Windows tray tool ยท local-first screenshot capture
Your screenshot has a phone number in it.
SnapCap blurs it before you hit save.
SnapCap lives quietly in your system tray: region, full-screen, window, or scrolling capture, a fast editor for highlights and blur, local OCR with automatic redaction of anything sensitive, and optional AI features you turn on yourself with your own API key. Everything works offline by default โ the cloud is opt-in, never automatic.
Editor toolbar and floating "Pin to Screen" concept โ illustrative, not a live screenshot
Why SnapCap exists
The built-in Snipping Tool stops right where the real work begins
Taking the screenshot is the easy part. What happens after โ cropping, marking up, hiding a name or a card number, pulling out the text, sharing it โ is where most tools leave you on your own.
๐ฉ What gets in the way
- No easy way to blur an account number or email before sharing a screenshot
- Copying text out of a screenshot means retyping it by hand
- Long pages need several cropped screenshots stitched together manually
- Comparing a capture against a live window means constantly alt-tabbing
- "Quick" screenshot tools that need a cloud account just to save a file
โ What SnapCap does instead
- Automatic PII detection โ emails, phone numbers, card numbers, API keys, IDs โ with one-click redaction
- Local OCR pulls text (and tables) straight out of any capture, or Ctrl+Shift+T for text-only, straight to the clipboard
- Scrolling capture stitches a long page into one image automatically
- Pin to Screen floats a capture always-on-top while you work in other windows
- Runs entirely on your machine โ save, edit, and organize without an account
How it works
Four steps, all on your machine
No account, no server round-trip for the core workflow โ capture to share in a few seconds.
1. ๐ท Capture
Press a global hotkey (Ctrl+Shift+S/F/W/L) to grab a region, the full screen, one window, or a long scrolling page โ from anywhere, even while SnapCap is in the tray.
2. ๐๏ธ Edit
The built-in editor opens instantly: highlight, blur, arrows/shapes, text, watermark, background removal โ or skip straight to OCR / PII redaction.
3. ๐ก๏ธ Protect
Automatic PII detection finds emails, phone numbers, card numbers, and API keys and blurs them โ locally, before anything is exported or shared.
4. ๐ค Share
Copy to clipboard, save to your local library, or send to Imgur/S3/a custom URL/Slack/Teams โ only if you've configured that destination yourself.
Capabilities
What's inside
Capture, edit, redact, and search โ everything below runs locally unless you turn on cloud AI yourself.
Pin to Screen
Float the current capture as a frameless, always-on-top window โ drag to move, scroll to resize (0.2รโ3ร), right-click or double-click to close. Handy for comparing a mock against a live page.
Quick Text Capture
Ctrl+Shift+T โ select a region and its text is OCR'd locally and copied straight to the clipboard, no editor window, no cloud call. Built for "I just need this text, fast."
Four capture modes
Region, full screen, a specific window, or a long scrolling page โ each with a global keyboard shortcut you can reassign.
Fast built-in editor
Highlights, blur, arrows/shapes, text, watermark, and background removal โ before the image ever leaves the editor window.
Local OCR + table extraction
Powered by Tesseract, running entirely on your device. Pulls plain text or recognizes tabular data from a captured screenshot.
Automatic PII redaction
Detects emails, phone numbers, credit card numbers, API keys, IP addresses, and Israeli ID numbers, then blurs or boxes them out โ all locally, before any sharing step.
Searchable local library
Every capture is saved and indexed, including its OCR'd text, so you can search inside old screenshots later.
Optional cloud AI (opt-in)
Summarize, generate alt-text, translate, draft a bug report, or suggest a filename โ off by default, only runs with your own Anthropic API key.
Dark / Light / System
Follows Windows' theme automatically, or set it manually โ every panel and dialog respects the choice.
In action
Real screenshots are on the way
This section is reserved for actual capture-to-editor screenshots of SnapCap running โ not yet taken. Placeholders below show what each will demonstrate.
Privacy & security
Local by default. The cloud only sees what you choose to send it.
This reflects the actual behavior of the code, not a generic privacy statement.
Capture, editing, and OCR run entirely on your device
Screen capture, the image editor, and text extraction (Tesseract OCR) never contact a server. No account, no sign-in, no telemetry.
