Mac screenshots · Screen recording
Capture now. Drag it in later.
Your captures don’t vanish.
They wait in a corner of your screen.
SnapZal is a menu bar app for screenshots and screen recording on macOS. Every capture waits as a card in a corner of your screen, ready to drag into Slack, ChatGPT, or Finder.
- macOS 14 or later
- English & Korean
- Menu bar app
The stack
Captures that
stick around.
The built-in macOS screenshot shows one thumbnail for a few seconds, then it’s gone. SnapZal keeps every capture as a card in a corner of your screen until you use it or close it.
Drag it anywhere
Drop a card into Slack, ChatGPT, Finder, Terminal, or any other app. Drag the bar at the bottom to drop the whole stack at once.
Still there after a restart
New captures land on top and older cards stay put. When the stack outgrows the screen, older cards wait in the bottom bar as a hidden count, and the stack is still there after you restart the app.
Buttons on hover
Copy, Save, Close, Pin to Screen, Edit, and Extract Text (OCR). Move the mouse over a card and ⌘C ⌘S ⌘W ⌘E Space work too. They switch off once the mouse rests for 6 seconds.
Click for a closer look
Click a card to open it in Quick Look. Use ← → to flip through captures and Esc to close.
Used cards clear themselves
Cards you drag, copy, or save leave the stack (hold ⌥ to keep them). Closed captures wait in the history window, ready to bring back, and are cleaned up after 7 days by default.
Videos and GIFs too
Recordings stack up as cards that show their length. Click one to play it, and copy a GIF to paste it into a chat as a moving image.
Ways to capture
The right capture
for every moment.
Capture from the menu bar icon or with a shortcut. Area, fullscreen, and previous-area captures leave out the SnapZal stack and pinned windows.
Capture Area
⌘⇧4
Freezes the screen the moment you press the shortcut, then you select on top of it. A magnifier, coordinates, and the selection size help you line up every pixel, and menus or tooltips that only show on hover are captured as they were. Shift for a square, ⌥ to draw from the center, Space for a window.
Capture Window
⌥⇧W
Uses the macOS window picker, shadow and transparency included. By default it adds a wallpaper background with padding; switch to one of 6 gradients, 4 solid colors, or none in Settings.
Capture Fullscreen
⌘⇧3
Captures the whole display your mouse is on in one go.
Capture Previous Area
⌥⇧R
Captures the last area you selected again, with no selection step. Handy when you capture the same spot over and over.
Self-Timer
⌥⇧T
Counts down (5 seconds by default; choose 3, 5, or 10) and captures the real screen the moment it ends, so open menus and hover states make it into the shot.
Scrolling Capture
⌥⇧S
Select an area and scroll slowly inside it; SnapZal stitches everything into one tall image. Sticky headers and footers appear only once, up to 30,000 px tall.
Capture Text (OCR)
⌘⇧2
Reads Korean and English text in the area you select and copies it to the clipboard.
Hide Desktop Icons
“Hide Desktop Icons While Capturing” (on by default) covers icons and widgets with your wallpaper only for the moment an area or fullscreen capture is taken. Finder is never restarted.
Screen recording
Recordings land
in the same stack.
Press ⌘⇧5 and select an area (or click for the whole screen) to open the setup panel. Pick a format and sound, press “Record”, and SnapZal counts down 3 seconds before it starts.
MP4 and GIF
MP4 records in H.264 at 30 fps (60 fps in Settings). GIFs are made at 15 fps, merging identical frames to keep files small. You can also turn a video card into a GIF later with “Make GIF”.
System audio and microphone
Record your Mac’s sound and your microphone together, mixed into one track so browsers and chat apps play both. Microphone recording requires macOS 15 or later.
Show Clicks
A ring spreads where you click and is recorded with the video, so viewers can see exactly what you pressed.
Pause and stop
Pause, Restart, Cancel, or Stop from the recording panel. Pressing the recording shortcut again also stops.
SnapZal stays out of the shot
SnapZal windows such as the stack, panels, and notifications are never recorded; only the click rings are. The stack hides while you record.
Full Retina detail
Retina displays are recorded at full 2x resolution. To keep files smaller, switch to 1x in Settings.
Edit · Pin · History
What comes after
the capture.
Open the editor with a card’s Edit button or ⌘E. The stack hides while the editor is open.
Editor tools
- VSelect
- AArrow
- RRectangle
- OEllipse
- TText
- HHighlighter
- MPixelate
- NCounter
Annotations
Arrow, Rectangle, Ellipse, Text, Highlighter, Pixelate, and Counter tools, 7 colors, and S, M, L thickness. Switch tools with a single key; keys work by position, even with a Korean input source. Move marks with Select and remove them with Delete.
