Way Better Than Mac's Built-in Screenshot: CleanShot X Revealed How Efficient Screenshots Can Be!

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Writing reports, taking online courses, making notes from YouTube, sending messages. I take screenshots all day. I used to think Mac’s built-in Command + Shift + 4 was sufficient.

Then I realized I was often spending 10 minutes just to complete one task: screenshot a data dashboard, open image editor to add arrow annotations, blur sensitive data, save as new file, upload to cloud, copy link, paste to Slack for colleagues. I repeated this workflow several times daily, never realizing how much time it wasted.

After I started using CleanShot X, I discovered that screenshots can be incredibly smooth! This article shares my experience and why I believe this seemingly simple action (taking screenshots) can be one of the most worthwhile productivity tool investments on Mac.

Where Does Mac’s Built-in Screenshot Tool Fall Short?

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Mac’s screenshot function is usable, but for frequent screenshot users, several pain points accumulate:

Long webpages can only be captured in segments
Want to capture an entire webpage or complete chat history? Mac’s built-in tool can’t do it. You have to take multiple screenshots and manually stitch them together.

Text in images cannot be searched
This is my biggest frustration. When watching YouTube tutorials, taking Coursera online courses, or reading web articles, I often need to record code or key text from the screen. But using screenshots means my notes fill up with space-consuming images, and the text in these images cannot be searched, making it impossible to find information later.

Screenshot files automatically save to desktop
Mac’s built-in screenshots all create files on the desktop. Over time, the desktop becomes a digital junkyard, piled with screenshot files. When you actually need to find an important image, you have to click through them one by one. If you just want to quickly share with colleagues, you don’t actually need to save the file at all.

These issues seem minor individually, but accumulated they represent massive efficiency loss. CleanShot X was born to solve these pain points.

CleanShot X: One-Stop Solution for Diverse Screenshot Needs

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CleanShot X is a screenshot tool designed specifically for macOS, offering over 50 features. Of course, you don’t need to learn them all, but I’ll share what I find most practical:

OCR Text Recognition: A Lifesaver for Note-Takers

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This is one of my most frequently used features! Select any area on your screen, and CleanShot X can recognize the text and copy it to your clipboard. Whether it’s text in images, scanned PDFs, or paused video frames, it captures accurately.

You’ve probably encountered many websites that don’t allow copying, right? The beauty of OCR (Optical Character Recognition) is that even with “copy-protected” webpages or protected PDFs, you can still easily extract text with OCR. I use this trick particularly often when reviewing academic materials with copy restrictions.

Best of all, the recognition process runs entirely on your Mac without uploading data to any server, so there are no privacy concerns. My note-taking app no longer fills up with screenshots but instead contains clean, searchable plain text.

Scrolling Capture: Complete Long Webpages in One Shot

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Do you also have very long PDFs or webpages that can’t be completely captured in a single selection? Then activate Scrolling Capture, and CleanShot X will automatically scroll down and stitch the screens together, ultimately producing one complete long image. Whether it’s entire webpages, complete code, or lengthy chat logs, everything can be captured at once.

The new version also added an “automatic scrolling” option. You just need to specify the starting point, and it will automatically detect content boundaries and complete the entire scrolling process. Compared to previously having to manually control scrolling speed, the operation is now incredibly simple.

Quick Editing and Annotation: No More Time-Consuming Image Editing!

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After taking a screenshot, a floating thumbnail appears. Click to enter edit mode. Arrows, frames, text, highlighters, blur tools: everything is available. Even more thoughtful is the “step numbering” feature. One click automatically generates 1, 2, 3 markers, super convenient for creating tutorial documents.

I particularly love using the “blur” function to hide sensitive information. Whether it’s internal company data, customer personal information, or my own account passwords, it can all be handled in seconds, eliminating worries about screenshot leaks causing security issues.

One-Click Desktop Hiding: Professional Image Achieved

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Before taking screenshots or sharing screens, one click can hide all icons and messy files on your desktop. This feature has saved me countless times, especially during video conferences when I suddenly need to share my screen. I don’t really want colleagues seeing what files are on my desktop 🤦‍♂️.

Beyond hiding the background, when screen recording with CleanShot X, it can also automatically activate “Do Not Disturb” mode, avoiding the awkward situation of personal message notifications suddenly popping up.

Background Enhancement: Making Screenshots More Polished

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CleanShot X can add beautiful backgrounds, rounded corners, and shadows to screenshots, instantly transforming ordinary screenshots into refined images suitable for presentations or social media posts.

If you’re building a personal brand or blog, the “Presets” feature will be your friend. Save commonly used background colors, corner radius sizes, and shadow styles as presets. Then with one-click application for each screenshot, you can ensure all images maintain consistent style and look more professional.

My Three Most Common CleanShot X Use Cases

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After covering so many features, I want to share some of my actual use cases to help you more concretely understand how CleanShot X can integrate into your workflow.

