Shotoshot Download
ONE SMALL TOOL. ONE POINT, CLEARLY MADE.

Fewer words.
More clarity.

Capture a detail. Draw an arrow.
Show exactly what you mean.

Shotoshot is a free, open-source screenshot and annotation tool for Windows and Linux, with live drawing for streams and demos on Windows.

Download Shotoshot

Open source · GPL-3.0 · Read the code

Shotoshot at work: an arrow points at a chart legend, a note is typed, enlarged, turned white and rotated, a square is drawn then moved, and the area is widened from its corner. Then the arrow's tip alone is dragged round onto the square, its head unchanged, and the eyedropper turns it the green of the chart. Last, the wheel doubles the arrow's stroke and widens the square a little.
One area. A few annotations. Your message is ready.FULL SIZE ↗
Built for Windows and LinuxNo Shotoshot accountScreenshots stay local by defaultFree, open source, independent

01 · EVERY DETAIL

Nothing is final
until you say so.

Most screenshot tools flatten what you draw the moment you draw it. In Shotoshot, every arrow, box and word stays editable until you copy or save.

Demo: the circle is shrunk by its corner and moved onto the legend while the arrow bound to it follows, then a note written earlier is enlarged from its corner and, separately, tilted.
Still editable. Shrink a circle, drop it somewhere else: the arrow bound to it follows. Then enlarge a note you already wrote, and tilt it.
The eyedropper wanders a few pixels around the edge of a moon: the loupe magnifies the pixels under the pointer and its color code changes from sky blue to moon yellow to pink.
The eyedropper. Hover any pixel on screen and the loupe shows it up close. One click copies its hex code to your clipboard: grab the exact color of any website, game or image, ready to paste.

02 · PRESENT LIVE

Draw on your live screen.
No screenshot.

Show it in the moment: your drawings float over whatever is running, while you present.

LIVE: ON YOUR SCREEN, NOT A CAPTURE
Presentation mode over a slide: Alt+R, Alt+A and Alt+C light up on the mini keyboard, the left click shows on the mouse and under the pointer halo, and a rectangle, an arrow and a circle are drawn then fade away.
Alt + A ArrowAlt + R RectangleAlt + C Circle

Three direct shortcuts. All remappable.

A demo, a class, a stream. Shotoshot draws on a temporary layer over whatever is running, and you keep working underneath. Guide people’s eyes, then it clears itself.

  • Streamer friendlyYour viewers see the halo, the shapes and your keys, in OBS Display Capture or any screen share. Park the keyboard away from your webcam. OBS setup
  • A halo around the pointerSo people can follow your moves and clicks.
  • Shapes that fade awayArrows, rectangles and ellipses disappear after a few seconds.
  • Your input, visibleA mini keyboard and mouse show what you press. Put them wherever they get in your way the least. How it works

Each tool can be turned on separately. The keyboard display is off by default.

03 · YOUR DESKTOP

Notes on your desktop.
Under the icons.

Write and draw on the desktop itself, with the same editor. The notes become part of your wallpaper: always in sight, never in the way.

BOARD: ON YOUR DESKTOP, UNDER THE ICONS
The Board on a desktop, with captions: the editor opens over the wallpaper and icons, two blue zones are drawn, filled and titled Personal and Work behind groups of icons that stay in front, a three-line to-do is typed and an arrow points at a folder. After Esc the toolbar closes and the notes are part of the wallpaper: a window opens over them and closes, then an icon is dragged across the to-do into a zone.
Alt + B Edit the boardEsc Done

One shortcut, remappable.

A to-do for the day, an arrow to the folder that matters, a number to call back. Press the shortcut, write, press Esc: the notes are on your desktop, and your windows open over them as usual.

  • Under your iconsThe notes are drawn into your wallpaper, one picture per screen. While you write, your icons stay in front, exactly as the desktop will look.
  • There without ShotoshotThe notes stay on the desktop when Shotoshot is not running. Nothing runs in the background to keep them there.
  • Every tool of the editorText, arrows, shapes, pen, highlighter, colors and the bucket. Open the board again and every note is still an object you can move or fix.
  • Yours to take backOne switch hides the notes and gives your own wallpaper back; Clear board wipes the slate. Uninstalling Shotoshot gives your wallpaper back too.

