How to use ClearSnap

The idea in one minute

ClearSnap sits quietly in the system tray (by the clock) and takes over the Print Screen key. Press it and the screen freezes, so menus, tooltips and anything else that disappears when you move the mouse stay put. Then click a window, drag a region or press F for the whole screen. The capture is copied to the clipboard, ready to paste, and saved as a PNG. If you want to point something out, open it in the editor to add arrows, notes or numbered steps, or blur anything private.

Everything stays on your PC: no account, no cloud, no tracking.

Install and activate

1. Download ClearSnap-win-Setup.exe (about 72 MB) and run it. It installs for you only (no administrator password), adds ClearSnap to the Start menu and starts it. Windows may say “Windows protected your PC” because the installer isn’t signed yet: click More info, then Run anyway.
2. On Windows 11, Print Screen normally opens Windows’ own Snipping Tool. The first time ClearSnap starts it offers to switch that off, so Print Screen comes to ClearSnap instead (see Questions to do it yourself).
3. ClearSnap is free to try for 14 days. The top line of its tray menu shows how many days are left.
4. To activate, right-click the ClearSnap icon in the tray and choose Activate ClearSnap…. Enter the email address your licence key was sent to and paste the key (it starts CSNP-). If you were sent the key as a .txt file, click Open key file… or just drag the file onto the window. The key is checked on your PC; nothing is sent anywhere. The tray menu then shows Licensed until and the date.

ClearSnap checks for a newer version about 20 seconds after it starts, and you can check yourself from the tray menu with Check for updates…. Updating keeps your captures, settings and licence.

Take a screenshot

Press Print Screen. The screen freezes and a capture overlay appears on every monitor. Move the pointer and ClearSnap outlines what a click would capture:

• A web page. In Chrome, Edge, Brave and Firefox, a click captures just the page itself, without the tabs, address bar and toolbars. Hold Shift as you click to capture the whole browser window instead.
• A window. Anywhere else, a click captures the window under the pointer.
• A region. Drag to draw a rectangle, then fine-tune it (below) and press Enter or double-click.
• The whole screen. Press F for the monitor the pointer is on.

Changed your mind? Esc cancels and nothing is saved.

Fine-tune a region

After drawing a region you can make it exact before taking it:

• Drag any of the 8 handles (corners and edges) to resize it.
• Use the arrow keys to nudge it by 1 pixel, or Shift + arrows for 10.
• While drawing, hold Space to move the whole region instead of resizing it.

A magnifier by the pointer shows the pixels around it on a grid, with the exact position and the colour under the pointer. Press C to copy that colour as a hex code (like #0078D4), handy for matching colours in a design or web page.

The capture toolbar

The small toolbar at the top of the overlay does the same things with the mouse:

• Region, Window, Tab (just the web page) and Full screen: what a click captures.
• Delay: wait 3, 5 or 10 seconds before capturing, to open a menu or hover over something first.
• Cursor: include the mouse pointer in the capture.
• Cancel.

Copied, saved and in History

Every capture is copied to the clipboard straight away, so you can paste it into an email, chat or document with Ctrl V. It’s also saved as a PNG in Pictures\ClearSnap, named with the date and time it was taken (for example 2026-10-26_14-32-05.png).

Open History from the tray menu to see all your captures, grouped by Today, Yesterday, This week and Older. From there you can:

• search for a capture,
• select one or several, then copy, save a copy somewhere else or delete them (they go to the Recycle Bin, so you can get them back),
• drag a capture straight into an email, document or chat,
• open one in the editor.

Mark it up

Open a capture in the editor to point things out before you send it:

• Rectangles: an outline, a highlight, or a spotlight that dims everything else. Corners can be square or rounded.
• Arrows and text.
• Numbered steps: click to drop 1, 2, 3… in order, for “click here, then here” instructions.
• Blur or redact: pixelate an area or cover it in a solid block. Use it for passwords, email addresses and anything else private.
• Crop and resize.
• Undo and redo (Ctrl Z / Ctrl Y).

Keyboard shortcuts

Print Screen	Start a capture: the screen freezes and the capture overlay opens on every monitor.
Click	Capture the window (or, in a browser, just the web page) under the pointer.
Shift + click	In a browser: capture the whole window, tabs and toolbars included.
Drag	Draw a region.
F	Capture the whole screen the pointer is on.
← → ↑ ↓	Nudge the region (or the edge you’re dragging) by 1 pixel.
Shift + arrows	Nudge by 10 pixels.
Space (hold)	Move the whole region while dragging.
C	Copy the colour under the pointer (as a hex code like #0078D4).
Enter / double-click	Take the region.
Esc	Cancel.
Ctrl Z / Ctrl Y	In the editor: undo / redo.

Questions and problems

Print Screen opens Windows’ Snipping Tool instead of ClearSnap

Windows 11 uses Print Screen for its own tool unless you turn that off. Open Settings ▸ Accessibility ▸ Keyboard and turn off Use the Print screen key to open screen capture. ClearSnap offers to do this the first time it starts; if you said no then, this is how to change it.

Does it work with more than one monitor?

Yes. The overlay covers every monitor, and regions and windows can be captured on any of them, even when the monitors use different scaling (for example a laptop screen at 150% and a monitor at 100%).

Where are my screenshots saved?

In Pictures\ClearSnap, as PNG files named with the date and time. History shows them all, newest first.

Does ClearSnap send anything over the internet?

Only one thing: it asks polychromenz.com whether there’s a newer version. Your captures, notes and licence never leave your PC, and there’s no account or tracking.

What happens when the 14-day trial ends?

Capturing stops until you enter a licence key (tray icon ▸ Activate ClearSnap…). Your captures stay in History and in Pictures\ClearSnap either way. Use the form below to ask about a key.