PII detection and redaction happen locally, before you share anything
Emails, phone numbers, credit card numbers, API keys, IP addresses, and Israeli ID numbers are matched with local pattern rules and blurred/boxed โ nothing is sent anywhere to detect them.
Cloud AI features are off by default (ai_enabled = false)
Summarize, alt-text, translate, bug-report drafting, smart filename, and sensitive-content check only run when you explicitly enable them and supply your own Anthropic API key โ SnapCap ships with no key of its own.
When an AI feature runs, the captured image is sent to Anthropic's API
That single image (not your library, not other captures) goes to Anthropic to fulfill that one request โ this is the only case where anything leaves your device.
Your API key and webhook URLs are encrypted at rest
Stored in ~/.snapcap/config.json, encrypted with Windows DPAPI and tied to your Windows user account โ not saved as plain text.
Everything else stays in your user profile
Your capture library lives at ~/.snapcap/library/, logs at ~/.snapcap/logs/ โ never inside the install folder, never uploaded anywhere by SnapCap itself.
โ ๏ธ Sharing destinations you configure yourself (Imgur, S3, a custom webhook, Slack/Teams) also send data outside your device when you actively use them โ that's a deliberate action you take, not something SnapCap does on its own.
Stay current
Automatic updates
You never have to remember to check for a new version.
SnapCap checks GitHub for new releases on its own
A few seconds after startup, and then every 6 hours, a background check (never on the main thread, never blocking the UI) asks GitHub's public Releases API for the latest published version of github.com/ofirshudari1-ship-it/snapcap and compares it to the version you're running.
New versions download and install themselves
The installer is downloaded in the background and verified (size, file type and the SHA-256 GitHub publishes for it). It is installed when no editor is open, or when you quit from the tray, and SnapCap restarts. Because SnapCap is installed for all users, Windows shows one permission prompt (UAC) per update. If anything fails you get an ordinary tray notification with a link to the release page, and a failed check (offline, GitHub unreachable) never shows an error.
Fully optional, and manual too
On by default. Turn it off any time in Settings โ General ("Automatically download and install updates") to get a notification only, or trigger a check on demand from Settings โ Advanced.
Download
Get SnapCap for Windows
One installer, both languages built in. Full guide + troubleshooting: README.md.
SnapCap v1.16.3 for Windows 10/11
- Run SnapCap-Setup-1.16.3.exe and pick your language on the first screen (English/Hebrew).
- Follow the setup wizard โ a desktop shortcut and tray auto-start are offered as optional tasks.
- SnapCap opens automatically and drops an icon in the system tray โ that's where it lives from here on.
- Optional: open Settings to turn on cloud AI features and add your own Anthropic API key, if you want them.
Windows may show a SmartScreen warning because the installer isn't code-signed yet โ click "More info" โ "Run anyway". This is expected for small independent tools and doesn't indicate anything was tampered with. Releases and source live on GitHub: github.com/ofirshudari1-ship-it/snapcap.
Changelog
What changed, and why
Full history in CHANGELOG.md. Here โ the highlights.
Updates now actually install themselves, on every existing PC too.
- Fixed: the automatic-update setting was stuck on "off" in settings saved by older versions, and the silent installer could not start without a Windows permission prompt. Both are fixed; the setting is switched on once, and you can turn it off again in Settings.
- Changed: checks run a few seconds after launch and every 6 hours; the download is verified (size, file type, SHA-256) and installed when no editor is open, or when you quit from the tray. Windows asks for permission (UAC) once per update.
- Fixed: the installer removes the duplicate old "SnapCap" entry in Windows Apps, cleans leftover files from the previous version, and closes a running SnapCap before updating. Your settings and library are never touched.
The first-run onboarding wizard's welcome page now has a real illustration instead of a plain gradient circle.
- Added: a brand-matched illustration (camera aperture + lock, teal/blue) on the onboarding wizard's welcome page, in a white card above the "Welcome to SnapCap" title.
"Automatically download and install updates" is now on by default, matching the other tools in this portfolio - a fresh install gets silent background updates without any extra step, no more relying on a tray notification you have to click through to a download page.
- Changed: the auto-update setting (Settings โ General) now defaults to on for new installs. If you already have SnapCap installed and previously left this off, your saved preference is untouched.