Windows only. Each screen keeps its own notes. A slideshow or Spotlight background becomes a still picture while the board is shown. Nothing leaves your computer.

Edit after the fact

Change your mind without starting over.

  • Switch apps. Keep your edits. AltTabWindowsCheck another app, then come back to your capture. Your annotations and text in progress stay intact, ready to pick up where you left off.
  • Select what you drew VClick a shape, Shift+click to add more, or drag a box around several.
  • Move and nudge ←→Drag it anywhere, or nudge it by 1 px, and 10 px with Shift. Delete removes it.
  • Resize a shapePull a corner handle. Rotated shapes keep their proportions.
  • Rotate anythingTurn shapes with the round handle above them. Text rotates too.
  • Restyle it laterPick a color or roll the wheel: every selected shape follows, in a single undo step.
  • Reopen your text TClick a text you already placed to fix a typo, change its size or its color.
  • Copy and paste shapes CtrlVDuplicate annotations with their style, slightly offset each time.
  • Reopen it another day .shotoSave an editable image and your capture comes back later with every annotation still an object. It is a real PNG any viewer can show; it also keeps the whole screen as it was, so share the PNG and keep the .shoto.

Reframe at any time

The area you selected is never set in stone.

  • Resize the area afterwardsEight handles on the corners and edges. Your annotations stay put. Esc puts the area back.
  • Type the exact sizeClick the W × H badge and enter a size. It even does the math: 1920/2, 800+20.
  • Live capture F2WindowsUnfreeze the screen: videos keep playing, and copying or saving grabs the exact moment you click.
  • Every monitor at once WindowsSelect across all your screens in one go.

Color, precisely

Match the exact shade on screen.

  • Eyedropper IA magnifier shows the pixels under your pointer. Click to pick a color anywhere on screen: it becomes your color and its hex code is copied.
  • Fill bucket GClick a line, an arrow or an outline to recolor it, inside a rectangle or an ellipse to fill it, or anywhere else to color the whole capture: an instant slate to draw on. Alt+click clears a fill.
  • Color wheel SAny hue, any shade. Enter applies it, Esc cancels.
  • Six quick colors 1–6Red, yellow, green, blue, white and black, one key away.
  • Your color, remembered WindowsYour last custom color is waiting for you next time, even after a restart.

Draw with precision

Clean lines without effort.

  • Arrows that stick CtrlHold Ctrl or Alt while drawing an arrow or a line: its end snaps to a box or ellipse and follows it when you move, resize or rotate the shape.
  • Straight and square ShiftLines, arrows, pen and highlighter snap to 45°. Rectangles become squares.
  • From the center AltDraw a rectangle from its center. Circles are drawn from the center, and Alt turns them into ellipses.
  • Thickness on the wheel1 to 40 px, with a ring at the pointer that shows the width live. Change it mid-stroke: only the rest of the line follows. On text, the wheel sets the font size.
  • A real highlighter HTranslucent, and overlapping strokes never get darker.
  • A smooth pen PLight smoothing, with no lag behind your hand.
  • Reorder what overlaps PgUpPgDnBring a shape in front of the one it overlaps, or send it behind. With Shift, all the way to the front or the back.
  • Your thickness, remembered WindowsThe next capture starts with the width you used last.

Capture in one keystroke

When you don’t even need to annotate.

  • Instant capture Scroll LockWindowsThe screen you are on goes straight to your Desktop, without opening the editor. A soft blue pulse and a shutter click confirm it.
  • Your own shutter sound WindowsMute the click, or replace it with any WAV file you like.
  • Tidy file namesShot 001.png, Shot 002.png… Numbering picks up where it left off, and never overwrites a capture.
  • Save where you saved last CtrlSWindowsThe save dialog reopens in your last folder with the next name ready, as a PNG or a JPEG.
  • Copy the clean image CtrlShiftCYour annotations are included; toolbars and handles are not.

Out of your way

A tool that stays quiet until you need it.

