, SEO Description, Extract Text (OCR), Social Caption, Product Listing, Image to Prompt, Chart Analysis, or Document Summary. Pick the mode that matches your real task, then choose an Output language if you want the answer in a specific language. Click the main generate button. When the result appears, open it, read through it, then use Copy if you want to paste it into your CMS, product page, document, social post, accessibility field, prompt library, or notes.

Use drag and drop when the image is already on your computer. Use the file picker if you want to browse folders. Use Ctrl+V when you just took a screenshot and want the fastest path. Use the image URL field when the image is already hosted online and can be accessed publicly. If a URL does not work, first open it in a private browser window. If the browser cannot load the image directly, Describe Image usually cannot fetch it either. Download the image and upload it as a file instead. For best results, upload the original or highest-quality version available. Avoid tiny thumbnails, heavily compressed previews, screenshots with tiny text, or images where the important object is cropped.

For images, use JPG, PNG, WebP, or GIF files up to 15 MB. For videos, use MP4, MOV, or WebM files up to 200 MB. If your image is too large, compress or resize it before uploading. Keep enough resolution for the details you care about, especially text, charts, product labels, forms, and screenshots. If your video is too large, trim it to the section you actually need analyzed. Shorter clips usually produce clearer summaries because the model can focus on the important sequence instead of trying to cover everything.

Choose Detailed Description when you want a full visual explanation of the scene, objects, colors, layout, and context. Choose Brief Description when you only need a quick summary. Choose Alt Text for accessibility fields, screen readers, CMS image alt attributes, and audit fixes. Choose SEO Description when you need image titles, keywords, captions, filenames, and search-friendly copy. Choose Extract Text (OCR) for screenshots, receipts, documents, signs, labels, menus, forms, and handwritten notes. Choose Social Caption for Instagram, X, TikTok, LinkedIn, or campaign drafts. Choose Product Listing for ecommerce photos. Choose Image to Prompt when you want to turn an image into a reusable AI image generation prompt. Choose Chart Analysis for graphs, dashboards, tables, and data visuals. Choose Document Summary for invoices, contracts, reports, forms, letters, and scanned pages. Choose Video Summary when you want a short clip explained scene by scene.

Use a clear image where the main subject is visible and not cropped. If the image contains small text, upload a higher-resolution version or crop closer to the text area before uploading. Pick the most specific mode for your goal. For example, do not use Detailed Description when you really need OCR, and do not use Alt Text when you need a full product listing. The mode tells the AI how to structure the answer. If you need a specific style, use the custom prompt box. For example: Write this as a concise product photo description for a Shopify listing, or Describe only the chart trend and ignore the surrounding dashboard UI. Review the result before publishing. AI can describe visible content well, but you should verify names, numbers, product specs, legal details, medical details, dates, prices, and anything business-critical.

Use the custom prompt box when the preset modes are close but not exact. Write the task in plain language and include the output format you want. Good examples: Extract the visible menu items and prices, then summarize the restaurant style. Write alt text for a blog article about remote work. Turn this product photo into five Amazon bullets and a short Shopify description. Explain this chart for a non-technical executive. Keep the prompt focused. One clear request usually works better than asking for ten unrelated things at once. If you need multiple outputs, generate the first result, copy it, then regenerate with a narrower prompt for the next format.

Use the Output language control before generating. The tool will write labels and generated text in that language while preserving visible text from the image as it appears. This is useful when the image is in one language but your final copy needs another language. For example, you can upload an English product screenshot and ask for a French ecommerce summary, or upload a Japanese document and ask for an English explanation. For OCR, visible text is preserved as accurately as possible. If you need translation, ask for it in the custom prompt after extraction, or run a second generation asking the AI to translate the extracted text.

Choose Alt Text when the final text will go into an image alt attribute or accessibility field. Upload the image, select Alt Text, choose your output language, then generate. Good alt text should explain the meaningful visual content without starting with phrases like image of or photo of. It should be concise, specific, and useful for someone who cannot see the image. For decorative images that do not add meaning, an empty alt attribute may be better. Before publishing, check whether the alt text matches the page context. The same image may need different alt text on a product page, a news article, a help document, or a decorative section.

