Area and Previous Area
Draw a region, move it, and refine invisible edge or corner zones before confirming. Previous Area stores physical geometry and adjusts when possible after display changes.
Feature documentation for v0.5.47 and above
BetterScreenShotOne Windows workspace from capture to finished output.
Use screenshots, recording, Studio editing, local recognition, History, recovery, browser capture, automation, and optional Google Drive sharing without a publisher-hosted capture cloud.
Capture
Choose the right source before you start editing.
Window, display, and all displays
Capture a visible application window, the current display, or the complete virtual desktop. BetterScreenShot accounts for monitor bounds, cursor placement, mixed display layouts, scaling, and color-profile information.
Timer and scrolling capture
Use a delay for menus and temporary states. For long desktop content, capture and stitch progressive frames with overlap matching and recovery of interrupted sessions.
Full-page browser capture
The optional Chrome-family extension handles normal pages and many nested content scrollers. It transfers each requested capture locally to the installed Windows app through native messaging.
Screenshot editing
Keep annotation objects editable until the result is ready.
Annotation and emphasis
Use arrows, lines, rectangles, ellipses, pencil, Smart Highlighter, text, emoji, numbered steps, blur, pixelation, spotlight, and crop. Objects can be moved, rotated, restyled, duplicated, grouped, reordered, and deleted.
Document transforms
Crop, resize, rotate, flip, expand the canvas, preserve aspect ratio, and avoid unwanted source enlargement. Annotations scale with the document when appropriate.
Presentation design
Place the screenshot on a solid, gradient, bundled, or custom background. Control padding, alignment, aspect ratio, rounded corners, blur, source shadow, and reusable presets.
Editable projects and print
Autosave the local image project, export a portable .bssproj package, or flatten the result into a normal image. Print one page or divide a long screenshot across multiple pages.
After capture
Move from result to next action without reopening the whole workflow.
Quick Access
Stack recent result cards and configure Copy, Save, Save As, Annotate, Edit, Pin, drag, OCR, rotate, flip, scale, Windows Share, History, and automatic close behavior by result type.
Floating references
Pin a capture, History image, clipboard image, or local file above other windows. Change scale, width, opacity, click-through locking, and pixelated or smooth rendering.
Post-capture profiles
Choose different defaults for screenshots, video, GIF, OCR, and imported files. Keep actions automatic where safe and visible where review matters.
Quick Access stack
Keep several recent results available without rebuilding the full History view.
Floating reference
Keep the image visible while you type, compare, design, or work in another application.
Recording
Record an area, display, or window with the inputs the tutorial needs.
Formats and output control
Record MP4, WebM, or silent GIF at 10, 15, 24, 30, 50, or 60 FPS. Choose Native, percentage scaling, 1080p, 720p, or a custom maximum. Hardware, source size, storage, and codec support affect practical limits.
Audio and camera
Select a microphone, current Windows output, or both. Add a mirrored camera bubble with circle, rounded-square, or rectangle shape, click-to-expand, and movable protected preview.
Pointer and input details
Include the pointer, click effects, idle-pointer hiding, shortcut overlays, and deliberately enabled printable-key overlays. Input events used for display are processed transiently and are not written to a keystroke log.
Progressive projects
Recording chunks and project state are written progressively. Camera, audio, and screen sources remain separate where the project needs them for later editing and recovery.
Studio
Finish recordings and GIFs with a non-destructive timeline.
Timeline editing
Trim, split, remove, merge, change clip speed from 0.25× to 4×, navigate frames, zoom the timeline, and use undo and redo. Stream-copy trimming is available when the format and boundaries support it.
Auto Zoom
Create suggestions from locally recorded pointer and click timing. Adjust intensity, scale, focus, entrance, exit, easing, pointer following, and camera fading. The raw recording remains unchanged.
Composition and overlays
Compose for original, landscape, portrait, square, 4:3, or 5:4 output. Add backgrounds, padding, corners, source shadow, text, images, audio, masks, highlight, blur, pixelation, and dim overlays.
Camera and audio editing
Use camera bubble, fullscreen camera, camera-only, or split layouts. Keyframe position, scale, crop, internal zoom, opacity, and fades. Adjust microphone, system, source, and imported audio with volume, fades, voice boost, quiet-noise reduction, normalization, and mono output.
Optional native transcript draft
Studio can ask the installed Windows speech recognizer for a local transcript draft and use it for editable captions or chapter suggestions. Accuracy can vary significantly. Review every word and do not rely on the native draft for critical content.
Auto Zoom timeline
Review suggested zooms and adjust only the moments that need focus.
Finished composition
Combine screen, camera, background, overlays, and audio before local export.
Local recognition
Extract text and read QR codes without sending the image to an OCR service.
OCR
Use bundled Tesseract recognition with layout-preserving or compact output. English, Arabic, Thai, and Vietnamese data are bundled, with Windows OCR fallback where available.
QR recognition
Read supported codes locally. BetterScreenShot shows a recognized web destination before opening it and permits only HTTP or HTTPS schemes.
Frame recognition
Pause a recording in Studio and recognize text from the current frame when a tutorial or captured application contains text you need.
Sharing
Choose a local handoff or upload one rendered result to your own Google Drive.
Local handoff
Copy image pixels and a named file, drag a result to another application, save to a normal folder, export an editable project, or use Windows Share.
Direct Google Drive sharing
Connect through the system browser with PKCE and the limited drive.file scope. BetterScreenShot uploads only the selected screenshot, GIF, or recording to a private app folder in the connected user's own Drive.
Rendered edits
Editable screenshots are flattened into PNG. Edited recordings and GIFs are rendered in the background with current Studio settings before upload. Project files and separate source tracks are not uploaded.
Public-link controls
Create a view-only anyone-with-the-link permission for the selected file. Make one or all managed links private later without deleting the Drive files. Disconnecting alone does not remove existing public permissions.
History and recovery
Keep recent work organized without confusing temporary History with permanent files.
Search and organize
Search local History, filter by type or state, sort, rename, tag, favorite, relink unavailable items, and use retention controls for app-managed working data.
Permanent save remains separate
Save creates a normal file in a user-controlled folder. Deleting the app-managed History copy preserves separate saved files, exported projects, and external originals.
Recovery Center
Review interrupted recordings, media exports, scrolling captures, and image autosaves. Recover important work before clearing History, resetting, or reinstalling.
Local backup
Back up settings, presets, shortcuts, and History state. Optionally include managed captures and editable projects. Credentials, diagnostics, caches, and thumbnails are excluded.
Local automation
Run validated local capture and workflow commands without exposing Google Drive upload to automation.
The command-line companion uses an authenticated per-user named pipe. The betterscreenshot:// protocol requires visible approval for externally initiated capture commands. Google Drive upload is deliberately unavailable through these automation surfaces.
Every feature on this page is documented for v0.5.47 and above.
Use the focused help articles for setup, limitations, recovery behavior, and privacy details.