  • Undo everything CtrlZEvery change to your annotations can be undone and redone, with Ctrl+Y or Ctrl+Shift+Z.
  • Hide the toolbars TabSee your capture without distractions. Toolbars also move aside near screen edges.
  • Google Lens search CtrlGWindowsLook up what you captured. Only the selected area is sent, and only when you ask.
  • Your shortcuts WindowsSet capture, instant capture, the Board and the three presentation shapes to the keys you like. Conflicts are flagged.
  • A panic button CtrlAltEscWindowsInstantly hides every presentation aid on screen.
  • Ready when you are WindowsStarts with Windows and waits in the tray. No telemetry, no account.

Features marked Windows are not on Linux yet.

READY TO TRY IT?

Your next
“look here”
starts here.

Windows

Early release 0.3.30 · Windows 11 · x64

Download Shotoshot

Installer · 3.0 MB · Double-click and it’s installed. No admin rights needed.

This first version is still evolving. The installer isn’t digitally signed yet: if Windows shows “Windows protected your PC”, click “More info”, then “Run anyway”. Code signing policy: Shotoshot is applying to SignPath Foundation’s free code signing for open-source projects.

Linux

Raspberry Pi OS, Ubuntu, Fedora, Debian… on Wayland or X11.

PC · x86_64 Raspberry Pi · ARM64

Archives · 4.0–4.2 MB · Extract it, then run sh install.sh, no admin rights needed. Bind a keyboard shortcut to shotoshot --capture in your system settings: Linux doesn’t let apps listen to the keyboard. Captures are saved straight to your Pictures folder. Not on Linux yet: presentation mode, the Board, live capture and Google Lens. It runs on a Raspberry Pi; the PC build passes its tests but hasn’t met a regular PC yet, so tell me how it goes on yours.

Verify the download checksums ↗ Open source: read the code on GitHub Tried it? Tell me what you think →

A FEW ANSWERS

Simple,
down to the details.

How do I take my first capture?

On first launch, pick your shortcut. Press it, drag over an area, then annotate. Ctrl+C copies the result; Ctrl+S saves it. The icon near the clock gives you access to the settings.

My antivirus blocks the installation. What should I do?

Shotoshot is not code-signed yet, and a new app that listens for a keyboard shortcut and captures the screen can look suspicious to some antivirus software. If setup stops with “Access denied” or says shotoshot.exe cannot be found, open your antivirus history, restore or allow shotoshot.exe, then run the installer again. You can check the installer against its published fingerprint first. Please let me know which antivirus it was, so I can report the false alarm.

Can I keep my current screenshot tool?

Yes. Shotoshot never changes another app’s settings, so both can stay installed with different shortcuts. If another app already holds Print Screen, Shotoshot tells you: close it or pick another key.

Do my captures leave my computer?

Copying and saving stay local. If you click the Google Lens search, the selected area and its annotations are sent to Google to find similar images. Nothing is ever sent automatically.

Does the Board change my wallpaper?

Yes, and only that. Your notes are drawn into a copy of your wallpaper, one picture per screen, so they stay on the desktop under your icons with nothing running. Your own picture is kept: turn Show board off, or uninstall Shotoshot, and it comes back. A slideshow or Spotlight background becomes a still picture while the Board is shown.

Is it a screen recorder?

No. Shotoshot captures images and shows presentation aids on your screen. You can use those aids during a class, a call or a stream, with your usual software.

Does it handle AZERTY, QWERTY and other layouts?

The mini keyboard follows the active layout of the app you are using, with accents and AltGr. French, US, UK and German layouts have been checked. The shape shortcuts can be changed.

How do I report a problem or suggest an idea?

Fill in the two-minute feedback form, or write to contact@mickaelmancini.com. Say what you were doing and which version of Windows you use: it helps to understand what happened.

CHANGELOG

Better with
every version.