Choose SEO Description when you want search-friendly image copy. This mode is best for blog images, ecommerce photos, landing pages, galleries, and media libraries. The result can include practical pieces such as primary keywords, long-tail keywords, SEO title, meta-style image description, alt text, suggested filename, and caption. Copy only the parts you need. Use natural language. Do not paste every keyword everywhere. A good workflow is: use the suggested filename when uploading the image, use the alt text in the CMS alt field, use the caption if it helps the page, and adapt the SEO description for surrounding copy.

Choose Extract Text (OCR) for screenshots, scanned pages, receipts, signs, labels, menus, forms, handwritten notes, and document photos. Upload the clearest version you have, then generate. For best OCR results, make sure the text is not blurry, tilted too far, cut off, or extremely small. If the image has multiple columns or a dense table, crop to the section you need or upload a higher-resolution version. After extraction, compare important values with the original image. Always verify totals, dates, addresses, account numbers, invoice numbers, serial numbers, dosage information, and legal wording before using them.

Choose Image to Prompt when you want to recreate the style, composition, lighting, mood, materials, and visual structure of an image in another AI image tool. Upload the reference image, generate the prompt, then copy the Prompt section into your image generator. Use the Negative Prompt section if your generator supports it. The output should be treated as a reusable visual description, not a guarantee of an exact clone. For recognizable people, brands, logos, artists, or copyrighted characters, review and adjust the prompt so it stays appropriate for your use case.

Choose Product Listing when you have a product photo and need a title, subtitle, selling bullets, description, category, buyer fit, and search keywords. Upload a clear product image with the product fully visible. If packaging, labels, size, color, accessories, or variants matter, make sure those details are visible or add them in the custom prompt. Before publishing, add any information that the image cannot prove, such as exact material, dimensions, weight, compatibility, warranty, SKU, price, shipping details, care instructions, or safety claims.

Choose Chart Analysis for charts, graphs, dashboards, data tables, reports, analytics screenshots, and performance visuals. Upload the highest-resolution screenshot you have. Make sure chart titles, axis labels, legends, units, and key numbers are readable. If the dashboard is large, crop to the chart or metric area you care about. Use the result as a plain-English explanation. For decisions, verify the original numbers yourself, especially if the chart is compressed, labels are tiny, or the model says a value is approximate.

Choose Document Summary when the image is a scanned page, receipt, invoice, contract, form, certificate, letter, report, or official-looking document. Upload a straight, readable photo or scan. The tool can identify visible fields, dates, names, amounts, line items, totals, reference numbers, and action items when they are readable. Do not rely on AI alone for legal, tax, medical, financial, or compliance decisions. Use the summary to speed up review, then verify critical fields against the original document.

Switch from Image to Short Video, upload an MP4, MOV, or WebM clip, then choose Brief Summary or Detailed Summary. Video analysis is designed for short clips and focused scenes. Use Brief Summary when you only need the gist. Use Detailed Summary when you need scene order, actions, visible text, camera movement, transitions, or review notes. If the clip is long, trim it first. If you need a specific moment analyzed, upload that segment instead of the full video. Clearer, shorter clips usually produce more useful results.

Yes. Add more than one image when the tool allows multiple uploads. Each image appears as a separate item in the generation queue. Select an individual image if you want to generate one result at a time. Use Describe All when you want the selected mode applied across the batch. Batch generation is useful for product catalogs, image libraries, accessibility cleanup, SEO metadata work, and screenshot review. Check each result before publishing because different images may need different edits.

Guests can try the basic Describe Image generation tools for free before signing in. After the free guest limit is reached, sign in to continue and manage your saved results. Signed-in usage may consume credits depending on the tool, model, and output mode. The button shows the credit cost before you submit. Model 1.0 is the standard option, while Model 2.0 can cost more and may require access through a paid plan. If you run out of credits, check the Pricing page or your account area for available options. Use the lower-cost model for routine work and reserve higher-cost generations for images where accuracy and detail matter more.

