Dec 22: The absolute best screenshot app. Period.

CleanShot is the ultimate screen capturing app. You can use it to swiftly capture your screen without desktop icons, record and trim video, annotate, save screenshots to the cloud, and much more.

TL;DR: Simply no other tool can match Cleanshot. Fast, intuitive, and constantly releasing new features. Been using Cleanshot for the past ~6 months and it's one of those tools I can't live without.

Although it is made for macOS, I’m listing down some epic Windows alternatives at the bottom. Upcoming apps over the next few days are all Windows compatible 🙂

A. The Problem and The Pitch

How do you share your thoughts with the world? 💭

You might be texting friends, tweeting threads, or blogging stuff. Or simply sharing memes. It’s highly likely that you’re also sharing images with it 🤩

Images that you haven’t clicked or designed. Like a part of a viral video or simple meme screenshots like @fuckjerry does.

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Screenshots are a modern visual mode of communication.

We all capture screenshots countless times throughout our workflows (& personal life as well, aka ... memes). However, we're left with a desktop full of ‘Screenshot 2021-12-22’ a few hundred times without any organization 😫. And in our bulk delete desktop clear-outs, great content can be forgotten.

What if we had a screenshot tool designed for 2022?

A tool that understood our workflows. And designed solutions before we knew we needed them.

✨ That’s Cleanshot ✨

Cleanshot is a screen capture tool.

It sounds simple. But this tool saves so much time for a problem you hadn't realized you had. The app integrates over 50 features allowing you to annotate, overlay, screen record, text recognition (OCR) & send directly to the cloud. It feels like multiple apps in one.

It's easy to use, fast, and helps avoid the clunkiness of copying and pasting between apps by going on a desktop scavenger hunt!

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B. What's special?

CleanShot is the 🙌 ultimate screen capturing app for macOS. You can use it to swiftly capture your screen without desktop icons, record and trim video, annotate, save screenshots to our cloud, and much more. It replicates many of the standard mac screenshot functions, so at a basic level - you don't have to adapt your 🧠 muscle memory to access all of the additional features.

#1 ⚡ Fast and simple annotation: A screenshot or a recording is available as an overlay right after you capture it. You can simply drag and drop it into whatever you’re working on. Notion, Figma, email, and whatnot. Or you can choose to open the annotation window in one-click.

Screenshots and recordings sit at the corner of your monitor until you’re ready to use them. And you have annotatation tools like: Crop, Pencil, Counter, Highlighter, and Filled Rectangle.

#2 📜 Scrolling and multi-capture: Allows you to scroll while capturing the screenshot. So no more stitching screenshots together. You can also compile multiple screenshots in one, making it easy to share one file with numerous screenshots.

You can combine multiple screenshots into one without leaving the app. Just drag & drop another screenshot into the annotate window and position it however you like.

#3 🔍 Text recognition: Simply select the area containing the text (image, video, gif, etc.) and the text will be instantly copied to your clipboard!

#4 📹 Screen recording: Is a breeze with Cleanshot. It is like Loom but on an app that sits in your system. Show yourself in recordings, record audio, highlight mouse clicks and keystrokes, edit video, and much more!

Screen recordings can get huge sometimes. With Cleanshot, you can easily optimize your videos without leaving the app!

And everyone who’s tried it loves it 💜...

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C. What's more?

1. 🌩️ Cleanshot also has cloud storage so that you can share your screenshots in a jiffy! Here are a few more details.

2. 💫 The Cleanshot team has also built PixelSnap, a tool for designers, for measuring anything on your screen. Check it out here. If you’re a designer, this is what you’ve been looking for.

3. 🪟 Here are a few Windows alternatives you can consider: ShareX, PicPick, and Monosnap. ShareX would be your screenshot Swiss Knife.

4. 🏄‍♂️ Cleanshot also integrates with Raycast (covered on Dec 6) to make screenshots even more convenient and fast. You can simply press Cmd+Space to choose your action.

   

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D. What’s next in the 🗓️ App Advent Calendar?

✂️ Dec 23: Edit audio & video like you edit a doc!

🥳 Dec 24: Fun video messaging for work. Unlike Zoom. Unlike Loom.

🎄 Dec 26: Short note on 1 surprise personal app + 3 apps for creators and founders

And then we resume in Jan 2022. We will publish 2-4 articles every month on more tools, trends, offers, and stories to keep you ahead of the curve. What more would you like to hear about through 2022?