0.3.30
  • Arrows pulled out of a text box now really touch: they start from inside the box and the tip bites into its target, no more hairline gap at either end.
  • An arrow whose start came off its box no longer slides along the box's edge: it leaves square, crosses halfway and lands square, a tidy S.
  • No more ugly little hooks between boxes that sit close together or almost level: the arrow crosses right in the middle, or simply goes straight.
  • A text box left empty stays put at the size you drew it, ready to be typed into later (a file holding one needs this version to open).
0.3.29
  • New Blur tool (X): drag a rectangle over a password, an address or a face and it becomes unreadable for good, scrambled before being blurred; the mouse wheel sets how strong.
  • Saved as an editable image, the hidden zone is destroyed in the file too, so nobody can dig the original back out.
0.3.28
  • Text boxes sprout four little dots when you hover them: pull one and out comes an arrow, leaving the box square-on and turning neat rounded corners. Drop it on another box or shape and it stays hooked on, wherever you move either one.
0.3.27
  • The loupe's size and zoom are now sliders: from a modest 120 px to a generous 480 px, and from 2× all the way up to 8× for the tiniest print.
  • Text boxes can have their own text colour: pick Text color next to Box color and the palette paints the letters instead of the box. Right-click it to go back to automatic black or white.
0.3.26
  • The Click sound of the pointer effects actually clicks now: it was so short that speakers waking up swallowed it whole.
0.3.25
  • Arrows and lines can now bend: drag the blue dot in their middle, right after drawing or once selected, and they curve through it, head and all. Bring it back near the straight line and it snaps straight again.
  • The tray menu slims down to what you actually click: capture, board and the presentation switches, with every shortcut drawn as real keys.
  • The tray menu now lists the Arrow, Rectangle and Ellipse shortcuts under Temporary shapes: a click lets you pick new keys on the spot, no detour through Settings.
  • Everything you set once moves to a new Settings window: general options, all your shortcuts in one list, presentation sizes and the pointer effects.
  • Pointer effects become tidy cards, one per effect with its own switch, so you only see the settings you are actually tweaking.
  • Moving the on-screen keyboard is a switch in Settings now: no more padlock, and Settings stays open while you place it.
  • Didn't know the mouse wheel sets the thickness of arrows, shapes, pen and text? Neither did one of our testers: a small label next to the pointer now says so, until you've used it once.
  • A shortcut another app has grabbed now turns orange, instead of hiding behind a tiny "(in use)".
  • Settings got a makeover: clearer type, an icon on every row, and short hints where a label was not enough. In the tray menu, Quit is now the power button and Clear board a bin, so nobody mistakes it for a rake anymore.
0.3.24
  • On Linux with labwc (Raspberry Pi OS), the Magnifier joins the tray menu: tick it and the screen under your pointer grows, drawn by labwc itself, so recordings see it too.
  • It is square for now, as labwc only knows squares; it turns round, with the soft edge of Windows, as soon as labwc learns circles.
0.3.23
  • With two screens, the settings submenus no longer wander off to the neighbouring screen: when the menu sits at the right edge, they open on its left instead.
0.3.22
  • New Magnifier, switched on from the notification menu or Pointer effects: a round lens follows your pointer and enlarges whatever sits under it, at 2x, 3x or 4x, in three sizes.
  • Give it a shortcut if you like: one press switches it on or off, or it shows only while you hold the key, for a quick peek.
  • Its edge melts softly into the screen, the taskbar gets enlarged too, it never magnifies itself, and it works with or without the halo.
  • Screen recorders and screen sharing see it too, so your audience finally squints less than you do.
0.3.21
  • The faint frame that showed around the on-screen keyboard while you typed is gone: now it's just the keys you press, floating on their own.
0.3.20
  • New Text box tool (B): click and type to get text on a rounded colour panel, or drag first to choose how wide it is and let the lines wrap by themselves. The text sits in the middle and turns black or white so it always reads.
  • A text box behaves like any other annotation: move it, recolour it, copy it, undo it. Dragging a corner of a wrapped box changes its width, not its font, and it reopens just as editable from a .shoto file.
0.3.19
  • The on-screen keyboard and mouse now keep out of sight: only the keys and buttons you press show up, right where they sit, then fade away. Your audience sees what you do, not a keyboard parked on the screen.
  • To place them, pick Move keyboard and mouse in the menu: they show in full until you lock them again, and once locked they never catch a click meant for the window below.
