Capture shortcuts - Snipdeck Docs

Snipdeck captures with a single gesture: hold a modifier and drag a region. This page covers the full capture model, the modifier matrix that decides where each snip lands, freeze-first capture for hover-sensitive UI, and how to arm a one-shot capture from the tray.

The core gesture

To take a snip, hold Win and drag a region with the left mouse button. Press and hold Win, click where you want one corner of the region, drag to the opposite corner, and release.

While you drag, Snipdeck shows a full-screen selection overlay on the monitor under your cursor so you can see exactly what you are selecting. The capture follows the cursor’s monitor, so dragging on a secondary display captures from that display — not just the primary one.

Note: The modifiers must be held before and during the drag. Snipdeck reads the modifier state at the moment the drag starts, and that decides what happens to the resulting snip.

The modifier matrix

Add Ctrl, Alt, and Shift to the Win + drag gesture to control two things: whether the snip becomes a floating snip on screen, and whether it is copied to the clipboard. The combinations also decide whether the snip is added to the gallery.

Shortcut	Floating snip	Clipboard	Added to gallery
`Win` + drag	Yes	—	Yes
`Win`+`Ctrl` + drag	Yes	Yes	Yes
`Win`+`Alt` + drag	—	Yes	—
`Win`+`Shift` + drag	—	—	Yes
`Win`+`Ctrl`+`Shift` + drag	—	Yes	Yes
`Win`+`Shift`+`Space`, then drag	(freeze-first; see below)

Read the matrix this way:

Win + drag — the default. Captures the region and leaves it on screen as a floating snip. It is also saved to the gallery.
Win+Ctrl + drag — floating and clipboard. Same as the default, plus the image is copied to the clipboard so you can paste it straight into a chat or document.
Win+Alt + drag — clipboard only. A quick “copy this region” capture. The image goes to the clipboard but does not create a floating snip and is not added to the gallery. Use this for throwaway captures you do not want to keep.
Win+Shift + drag — gallery only. The snip is saved to the gallery for later, with no floating window cluttering your screen. Nothing is copied to the clipboard.
Win+Ctrl+Shift + drag — gallery and clipboard, no floating. Saves the snip and copies it to the clipboard, without leaving a floating window on screen.

Tip: If you mostly want to grab-and-paste, Win+Ctrl keeps a floating copy on screen while also putting the image on your clipboard. If you want a clean desktop, Win+Ctrl+Shift does the same minus the floating window.

Freeze-first capture

Some UI only appears while you hover — tooltips, dropdowns, menus, and other click-sensitive elements vanish the moment you move your mouse to start selecting. Freeze-first capture solves this.

Press Win+Shift+Space to dim and freeze the screen before you select. Snipdeck takes a snapshot of the screen at that instant and shows it frozen behind the selection overlay. You then drag your region on the still image, so anything that was visible when you froze the screen — including a hover tooltip — is captured even though your cursor has moved.

This is the “freeze first” equivalent of the classic Win+Shift+S flow: once you arm it with Win+Shift+Space, the next left-drag starts the selection on the frozen image. You do not need to keep holding Win for that drag — the frozen capture is already armed and waiting.

Note: Freeze-first is the right choice whenever the thing you want to capture only exists while the mouse is hovering over it. For everything else, the plain Win + drag gesture is faster.

Arming a capture from the tray

You do not always have to hold Win. Right-click the Snipdeck tray icon and choose New Snip to arm a one-shot drag capture. The next left-button drag captures a region as if you were holding Win, then disarms automatically.

This is handy when your keyboard hand is busy, when Win is awkward to hold, or when you prefer to start a capture from the menu.

Tip: “New Snip” arms a single capture. After that one drag completes, you are back to needing the Win modifier (or another trip to the tray) for the next snip.

Global hotkeys

Besides Win + drag, Snipdeck registers five configurable global hotkeys that fire the same actions from anywhere — no mouse modifier required. These are the defaults:

Hotkey	Action
`Ctrl`+`Shift`+`A`	New floating snip
`Ctrl`+`Shift`+`C`	Snip + copy to clipboard
`Ctrl`+`Shift`+`X`	Clipboard only (not saved to the gallery)
`Win`+`Alt`+`H`	Show/hide all floating snips
`Ctrl`+`Shift`+`G`	Open the gallery

Each one is configurable via the hotkey_* keys in settings.json. See Keyboard shortcuts and Settings for the full list and how to change them.

The core gesture

The modifier matrix

Freeze-first capture

Arming a capture from the tray

Global hotkeys

See also