Background and padding
Add a wallpaper, gradient, or solid background with padding. Area captures get rounded corners and a shadow, so they look like cards.
Edit again after saving
The original and your annotations are kept separately, so you can reopen and fix things after saving. Drag the “Drag Me” handle to drop the result straight into another app.
Pin to Screen
Float a capture in a window that stays on top. Scroll to change opacity, ⌘-scroll or pinch to resize, and press Esc to close.
Capture History
⌥⇧H
Put closed captures back on the stack or drag them out directly. Bring back the last one you closed with ⌥⇧Z.
Automation and more
Trigger captures and recordings from Raycast, Alfred, Shortcuts, or Terminal with snapzal:// links. “Add Clipboard Image to Stack” and “Open at Login” are in the menu too.
Shortcuts
The shortcuts
you already know.
Number shortcuts follow the macOS standard: ⌘⇧3 for fullscreen, ⌘⇧4 for an area, ⌘⇧5 for recording. Just like macOS, capture a window by pressing ⌘⇧4 and then Space.
- While CleanShot X is running, SnapZal steps aside and moves its number shortcuts to ⌥⇧, then switches back to ⌘⇧ as soon as CleanShot X quits. You can also lock them to “Always ⌥⇧ + Number” under Settings › Shortcuts in the menu.
- If the macOS screenshot shortcuts are on, macOS takes ⌘⇧3 ⌘⇧4 ⌘⇧5 first. Turn them off in System Settings › Keyboard › Keyboard Shortcuts › Screenshots.
- Letter shortcuts always use ⌥⇧, so they never take over standard shortcuts in other apps like ⌘⇧Z (Redo) or ⌘⇧S (Save As).
| Action | Shortcut | While CleanShot X runs |
|---|---|---|
| Capture Fullscreen | ⌘⇧3 | ⌥⇧3 |
| Capture AreaSpace for a window | ⌘⇧4 | ⌥⇧4 |
| Record Screenstops while recording | ⌘⇧5 | ⌥⇧5 |
| Capture Text (OCR) | ⌘⇧2 | ⌥⇧2 |
| Capture Window | ⌥⇧W | ⌥⇧W |
| Capture Previous Area | ⌥⇧R | ⌥⇧R |
| Self-Timer | ⌥⇧T | ⌥⇧T |
| Scrolling Capture | ⌥⇧S | ⌥⇧S |
| Restore Recently Closed | ⌥⇧Z | ⌥⇧Z |
| Capture History | ⌥⇧H | ⌥⇧H |
Stays on your Mac
Your captures and recordings are processed and stored on your Mac.
Nothing leaves your Mac until you export or share it yourself. Text recognition runs on your Mac too, using macOS Vision.
FAQ
Before you start.
Which Macs can run SnapZal?
SnapZal runs on macOS 14 (Sonoma) or later. Recording your microphone along with the screen requires macOS 15 or later.
When can I get SnapZal?
SnapZal is getting ready for launch. The public download will open on this site at launch. Sign up for a launch notification and we will email you when the download opens.
Is SnapZal free?
We haven’t set prices or decided what’s free and what’s Pro yet. We’ll post the free features and Pro prices on the pricing page before sales begin.
How is it different from the built-in macOS screenshots?
The built-in screenshot shows one thumbnail for a few seconds, then it’s gone. SnapZal keeps your captures as cards in a corner of the screen so you can drag them into other apps whenever you need them. Scrolling capture, a self-timer, text recognition, an editor, and pinning are built in too.
Can I use it alongside CleanShot X?
Yes. While CleanShot X is running, SnapZal moves its number shortcuts from ⌘⇧ to ⌥⇧, and switches back to ⌘⇧ as soon as CleanShot X quits. You can also lock them to “Always ⌥⇧ + Number” under Settings › Shortcuts in the menu.
Which permissions does SnapZal need?
Capturing and recording need Screen & System Audio Recording permission, and on macOS 15 or later, macOS confirms once more the first time you record. SnapZal asks for the microphone only when you turn it on in the setup panel, and for the Desktop folder the first time you save there.
Are my captures and recordings sent anywhere?
Your captures and recordings are processed and stored on your Mac. Nothing leaves your Mac until you export or share it yourself.
Which languages does the app support?
English and Korean. SnapZal follows your Mac’s language, and you can change it for this app under Language & Region in System Settings.