ScreenFloat 2
Matthias Gansrigler (Mastodon):
ScreenFloat powers up your screenshots by allowing you to take screenshots and recordings that float above everything else, keeping certain information always in sight.
I’ve known about this app for a long time, but I’d never used it or thought much about it because the description doesn’t speak to me. I just don’t know why I’d ever want my screenshots to float. But, with the release of version 2, I took a closer look and found that it includes a variety of other features for working with screenshots that are actually quite useful.
Share includes some of the same options as the export tool, allowing screenshots to be copied, exported, printed, and shared with other apps. There’s also an option to detect data, including text, faces, and barcodes, which allows text to be copied or redacted and faces and barcodes to be blurred out, a fantastic use of macOS’s built-in data detection technology.
The Edit section provides tools for editing metadata and annotating images in a wide variety of ways by adding text, bulleted lists, shapes, arrows, lines, and more. All of these edits are non-destructive, meaning you can add them for reference purposes but still retrieve an unedited version of the screenshot later. This is an excellent addition for anyone who wants to mark up an image to highlight some aspect of it but preserve the ability to use a clean version in the future.
The Organize section has options for marking screenshots as favorites, rating them, moving them to folders, opening the Shots Browser, and accessing the app’s Settings. Of these options, the Shots Browser is easily my favorite because it extends ScreenFloat from a simple floating screenshot reference tool to a dedicated screenshot organization app.
The organization aspect is neat in that it automatically avoids the clutter of image files on your desktop. But I take most of my screenshots on test Macs, and so it doesn’t make sense to use it for long-term storage or organization there. I’ve been putting them in EagleFiler on my main Mac. The syncing would be great except that it uses iCloud, and my test macOS installations use a different Apple ID than my main Macs.
I can’t believe that the app only costs $7 and that this major upgrade—which is a complete rewrite in Swift and Core Data—is free. I’m not sure whether I’ll end up using it regularly, but there’s a lot other like here.
Update (2024-03-28): See also: Scott Willsey.
3 Comments RSS · Twitter · Mastodon
Sounds interesting, haven't heard of it.
But I'm a huge fan of CleanShot which I've been using for years and I use it all the time to take screenshots. It is actually one of the best Mac apps I've ever used, overall, it's just so well made, the features that are added are almost always very useful. One of those delights of using Mac as a platform.
When it comes to screenshots on the desktop I almost forgot that it still happens for new installs, changing the locations of screenshots away for the desktop to a dedicated folder inside my download folder is one of the first things I change on a new install.
Thank you for sharing. He got me at "Fold" ( https://mjtsai.com/blog/2024/01/17/screenfloat-2/ )
It costs $15, which is a bargain for the functions shown. It is more a picture editor/drawing app with a Screenshot function.
I’m a huge fan of ScreenFloat and am so pleasantly surprised it got an upgrade!
I use it a lot in iOS dev work so i can compare screenshots of designs to what i see in the Simulator. I also use it to keep specs or docs handy while im working (i do most of my work with full screen windows these days so it’s nice to “float” little bits from other windows over my main space)