Pixel.Noted Help

Version 26.2 · macOS 14 Sonoma and later (Apple Silicon + Intel)

Pixel.Noted is a native macOS screenshot, screen-recording, and image-annotation app built for developers, designers, support teams, and anyone who documents their screen. It's entirely local — no account, no tracking, and no internet connection required. On-device AI runs on Apple's Neural Engine, so nothing you capture ever leaves your Mac. This page covers every feature, tool, shortcut, and setting. Can't find what you're looking for? Use the contact form.

Getting Started

Capturing something

Open the Capture panel and choose a mode — Full Screen, Region, or Window — then click the shutter button. Your capture opens straight in the editor, ready to annotate.

• Capture Full Screen: ⌃⇧F
• Capture Region: ⌃⇧R
• Capture Window: ⌃⇧W

Opening an existing image

• Menu: File → Open (⌘O)
• Drag and drop: drag any image onto the Pixel.Noted window or Dock icon
• Double-click: double-click a saved .pixelnoted file in Finder to reopen it with all layers intact
• Library: recent captures appear in the Library panel for one-click reopening

The two modes

Pixel.Noted has two modes, switched with the Capture / Editor toggle at the top of the window:

• Capture — take screenshots and start recordings
• Editor — annotate, mark up, crop, and export

Saving and exporting

• Save as an editable .pixelnoted file: ⌘S
• Save As: ⌘⇧S
• Export to PNG, JPEG, WebP, HEIF, TIFF, BMP, or PDF: ⌘⇧E
• Copy to Clipboard: the clipboard button in the toolbar, or right-click → Copy to Clipboard

Capturing Your Screen

Choose a capture mode from the Capture panel, then click the shutter button.

Capture modes

Capture options

• Capture Cursor — include or hide the mouse pointer in the shot
• Timer / Second Delay — add a short countdown before the capture fires, giving you time to set up the screen
• Multiple displays — on a multi-monitor setup, Pixel.Noted lets you choose which display to capture

Scrolling capture

Scrolling capture records a page as you scroll and automatically stitches the frames into a single tall image — ideal for long web pages, documents, or chat threads that don't fit on one screen.

Screen Recording

Record your screen as a QuickTime-compatible H.264 MP4 that opens directly in QuickTime Player and iMovie — no conversion needed.

Recording modes (scope)

Each time you start a recording, choose the scope:

• Full Screen — record an entire display
• Region — draw a crosshair rectangle to record just part of the screen
• Window — record a single window

Start or stop recording with ⌃⇧V.

The floating recording HUD

While recording, a floating control bar appears that you can drag anywhere on screen. It gives you quick access to:

• Webcam overlay — show a live camera feed in the corner of the recording (choose the device in Record options / Settings → Devices)
• Microphone — record audio from any connected mic or AirPods, mixed into the MP4
• Pause / Resume
• Stop

Multi-display recording

On multiple monitors, a picker with live display thumbnails lets you choose which screen to record.

Cancelling

Press Esc to cancel the scope picker or the region selector before recording starts.

The Editor

The editor is where you mark up a capture. The canvas sits in the center, the toolbar runs across the top, the Layers panel is on the left, and the Inspector (properties) is on the right.

Working with annotations

• Every annotation you add stays fully editable until you export — select it any time to move, resize, restyle, or delete it.
• Use the Select tool to click an object and reveal its handles.
• Objects are drawn on layers and can be reordered and toggled in the Layers panel.

Zoom

Zoom is controlled from the toolbar zoom buttons and the right-click menu:

• Zoom In / Zoom Out
• Zoom to Fit — fit the whole image in the window
• Zoom to Actual Size — 100%

Annotation Tools

Pixel.Noted includes 17 annotation tools. Select one from the toolbar; the active tool is highlighted.

Tips

• Highlighter starts on yellow and lists yellow as the first swatch.
• Arrow can be re-selected by clicking anywhere in its bounding box, so it stays editable even after you add other objects.
• Step and Focus Steps counters can be reset from the toolbar controls that appear when those tools are active.

The Inspector (Properties)

When you select an annotation, the Inspector on the right shows the controls for that object. Available controls depend on the tool:

• Color — 8 color presets plus custom color
• Shape Width — stroke thickness
• Arrow Head — arrowhead size, independent of stroke width (Arrow tool)
• Corner Radius — rounded corners, 0–24 pt (Rectangle)
• Fill — toggle a solid fill on shapes
• Opacity — overall transparency (e.g. Highlighter opacity 10–100%)
• Shadow — drop-shadow radius, offset, and color
• Font size — for Text and Callout
• Focus Step — badge and label position controls for Focus Steps

Property changes are undoable, and a slider drag records a single undo step (not one per frame).

