screenshot on Mac, marked up before it leaves the screen
updated · by Anton Shakirov
the built-in shortcut takes the picture and drops it on the desktop, and everything you actually wanted to say about it happens somewhere else — in an editor you open, or in the chat where you type it out instead. hop opens the shot in an editor of its own, with the frame already in it.
| what it is | screenshots inside hop, a menu bar app for macOS |
|---|---|
| price | free — no trial, no pro tier, no account |
| licence | MIT, source on GitHub |
| requires | macOS 14 or later, Apple silicon or Intel |
| works offline | yes |
| data sent anywhere | none |
when you need it
- showing a colleague which button is wrong, not describing it in three sentences
- a bug report where the arrow points at the thing and the caption says what happened
- a step-by-step for someone else's Mac, numbered in the order they should press
- a screenshot with an address, a name or a licence key in the corner that must not travel with it
- the same corner of the same screen, five times in a row, while something is being tested
how to take a screenshot and mark it up
- press ⌃⌥S, or pick area, window or screen in the panel
- drag a frame — hairlines through the pointer show the row and column before the first pixel, and the size in pixels while you drag
- the editor opens with the shot in it: arrows, lines, boxes, ovals, freehand, a marker, numbered steps, captions and an eraser, each on its own letter
- blur what should not be read, or blur everything except the thing you are pointing at
- save it as png or jpg, or copy it straight to the clipboard
the same area again, with one key
a series of shots of one screen is the normal case, not the exception: a form being filled in, a page being scrolled, a state being reproduced. dragging the same rectangle by hand five times gives five slightly different rectangles.
hop remembers the last area and takes it again on a key of its own, pixel for pixel. the frames line up, which is what makes them readable side by side.
every mark can be picked up again
an arrow drawn in the wrong place is not a reason to start over. the arrow tool at the head of the row picks up any mark already made: move it, pull its handles, retype a caption, delete it.
⌘Z steps back and ⇧⌘Z forward, as everywhere else. the loupe magnifies a corner of the picture where the small print is, and crop takes the rest away.
dressed for a page, if it is going on one
a raw screenshot on a landing page or in a deck looks like a raw screenshot. hop can pour it onto a background with a shadow and rounded corners, or into a browser frame with an address of your choosing.
a watermark of your own text or image goes in any corner, or tiled across the whole picture, at the opacity you set. what the mark says is remembered between shots; the dressing is not, so a plain screenshot stays plain.
where the file goes
saved shots land in Pictures/Hop unless you point them somewhere else, named by date and time. after a save, hop says the file's name and its folder, and opens Finder on it from there.
nothing is uploaded. there is no account, no cloud and no telemetry: the picture is a file on your Mac, and it stays one.
the same marks can be drawn straight on the live screen, without taking a picture first — draw on your screen
frequently asked questions
- does it replace the macOS screenshot shortcuts?
- no. ⇧⌘4 and the rest keep working exactly as before; hop adds its own key and its own editor beside them.
- where are the screenshots saved?
- in Pictures/Hop by default, as png or jpg. the folder and the format are both settings, and after each save hop names the file and the folder it went to.
- can i hide something in the picture?
- yes. blur covers what should not be read, and it works the other way round too: blur everything EXCEPT the region you are pointing at.
- does it need permission?
- macOS asks for screen recording once, because taking a picture of the screen is exactly what that permission governs. nothing leaves your Mac.
- is it free?
- yes. hop is free and open source, with no accounts and no telemetry; the only thing it sends is its own version number when it checks for updates.
other tools in hop
- draw on screena transparent layer over the live screen, seen by everyone on the call.
- keep awakedownloads, renders and calls run to the end. even with the lid closed.
- speed testdownload, upload and responsiveness — measured through Apple's own servers.
about the author
Anton Shakirovmakes hop
makes hop and every page on this site. eighteen tools under a single menu bar icon, MIT licensed and open source. reads and answers issues and email himself.