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Screen recording comes with extra, easily accessible options in the app. (A tip: you can open screenshots and other images not created within CleanShot X to make use of its annotator.) But it also has the delightful option to add step labels just by clicking: it drops a circle with a number each subsequent click increments the number. It has far more flexibility in marking items with borders and shapes, adding text callouts, and highlighting elements. To aid in making precise or difficult-to-stage screenshots, you have access to crosshairs like with macOS, but also a magnifier for exact pixel placement and a freeze screen option to snapshot a moment in time.ĬleanShot X truly shines in its Annotate feature, a super-powered bump above Apple’s Markup. Triggering additional screen captures adds more of these thumbnails, though you can customize how they’re added and how they persist. You can drag this image into any window or view in any app that accepts drag-and-drop images or onto the Desktop, or click to save it to your cloud storage, pin it so it appears as a floating item on screen, click to annotate, or right-click and view a contextual menu for additional actions. Just as in recent versions of macOS that show a thumbnail after a capture that you can click and act upon, CleanShot X puts a small floating thumbnail on-screen with prominent Copy and Save buttons overlaid along with other icons in its corners. It’s probably easiest to think about the app as having a “command center” that appears after you take a screen capture.
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The app builds on familiar keystrokes and actions to provide more features and power in every respect than macOS, including a “scrolling” capture that can grab non-visible parts of a scrolling window. If that’s not you, CleanShot X provides the enhancements you’ll need.
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MacOS already lets you capture a screen, part of a screen, a window, or a dialog box within it make timed captures, and open a screenshot directly into the funky-but-useful Markup feature. (The standalone version includes 1GB the subscription flavor offers unlimited storage, a custom domain, and more flexible sharing.) It also couples cloud storage with sharing capabilities as part of the price of a standalone purchase or subscription, making your captures easier to share. As you make screens shots, CleanShot X floats them on your display with quick-action items.ĬleanShot X is among the best third-party screenshot utilities as well as among the easiest to use.
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