The language you pick in the installer is now the language the app opens in โ no more choosing English/Hebrew twice, and no OS-locale guessing. Plus a sweep for leftover hardcoded English text across the editor, main window, and onboarding.
- Added: the installer now writes your chosen language directly into SnapCap's own settings file the moment install finishes, so the app opens in that language on first launch โ without ever touching an existing user's saved preference on a reinstall or update.
- Fixed hardcoded English strings that stayed in English even when running in Hebrew: the Editor's window title, its entire tool panel and menu bar, several sidebar buttons and AI/OCR/redaction dialogs, the onboarding wizard's window title, and the crash/uninstall dialogs.
Researched ShareX, Greenshot, and Snagit before picking what to build next. SnapCap already matched ShareX/Snagit on scrolling capture and pin-to-screen โ the two real gaps were GIF recording and a dedicated color picker, both added now.
- Added GIF recording: select a region, a small floating Stop button + timer records frames at a configurable rate (default 8 fps) for up to a configurable max length (default 15s, Settings โ General), then saves one animated .gif.
- Added Color Picker: a magnified loupe follows your cursor anywhere on screen showing a live HEX/RGB readout โ click to copy the color's HEX code to your clipboard.
- Added both as new tray menu items with their own configurable hotkeys (Ctrl+Shift+G for GIF, Ctrl+Alt+C for Color Picker).
A clarity pass on Settings: every option that wasn't obvious from its name now has a short line underneath explaining what it actually does. The first-run wizard's language step now starts pre-selected for your Windows language instead of always defaulting to English.
- Added short explanations under non-obvious Settings options โ Auto-update vs. "check for updates only," redaction style, the desktop widget, webhook fields, Export Diagnostics, and more โ so you know what a toggle does before turning it on.
- Added a short note at the top of Settings โ Hotkeys on how to enter a key combination.
- Changed: the first-run wizard's language page now starts pre-selected to match your Windows display language, instead of always starting on English โ you still confirm or change it with one click before continuing.
Showing the 5 most recent releases. Full changelog on GitHub, or expand below.
Show 18 earlier releases (v1.13.0โv1.2.0)
A one-click "Export Diagnostics" button bundles your log file, version info, a redacted copy of your config, and basic system info into a single zip โ for sending to support. Also: the installer wizard is now the last window to gain Windows High Contrast support, matching the rest of the app.
- Added an "Export Diagnostics" button (Settings โ Advanced, and on the About dialog) that saves one zip file with your log, version.json, your config with every API key/webhook/credential redacted, and a system-info summary.
- Fixed: the installer wizard was the only remaining window that didn't honor Windows High Contrast โ it now reads your system colors like the main app, widget, library, editor, splash screen, and onboarding already do.
A small fix so Windows Settings โ Apps shows a real size for SnapCap instead of a blank column.
- Fixed: the uninstall entry didn't report an installed size to Windows, so it showed blank in Settings โ Apps while every other program showed a real number.
The desktop widget is opt-in again โ it no longer turns itself on automatically right after installing.
- Fixed: the desktop widget defaulted to visible after a fresh install. It's off by default again; turn it on from Settings or the tray icon whenever you want it.
A shared visual identity update: the installer wizard and splash screen now use the same color palette across every one of our Windows tools, instead of each tool's own colors.
- Changed: the installer wizard and splash screen now use a shared dark-blue palette instead of SnapCap's own teal/blue โ the running app itself (tray, widget, Library, Editor) is unchanged.
Closes the items the previous audit pass left open โ real Hebrew/English text everywhere, a corrected uninstall registry location, and High Contrast support for first-run setup.
- Fixed hardcoded English text in the About dialog, the scrolling-capture progress dialog, the splash screen, the region selector, and Settings validation messages โ now properly localized in both languages.
- Fixed the uninstall registry entry using the wrong hive (HKCU instead of HKLM) โ corrected to match the rest of the per-machine install.
- Added Windows High Contrast support to the first-run onboarding wizard, plus a visible focus ring on its "Skip" button.
- Fixed two hardcoded colors in the editor that failed WCAG contrast in light mode.
Evidence-based audit pass: the desktop widget no longer appears inside its own screenshots, Windows High Contrast support was added across the app, keyboard focus rings are now visible everywhere, config saves are safer, and update files are verified more strictly.
