> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.mauvely.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Capturing

> Snap's capture modes, the launcher, delay and pointer options, and what happens to a capture once it lands.

## Starting a capture

Three routes, all reaching the same place:

* **New capture** in the title bar, or `Ctrl` `Shift` `Space` — opens the launcher.
* A **global shortcut** for a specific mode — captures immediately, with your saved options, with
  no dialog. Works from the system tray with the window closed.
* The **Capture menu**.

## The launcher

A grid of six modes plus the options that apply to a capture.

| Mode          | What it grabs                  | Status                    |
| ------------- | ------------------------------ | ------------------------- |
| **Region**    | A rectangle you drag           | Working                   |
| **Screen**    | One whole monitor              | Working                   |
| **Window**    | A window you pick              | Working (Windows and X11) |
| **Timed**     | The screen after a countdown   | Working                   |
| **Scrolling** | A long page, stitched together | **Not built**             |
| **Record**    | Video                          | **Not built**             |

Modes your machine cannot do are shown **disabled and tagged**, not hidden. Hiding them would make
Snap look like a different application on different machines with no explanation.

### Options

| Option                    | Default            | What it does                                                 |
| ------------------------- | ------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------ |
| **Delay**                 | None               | Seconds to wait before grabbing — long enough to open a menu |
| **Include the pointer**   | On                 | Composites the mouse pointer into the image                  |
| **After capture**         | Open in the editor | What happens once the grab lands                             |
| **Record the microphone** | Off                | For recording, once recording exists                         |

Options set in the launcher are remembered and are what a bare global shortcut uses.

## What happens after a grab

Every capture is **saved into your library first**, always. Then:

| After capture                | Result                                                       |
| ---------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------ |
| **Open in the editor**       | Saved, and a toast confirms the filename                     |
| **Copy to the clipboard**    | Saved, and also placed on the clipboard                      |
| **Send straight to Compose** | Saved — the handoff itself is [not built yet](/snap/roadmap) |

<Note>
  Because the annotation editor is not built, "Open in the editor" currently saves and tells you
  the filename. Nothing is lost — the file is in your library either way.
</Note>

### Naming

New captures are named from a template, `snap-%Y%m%d-%H%M%S` by default, which sorts
chronologically in any file manager. Change it in **Settings ▸ Capture**.

### Format

PNG by default — lossless, and what Compose wants. JPEG is offered for very large grabs where file
size matters more than fidelity.

## About the pointer

Screen capture APIs do not include the mouse pointer, so Snap composites it in by hand.

| Platform       | Pointer                                                     |
| -------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------- |
| Windows        | Your real pointer, including its shape and hot spot         |
| Linux, X11     | Your real pointer                                           |
| Linux, Wayland | Whatever the desktop portal decides — the option is ignored |
| Anything else  | A drawn white arrow, in the right place                     |

The drawn fallback is deliberate: a screenshot that silently lost its pointer is worse than one
with an approximate arrow where the pointer actually was.

## Multiple monitors and mixed scaling

A region capture is cropped out of a single composited grab of the whole desktop, rather than being
requested as a sub-rectangle of one screen. That is what lets a region straddle two monitors with
different scale factors and still come out coherent.

When monitors have different scaling, the composite is built at the **highest** scale factor
present, so a high-density display beside a standard one does not lose half its pixels.

A window capture is also cropped from a desktop grab rather than read from the window itself. That
means you get the window as it actually looked — including anything overlapping it — which is what
people expect. Reading a window's own buffer often produces a black rectangle for
hardware-accelerated applications.

## On Wayland

Snap uses `xdg-desktop-portal`, which requires the portal plus a backend for your desktop
(`xdg-desktop-portal-gtk`, `-kde` or `-wlr`). With the portal:

* The **compositor** draws the selection interface, not Snap.
* Region, window and screen all become a single "let the user choose" prompt.
* The pointer option has no effect.
* Cancelling produces no error — Snap simply does nothing.

If no portal is installed, the error message names `xdg-desktop-portal` so it is diagnosable.

This is the reason Snap is not shipped for Linux. See [Snap overview](/snap/overview#platforms).