Model 1.0 is the default choice for everyday descriptions, alt text, OCR drafts, captions, SEO copy, and quick review work. It is usually the best starting point. Model 2.0 is intended for more demanding visual understanding. Use it when the image is complex, the output needs more nuance, or the first result misses important details. It may require a paid plan and can use more credits. A practical workflow is to start with Model 1.0, review the result, then regenerate with Model 2.0 only when the image or task justifies the extra cost.

Use Save to My Descriptions when you want generated results stored privately in your account. Turn the switch on before generating. After the result is created, you can find it later in My Descriptions. When Save is off, uploads are used for the current generation and the result stays on the current page. Refreshing or leaving the page can clear unsaved results. Saving is useful for repeat work, product catalogs, SEO batches, accessibility tasks, and anything you may need to copy again later. Do not save sensitive files unless you are comfortable storing them in your account.

Generated results saved to My Descriptions are private to your account. Guest uploads and unsaved work are treated as temporary processing work. For sensitive images, turn Save off unless you need the result stored. Avoid uploading private IDs, medical records, financial statements, confidential contracts, private addresses, or images you do not have permission to process. If you need to keep a result, copy it to your own secure system after review. If you saved something by mistake, go to My Descriptions and delete it.

First, check the image quality. If the key detail is blurry, tiny, cropped, hidden, or overexposed, upload a clearer version or crop closer to the important area. Second, choose a more specific mode. OCR, Chart Analysis, Document Summary, Product Listing, and Alt Text each guide the AI differently. Third, add a custom prompt. Tell the tool exactly what to focus on, what to ignore, and how to format the answer. If the result is still not good enough, try Model 2.0 when available or break the task into smaller uploads.

The tool may mark details as unclear when the image does not provide enough visible evidence. That is usually better than inventing a confident but wrong answer. This can happen with blurred faces, tiny text, cropped labels, low-light scenes, dense charts, screenshots with small UI text, or objects that are partly hidden. To improve the answer, upload a sharper image, crop around the important area, use OCR for text-heavy images, or write a custom prompt that asks the AI to focus only on visible details.

You can use generated descriptions, captions, prompts, product drafts, and SEO copy in your workflow, but you are responsible for reviewing and editing the final output before publishing. For commercial pages, verify factual claims, product specs, prices, ingredients, compatibility, safety claims, legal statements, medical details, and brand references. The AI can draft from visible content, but it cannot confirm information that is not shown in the image. For client work, keep a human review step. Treat the result as a fast draft, not as final approval.

Open the generated result card and click Copy to place the text on your clipboard. Paste it into your CMS, ecommerce platform, spreadsheet, document, social scheduler, prompt tool, or issue tracker. If the answer is almost right, copy it and edit the wording where you publish it. If you need a different structure, regenerate with a custom prompt such as Return this as five bullets, Make it shorter, Write it for a product page, or Translate the result into Spanish. For repeated workflows, save results to My Descriptions so you can return to them later.

Use Describe Image when you need one structured output, such as alt text, OCR, SEO copy, a product listing, or a prompt. Use Chat with Image when you want to ask follow-up questions about the same image. For example: What is unusual here? Which item is more prominent? Explain this UI error. What should I crop? Compare these visual elements. A good workflow is to generate a first description with Describe Image, then open Chat with Image for deeper inspection or back-and-forth reasoning.

Use the main Describe Image tool when you want many possible outputs from one place. Use the dedicated Alt Text Generator when your whole task is accessibility or SEO alt text. The Alt Text Generator page is more focused: it can produce multiple alt text variants, including recommended, short, descriptive, and SEO-friendly options. That makes it better for accessibility cleanup, content teams, and image library work. If you are unsure, start with Describe Image. If you find yourself generating alt text repeatedly, switch to the dedicated Alt Text Generator.