Use Case 1: Quick Code Extraction While Learning from YouTube

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As a data scientist who needs to grasp both statistics and programming at least superficially, I often watch Coursera, Udemy, and YouTube tutorials to learn new technologies. With so much to learn, taking notes is essential. The old workflow was incredibly painful:

1. Pause the video
2. Switch to note-taking app
3. Type character by character from the screen
4. Forget where I was halfway through typing
5. Switch back to Chrome to watch the video
6. Switch back to note-taking app to continue typing…

Recording a 20-line code snippet could take me five minutes (´Д` )

Sometimes I would just screenshot and save, thinking I’ll organize it later. The result (of course) was that my note-taking app filled up with screenshots. Months later, when trying to find a particular code snippet, I had no idea which image contained it because image content is completely unsearchable.

Now I directly use CleanShot X’s OCR feature to select the screen, the code automatically copies to my clipboard, and I paste it directly into my note-taking app. The entire process takes less than three seconds, and it’s plain text, making future searches super convenient. This feature has completely transformed my learning approach.

Demo: Taking notes with OCR while watching online courses (Click to expand)

Use Case 2: Screenshot Data Dashboards for Team Communication

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At work, I often need to screenshot data dashboards, annotate where data anomalies appear, and share with colleagues for discussion.

Once, five minutes before an urgent meeting, my manager suddenly asked: “Can you give me an annotated conversion rate screenshot? I need it for the meeting.” The old me would frantically open Mac’s built-in image preview, spend ages finding the toolbar, add a crooked arrow, then realize I forgot to blur the sensitive numbers. While using Google Slides for quick image editing could be slightly faster, the small actions of first pasting the image into Slides then exporting it as an image still add up to considerable hassle.

Now with CleanShot X, after taking a screenshot I directly add arrows, circles, blur sensitive numbers in the floating window, then drag it straight to Slack and send. Not even five minutes. With a familiar workflow, 30 seconds gets it done.

After getting used to quickly producing professional screenshots anytime, my response speed at work improved significantly, which in turn boosted colleagues’ trust in me. After all, with convenient tools, you’re more willing to provide colleagues and friends with clearly annotated screenshots, so they won’t come back asking “How should I interpret that image you just sent?” after receiving your message.

Use Case 3: Using GIFs for Tutorial Demonstrations in Blog Posts

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When writing technical articles, some operations are difficult to explain with text alone. Use video? Files are too large, readers have to press play, many people simply won’t bother clicking.

CleanShot X’s screen recording feature can directly output as GIF. The benefits of GIFs: small file size, lightweight web embedding, readers automatically see it when scrolling, requiring no additional action to view dynamic content.

My previous article VoiceInk Voice-to-Text Tool Introduction extensively used this feature. That article had several operational steps that would be difficult for readers to understand with just static screenshots, lacking any sense of immersion. After presenting the article with GIFs, I believe readers find it easier to understand what I’m explaining, and I did receive more positive feedback from readers.

Now whenever I write articles requiring operational demonstrations, I think about recording several GIF segments with CleanShot X.

Is CleanShot X Worth the Money? Price, Competitors, and Target Users

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CleanShot X uses a one-time purchase model, priced at USD $29 (approximately TWD 900), including one year of free updates and 1 GB cloud storage. While there’s no free trial, it offers a 30-day unconditional money-back guarantee, so you can try it with confidence.

If you’re already a Setapp subscriber, CleanShot X is included in your subscription and you can use it directly.

How Does It Compare to Other Tools?

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Before buying CleanShot X, I also compared some competitors. Here’s a summary for your reference:

• Shottr: Free and lightweight, with OCR, scrolling capture, and other features, but lacks screen recording and GIF functionality. If you only need basic screenshots, it can be a good choice. Personally, I find CleanShot X’s interface more to my taste and smoother to use.
• Snagit: A well-established tool with comprehensive features, but the interface leans toward Windows style. Some users report slower execution speeds, and the price is slightly higher ($39 USD/year subscription).
• Mac Built-in Tools: Free but limited functionality, lacking OCR, scrolling capture, quick editing, and other advanced features.

Who Should Use CleanShot X?

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• People who take more than five screenshots daily
• Those who need to create tutorial documents or technical articles
• Remote workers who frequently communicate with colleagues via screenshots
• Mac users pursuing efficiency and professional presentation

Who Shouldn’t Buy It?

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• Those who only occasionally take screenshots and find Mac’s built-in features sufficient
• Those genuinely averse to paying for software or with budget concerns about $29. You can try the free Shottr first

Conclusion

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$29 USD might seem like a lot, but consider this perspective: if this tool saves you 10 minutes daily, that’s 5 hours monthly. Trading the price of one dinner for this time back seems incredibly worthwhile to me. Time is money!

For me, CleanShot X has evolved from a useful tool into something I “can’t function without.” If you’re also a heavy screenshot user, I highly recommend trying it.