Crop, Resize & Redaction

Crop

Select the Crop tool. Pixel.Noted supports two crop styles (set the default in Settings → Editor → Crop):

• Adjust Edges (default) — the crop frame surrounds the whole image; drag any edge to move that side independently, or drag a corner to move two sides at once.
• Draw Region — drag out a rectangle to define the crop area.

Confirm the crop with Return (Apply) or cancel with Esc.

Resize Canvas

Right-click → Resize Canvas… to change the image dimensions.

Redaction (Blur & Pixelate)

Use the Blur or Pixelate tools to obscure sensitive regions — passwords, emails, tokens, faces — before you share. Both are applied as editable regions until export.

AI Features

All AI runs on-device using Apple frameworks and the Neural Engine. Your images are never uploaded to a server. Open the AI panel from the Inspector's AI tab.

• Extract Text (OCR) — pull selectable text out of any image using Apple's Vision framework. No model download required.
• Describe Image — generate a description of a screenshot (uses an on-device vision model that you download once).
• Smart Select / Remove Background — use the Smart Select tool to isolate a subject, then remove the background and export with transparency (PNG).
• Natural-language commands — type a plain-English instruction to add annotations.

Larger AI models are downloaded only when you choose to enable those features, and all processing stays local.

Layers & Library

Layers panel

Every annotation lives on a layer. In the Layers panel (left) you can:

• Reorder annotations
• Toggle a layer's visibility
• Select an object by clicking its layer

Library panel

The Library panel shows your recent captures for quick reopening. Toggle it with Show / Hide Library (⌘⇧L).

Social Media Templates

Right-click the canvas → Social Media Templates to frame your image for common social and marketing sizes, so exports fit the platform you're posting to.

Exporting & Saving

Native file format

Save as a .pixelnoted file (⌘S) to preserve the full image, all layers, and every editable annotation for later. Double-clicking a .pixelnoted file in Finder reopens it in Pixel.Noted.

Export formats

Export (⌘⇧E) supports 7 formats:

Export destinations

Choose where exports go: iCloud Drive, Desktop, Documents, or Choose Location… for a custom folder.

Clipboard

Use Copy to Clipboard (toolbar button or right-click → Copy to Clipboard) to copy the finished image without saving a file.

Undo & Redo

Every edit is undoable.

• Undo: ⌘Z
• Redo: ⌘⇧Z

Undo and redo step through your full edit history in both directions.

Appearance & Settings

Open Settings with ⌘, or Pixel.Noted → Settings. Settings are organized into tabs:

Keyboard Shortcut Reference

Capture

File

Edit

View & Window

Help

Zoom and Copy to Clipboard are available from the toolbar and the right-click menu.

Menu Reference

Capture menu

File menu

View menu

Right-click (canvas) menu

Zoom to Fit · Zoom to Actual Size · Zoom In · Zoom Out · Copy to Clipboard · Export… · Select Tool · Crop · Resize Canvas… · Draw Arrow · Draw Rectangle · Add Text · Highlight · Blur / Redact · Show/Hide Library · Social Media Templates

Help menu

Frequently Asked Questions

What macOS version do I need?

macOS 14 Sonoma or later. Pixel.Noted runs natively on both Apple Silicon (M1/M2/M3/M4) and Intel Macs.

Does Pixel.Noted work offline?

Yes, entirely. No internet connection is ever required, and there are no accounts or telemetry. AI features run on-device; the only time the app touches the network is if you choose to download an optional AI model.

Is my data private?

Yes. Everything is processed locally on your Mac. There's no cloud upload, no analytics, and no tracking — even OCR and image analysis run on-device using Apple's Neural Engine.

What image formats can I export?

PNG, JPEG, WebP, HEIF, TIFF, BMP, and PDF. You can also copy the result straight to the clipboard.

What is a .pixelnoted file?

It's Pixel.Noted's native format. Unlike a flat PNG, it preserves the image plus every layer and annotation so you can reopen and keep editing later. Double-click one in Finder to open it.

How do I record my screen with a webcam and microphone?

Choose a recording scope, then enable the webcam and microphone from the floating recording HUD (pick your devices in Settings → Devices). The result is a single H.264 MP4.

How do I hide sensitive information in a screenshot?

Use the Blur or Pixelate tool to cover the region before exporting.

How do I remove the background from an image?

Use the Smart Select tool to select your subject, remove the background, and export as PNG to keep transparency.

How do I crop an image?

Select the Crop tool. By default you drag the edges of the crop frame independently (or a corner to move two sides). You can switch to "draw a region" mode in Settings → Editor → Crop. Press Return to apply.

Can I capture a long, scrolling page?

Yes — use Scrolling capture, which stitches the scrolled frames into a single tall image.

My redo isn't working / my edits disappeared.

Undo is ⌘Z and Redo is ⌘⇧Z. Edit history steps through in both directions; if something looks wrong, Redo restores your most recent change.

Contact & Support

Didn't find what you needed? Use the contact form — we typically reply within 48 hours.