Annotation Tools

Where the tools are

Open a screenshot in the editor, for example with Capture Area (Editor) (Cmd + Shift + 2 on Mac, Ctrl + Shift + 2 on Windows), and make sure the Image tab is selected in the editor's left sidebar. A floating toolbar sits at the top of the editing area. From left to right it holds the Shapes group, the Text tools group, your pinned tools (Emoji is pinned by default) and the Undo and Redo buttons. The toolbar is movable: drag it by an empty spot if it covers something you want to mark up.

Pick a tool

The Shapes group contains Arrow, Rectangle, Filled Rectangle, Ellipse, Filled Ellipse, Line, Path, Blur, Pixelate, Magnifier, Highlighter and Spotlight. The Text tools group contains Pencil, Eraser, Text, Callout and Counter. Emoji has its own pinned button.

1. 1Click the Shapes or Text tools button to switch to the tool it shows. Each group button remembers the last tool you picked from it.
2. 2To choose a different tool, click the small arrow next to the group button (or click the group button again while its tool is active) and pick a tool from the menu.
3. 3Or press the tool's single-key shortcut, for example 1 for Arrow or 9 for Text. Tool keys are ignored while you are typing in a text box.

Draw first, then fine-tune

Click or drag on the screenshot to add an annotation. The new annotation is selected right away and a small settings panel appears next to it with the options for that tool, such as color, thickness, style or font size. Changes in the panel apply to the selected annotation. To change an annotation later, click it and the panel comes back. The panel only appears when exactly one annotation is selected.

Your settings are remembered

Whatever you change in the panel becomes the starting point for the next annotation of the same tool, and it is kept after you restart ScreenSnap Pro. For example, set a thicker arrow once and every new arrow uses that thickness. Color works a little differently: one color is shared by all tools that have a color (the Magnifier's Frame color is kept separately). If you switch a highlight to yellow, your next arrow or rectangle will also be yellow until you pick another color.

Choose a color

Click the color button in the settings panel to open the palette: nine standard colors plus a custom color button with a pen icon. Custom colors you use are listed under Recent. For the custom color editor and for picking a color from the screenshot, see Color Picker.

All tools and their shortcuts

Each tool has a default single-key shortcut. The keys are the same on Mac and Windows.

1. 11 Arrow: point at something with a straight or curved arrow.
2. 22 Rectangle: outline an area.
3. 33 Filled Rectangle: cover an area with a solid box.
4. 44 Ellipse: circle something.
5. 5O Filled Ellipse: a solid dot or oval.
6. 65 Line: a straight line, underline or divider.
7. 7G Path: an outline with as many corners as you need.
8. 86 Blur: soften sensitive details.
9. 97 Pixelate: turn details into blocks.
10. 10M Magnifier: a round lens that enlarges a small detail.
11. 118 Highlighter: a see-through marker over text.
12. 12S Spotlight: dim everything except the important area.
13. 13P Pencil: freehand drawing.
14. 14E Eraser: click annotations to delete them.
15. 159 Text: type a label on the screenshot.
16. 16C Callout: a speech bubble with a pointer.
17. 170 Counter: numbered steps 1, 2, 3.
18. 18J Emoji: add an emoji.

Customize the toolbar

Decide which tool each group button starts with, and pin your favorite tools as one-click buttons.

1. 1Click the Settings (gear) button at the bottom of the editor's left sidebar and open the Toolbar tab.
2. 2Under Default Tools, choose the Shapes default tool and the Text default tool. This is the tool the group button activates.
3. 3Under Additional Tools, pick a tool in the Add a tool… menu to pin it. You can pin up to 4 tools. Click the × next to a pinned tool to unpin it.
4. 4The Live preview above the settings shows how the toolbar will look.

Learn each tool

Step-by-step details for every tool: Arrows, Shapes & Paths, Highlight, Blur & Focus Tools and Text, Callouts, Counters & Drawing. To select, move, delete or undo annotations, see Select, Edit & Undo.