  • The keyboard layout menu is gone: a keyboard that only shows the keys you press takes no room, so it's always the full one now.
  • Moving the spotlight no longer flashes a thin see-through gap at the edge of its shadow.
0.3.18
  • The spotlight's shadow now fades in gently around the light instead of starting at a hard edge, for circles and bands alike. Less flashlight, more stage lighting.
  • The Pointer effects window gets a switch to show or hide the halo, and tweaking any effect turns the halo on by itself: no more adjusting settings for a pointer you can't see.
0.3.17
  • The pointer's ribbon trail now flows in one smooth curve, even when you whip the mouse around: no more little corners giving away how it was drawn.
  • Shaking the mouse no longer sets off a giant circle around the pointer. It kept firing during ordinary back-and-forth moves, so it's gone for good.
0.3.16
  • New Pointer effects window, right under the halo in the menu: pick a disc, a ring or a neon glow, add a trail of sparks or stars, ripples and sounds on clicks, a spotlight that dims everything else, and shake the mouse to find it. The window shows each change live, before your audience sees it.
0.3.15
  • Saved captures are now simply named 001, 002, 003 and so on. Less clutter, same order, and the count picks up where the old names left off.
0.3.14
  • Hovering with the paint bucket now traces a dotted outline around what it's about to fill, instead of a pale tint that looked like see-through paint.
0.3.13
  • Taking several captures in a row? The next one opens on the area you just used, ready to annotate. Click outside it for a fresh one; after five quiet minutes it starts blank again.
  • Ctrl+C right after typing a text now copies the image, as you meant, instead of quietly copying that text.
0.3.11
  • Second take: when the toolbar has to sit above your selection, it now steps aside to the left of the size badge instead of climbing over it.
0.3.10
  • Selecting near the bottom of the screen no longer parks the toolbar on top of the size and full-screen buttons. Everyone gets their own spot now.
0.3.9
  • The crosshair now picks black or white to match what's underneath, so it no longer plays hide-and-seek on pale pages.
  • The capture click now always plays, so its switch left the menu. Prefer silence? An empty custom sound file does the trick (see the README).
0.3.8
  • New · Shotoshot now speaks 15 languages. Pick yours when installing, or switch anytime from the menu.
  • New · Searching an image on Google now opens the results in your language, not just in English.
  • No more squinting at the toolbar: the tool in your hand lights up blue with a little bounce, and your drawing colour sits in a white ring.
0.3.7
  • New · The bucket now stops at the lines you've already drawn, like paint poured into a colouring book. Right-click takes a fill back off.
  • Fixed · Search an image on Google and your capture now waits behind the browser instead of vanishing.
0.3.6
  • Scroll over a selected shape to grow or shrink it. It keeps its colour and starts from its own size.
0.3.5
  • New · You can start a shape, or erase, outside the capture area. Arrows pointing at things off the edge, finally.
  • The eraser rubs out freehand ink wherever it passes, and the mouse wheel sets its size.
  • Hover anything and Shotoshot shows what a click would grab, before you click.
  • Redrawn toolbar icons, now in the colour you're drawing with.
0.3.4
  • Fixed · Three screens under Wayland? Shotoshot now captures each one properly instead of squashing them into one. Thanks to our first bug report from the outside world.
0.3.3
  • The arrow tool is in your hand from the start, and text gets a real blinking cursor.
0.3.2
  • Installing takes one click: no questions, and Shotoshot starts by itself.
0.3.1
  • Fixed · "Search with Google Lens" works again in Brave and Edge, where it used to show an empty "expired" page.
0.3.0
  • New · The Board: write notes straight onto your desktop wallpaper, one board per screen. They stay under your windows until you clear them (Alt+B).
  • Zoom and pan each screen of the Board on its own.
  • A new eraser takes whole shapes in one click or one sweep.
0.2.0
  • New · Save a capture as an editable .shoto image. Reopen it later and every arrow, box and text can still be moved. Explorer even shows a thumbnail.
  • New · Paint bucket: fill a shape, recolour a line, or flood the whole capture.
  • Presentation mode shows your keyboard and mouse separately, with a choice of layouts.
  • The capture appears instantly, Print Screen stays yours even when the Snipping Tool tries to take it back, and Alt+Tab no longer loses your annotations.
  • Save as PNG or JPEG, and Page Up / Page Down move a shape above or below the others.
0.1.0
  • Capture a zone, annotate it with arrows, boxes, text and highlighter, or draw live on your desktop while you present.

AN INDEPENDENT PROJECT

A little boost.
New ideas.

I build Shotoshot to make screenshots and demos simpler. If you find it useful, you can support what comes next.

Support is optional. Feedback, an idea or a share are just as welcome.

PayPal support is coming soon.

A project by Mickaël Mancini.