Annotation Tools

21 tools — available in the toolbar at the top of the freeze overlay.

Sticky mode: tools stay active after each annotation — draw a rectangle, then draw another, without clicking the button again. To switch tools, just click a different one. To cancel and go back to selection, press Escape.

Common Controls

Color

The color swatch in the toolbar changes stroke/fill color for the current tool. Highlight has its own color, independent of other tools.

Line width

For shape and line tools — a stepper (1–12 px) appears in the toolbar.

Line style

Solid, dashed, or dotted — available for rectangle, ellipse, line, arrow, and pen.

Font size

Appears for text tools — 10–72 pt, adjustable by 2 pt increments.

Undo

Press ⌘Z to undo the last annotation. Works for all tools, unlimited times.

Delete

Select an annotation and press Delete or Backspace to remove it.

Shapes

▭

Rectangle

Draw a rectangle. Hold Shift for a perfect square. Change fill, stroke color, and line style (solid / dashed / dotted) in the toolbar options.

○

Ellipse

Draw an oval. Hold Shift for a perfect circle.

╱

Line

Draw a straight line. Hold Shift to snap to 0°, 45°, or 90° angles.

→

Arrow

Same as Line but with an arrowhead at the end. Shift snaps the angle.

↜

Freehand Arrow

Draw a curved arrow by dragging freely. Reticle smooths the path automatically.

✏️

Freehand Pen

Draw any shape freely. The stroke is smoothed using a cardinal spline for a clean look.

Text

Click anywhere to place a text box. Type, then click outside to confirm.

T̲

Text Outline

Text with a contrasting outline — readable on any background.

▬T

Text Background

Text with a solid background fill for maximum readability.

①

Step Number

Auto-incrementing numbered circles — great for tutorials. Each new step automatically picks the next number. Drag to add a leader line from the number to any point.

💬

Speech Balloon

Place a callout bubble with a tail. Click to open a text input — it passes through so you can type without dismissing the overlay.

Effects

🖍

Highlight

Semi-transparent overlay — defaults to fluorescent yellow. Use the opacity slider to adjust. Color is independent of your stroke color so switching tools won't reset it.

◉

Blur

Gaussian blur. Drag to draw the blur region. Radius adjustable in the toolbar. Edge-accurate: Reticle expands the sample area to avoid dark borders at edges.

⊞

Pixelate

Pixelates (mosaic) a region. Useful for redacting information while keeping the shape visible. Pixel size adjustable.

■

Blackout

Solid black fill. The fastest way to hide sensitive content.

◎

Spotlight

Darkens the entire image except a circular region. Focuses the viewer's eye. Drag the circle to position it; drag an edge to resize.

🔍

Magnify

Places a circular loupe that zooms in on the area beneath it. Zoom level adjustable (1.5× – 8×). Useful for pointing out small UI details.

Insert

📏

Ruler

Draw a line that displays the pixel distance. Hold Shift to snap to 45° angles.

↖

Mouse Cursor

Stamps a macOS-style cursor at any position. Useful for pointing out where to click in tutorials. Size adjustable.

😄

Emoji / Sticker

Opens the emoji picker. Place any emoji as a large, crisp annotation.

🖼

Image Insert

Insert any image file on top of the screenshot. Drag to position; handles to resize.

Selection & Editing

⊹

Select / Move

Click any annotation to select it. Drag to move. Use the corner handles to resize. Rotation handle appears at the top. Hold Shift and click multiple annotations to select them all.

⊡

Crop

Drag to define the final crop region. The selection updates live — press Done to finalize.

⌫

Eraser

Click any annotation to remove it. For freehand pen strokes, the eraser trims point-by-point — you can erase part of a stroke without removing the whole thing.