Annotation Tools
Every annotation and markup tool in ScreenSnap Pro — arrows, shapes, lines, highlighter, blur, pixelate, spotlight, text, callouts, counters, emoji, and freehand pencil — with shortcuts and tips.
Overview
ScreenSnap Pro's editor includes a full set of annotation and markup tools, all available from the annotation toolbar. Select a tool, then click and drag on the canvas; adjust color, thickness, and other options in the properties panel. Most tools have a single-key shortcut, shown in each section below. The tools fall into three groups: shapes & pointers (arrow, rectangle, ellipse, line), emphasis & redaction (highlighter, blur, pixelate, spotlight), and labels & extras (text, callout, counter, emoji, pencil).
Arrow Tool
Press 1 or pick the Arrow tool, then click and drag from the starting point to the element you want to highlight. Customize the arrow's color and thickness in the properties panel, and toggle between single-headed and double-headed (bidirectional) arrows.
Rectangle Tool
Press 2, then click and drag to draw an outlined rectangle — a colored border with no fill, so the content beneath stays fully visible. Adjust border color and thickness in the properties panel. Ideal for framing UI elements or calling out an area without obscuring it.
Hold Shift while drawing to create a perfect square.
Filled Rectangle Tool
Press 3, then click and drag to draw a rectangle with both a fill color and a border. Adjust fill color, border color, and border thickness independently in the properties panel — useful for emphasis or for covering an area.
Ellipse Tool
Press 4, then click and drag to draw an outlined ellipse (colored border, no fill). Great for circling buttons, icons, or small UI elements. Adjust border color and thickness in the properties panel.
Hold Shift while drawing to create a perfect circle.
Filled Ellipse Tool
Pick the Filled Ellipse tool, then click and drag to draw an ellipse with a fill color and an optional border. Adjust fill color, border color, and border thickness independently in the properties panel.
Hold Shift to constrain to a perfect filled circle.
Line Tool
Press 5, then click and drag to draw a straight line between two points. Adjust line color and thickness in the properties panel — handy for separators, underlines, or pointing between related elements.
Hold Shift to snap the line to 0°, 45°, or 90° angles for perfectly straight horizontal, vertical, or diagonal lines.
Highlighter Tool
Press 8, then click and drag across the text or area you want to highlight. The highlighter applies a semi-transparent color overlay (40% opacity) that mimics a real highlighter pen, so the content beneath remains visible. Pick any color from the color picker.
Blur Tool
Pick the Blur tool, then click and drag over a sensitive area to obscure it with a Gaussian blur that hides detail while preserving the general shape and color. Use the blur-radius slider (1–20px) to control intensity — from a subtle soft focus to completely unreadable.
Pixelate Tool
Pick the Pixelate tool, then click and drag to replace content with a mosaic of large colored blocks, making the original unrecognizable. Use the block-size slider (8–40px) to set the mosaic resolution; a small random variance is applied per block for added security. Larger blocks redact more thoroughly.
Spotlight Tool
Pick the Spotlight tool, then click and drag to define the area that should stay fully visible — everything outside is dimmed with a dark overlay to draw attention to the spotlighted region. Adjust the dimming opacity in the properties panel; hold Shift for a perfectly square spotlight.
Spotlight is great for tutorial screenshots — direct the viewer's eye to a specific button or element while keeping the surrounding context visible but de-emphasized.
Text Tool
Press 9, then click to place a text box and type. Choose from 7 styles — Standard, Rounded, Monospaced, Outlined (white outline), Boxed, Rounded Boxed, and Monospaced Boxed — and adjust font size (16–128px) and color. Boxed styles add a colored background for label-like readability. Text supports multiple lines and can be rotated via the rotation handle.
Callout Tool
Pick the Callout tool, then click and drag to place a speech-bubble callout and type inside it. The callout has a white background and a pointer (tail) you can aim in 4 directions — top, right, bottom, or left — and slide along the edge. Adjust border color and thickness in the properties panel.
Callouts are perfect for commentary, feedback notes, or explanations that visually stand out and clearly point to the element being discussed.
Counter Tool
Press 0, then click to drop auto-incrementing numbered circles — each click places the next number (1, 2, 3, …) in sequence. Choose the circle fill color in the properties panel; the number shows in white inside the colored circle. Drag counters to reposition them; deleting one mid-sequence leaves the others unchanged, and the count resets when a new image loads.
Ideal for step-by-step tutorials and onboarding guides — combine with arrows to create clear visual flows.
Emoji Tool
Press J to open the emoji picker, browse or search for an emoji, then click the canvas to place it. Resize with the corner handles and rotate with the rotation handle. Emojis render as native system emojis at high resolution, so they stay crisp even when scaled up.
Pencil Tool
Press P, then click and drag to draw freehand. ScreenSnap Pro applies Catmull-Rom spline smoothing to reduce jitter from mouse or trackpad input while keeping a natural hand-drawn feel. Adjust stroke color and thickness (1–10px) in the properties panel.
Great for informally circling things, sketching quick diagrams, or adding handwritten-style annotations.