- Fixed the desktop widget appearing inside its own screenshots โ it's now excluded from screen capture via WDA_EXCLUDEFROMCAPTURE.
- Added Windows High Contrast support across the editor, widget, and splash screen โ the user's own system colors are used instead of the brand palette.
- Fixed Settings changes to hotkeys and language needing a restart โ they now apply immediately.
- Fixed config saves so they're atomic and deep-merged โ a crash mid-write can no longer wipe your settings.
A small always-on-top floating panel with the real "captured this month" stat, plus one-click Capture now / Open Library โ without opening the full app.
Splash screen rebuilt from scratch: the real logo asset, a rounded gradient background, a genuine spinner instead of a fake progress bar, and a measured minimum display time.
RTL precision, keyboard accessibility, and polish
- Fixed the Library window not mirroring or translating in Hebrew โ it used to stay English/LTR regardless of the app language.
- Added visible keyboard focus rings across the Editor, Library, and Settings windows.
- Fixed screenshot thumbnails in the Library grid being mouse-only โ they're now keyboard-navigable (Tab, Enter/Space).
Update now means one click: SnapCap downloads, verifies, and silently installs the new version itself, then relaunches โ no more downloading the installer by hand and clicking through the setup wizard.
- Added Settings โ Advanced โ "Update Now", plus an opt-in fully-automatic update mode.
The Library window now follows the Theme setting (dark / light / system) like the Editor and Settings windows, and its thumbnail grid re-flows correctly when the window is resized.
A new Startup settings group: skip the splash screen on a Windows-boot launch, and silence the "running in the tray" notification once autostart is routine.
Four capture-flow upgrades: a countdown delay before the grab (so you can open a dropdown menu first), an optional shutter sound, a "skip the editor" quiet mode, and fillable shapes.
Real automatic-update checker; GitHub is now the canonical source for code and releases.
- Added a background checker that compares the running version against GitHub's latest release and shows a tray notification โ click it to open the release page.
- Canonical source moved to github.com/ofirshudari1-ship-it/snapcap.
Maintenance release โ packaged and published as the current stable installer.
Product-improvement pass: Pin to Screen, Quick Text Capture, UI polish, real bug fixes
- Added Pin to Screen โ a floating, always-on-top window for the current capture.
- Added Quick Text Capture (Ctrl+Shift+T) โ local OCR straight to the clipboard, no editor step.
- Fixed a crash where AI features failed with an unrelated error instead of a friendly message when the optional anthropic package wasn't installed.
- Fixed a leftover installer string still describing the tray icon by its old (pre-rebrand) color.
- Corner-radius and spacing polish across the editor, tray menu, and installer โ same brand colors, no palette changes.
Packaging switched from a self-extracting single file to a plain folder build, reducing false-positive antivirus flags โ no user-facing change.
Rebrand: SnapAI Pro โ SnapCap, new teal/blue identity (#00d9a3 / #3b82f6), WCAG-AA contrast fixes across every accent button.
FAQ
Before you install
Is my data sent to the cloud?
No, not by default. Capture, editing, OCR, and PII redaction all run locally. Data only leaves your device if you explicitly turn on an AI feature and supply your own Anthropic API key โ see the Privacy & Security section above.
Do I need administrator rights?
Not strictly โ the installer defaults to C:\Program Files\SnapCap with admin rights, but falls back to a per-user folder under %LOCALAPPDATA% if you don't have them, instead of failing.
Where is my data stored?
Everything lives under your user profile: settings in ~/.snapcap/config.json (sensitive fields DPAPI-encrypted), captures in ~/.snapcap/library/, logs in ~/.snapcap/logs/.
What happens if I close the SnapCap window?
The X minimizes SnapCap to the system tray โ it keeps running so your keyboard shortcuts still work. To actually quit, right-click the tray icon and choose Exit.
Does OCR work with Hebrew text?
OCR runs on Tesseract locally; recognition quality depends on the language pack installed alongside SnapCap. The app interface itself is fully bilingual (English/Hebrew) with RTL support.
What exactly gets redacted automatically?
Email addresses, phone numbers, credit card numbers, API keys/tokens, IP addresses, and Israeli ID numbers โ matched by local pattern rules, then blurred or boxed on the image before you export or share it.