If you've ever been frustrated by receiving an important document in an image format or simply wanted to save a couple of seconds by copying and pasting text from an image, then a clever little Chrome extension called Project Naptha is your new best friend.

Not being able to select text in an image might not be the biggest annoyance in contemporary technology, but solving the problem has many potential benefits. Kevin Kwok's browser add-on uses complex character recognition software so users can copy, paste, edit, erase and even translate text in images.

Some possible implications Kwok describes include being able to figure out what text in a foreign language photograph says, or comic artists being able to quickly edit the text in their work. It could also prove to have valuable uses in improving web accessibility. Plus, it will make meme creation that little bit easier.

Project Naptha is still a work in-progress - so don't expect 100% accuracy yet - and only available for Chrome users for the time being. Kwok is promising improvements and support for more browsers, however.

Check out the Project Naptha site to download the extension or test out a few sample images.