Sharing & export - Snipdeck Docs

Once you have captured a snip, Snipdeck gives you several ways to get it out of the app: copy it to the clipboard, save it as a file, hand it to another app through the Windows share sheet, attach it to a new email, open it in the system image editor, or upload it to an image host and get back a link. This page covers each route, where the bytes go, and the privacy trade-offs of the upload path.

All of these actions work the same way on a floating snip and on a thumbnail in the gallery: right-click the snip and pick the action from the context menu. Nothing in this list changes the original snip on disk.

Where the actions live

Right-click any floating snip or any gallery thumbnail to open its context menu. The export-related entries are:

Action	What it does	Leaves your machine?
Copy	Puts the image on the Windows clipboard	No
Save	Writes the image to a file you choose	No
Share → system	Opens the Windows share sheet	Only if you pick a target
Share → Mail	Opens a new email with the snip attached	Only when you send
Share → editor	Opens the snip in Paint	No
Upload	Uploads to an image host, copies the link	Yes — after a consent prompt

Note: Copy, Save, and Share → editor are entirely local. Share → system and Share → Mail only transmit data if and when you choose a target or send the message. Upload is the only action that sends bytes to the internet on its own, and it always asks first.

Copy to clipboard

Copy places the snip on the Windows clipboard as an image, ready to paste (Ctrl+V) into a chat, a document, an image editor, or anywhere else that accepts a pasted picture.

The image is copied at its full, native resolution. Whether the floating-snip border is baked into the copied pixels is controlled by the include_border_on_clipboard setting (off by default), so a plain copy gives you the picture without Snipdeck’s colored frame. See Settings for that key.

Tip: Several other actions also copy something to the clipboard automatically — OCR + Clipboard copies the recognized text (see OCR), and a successful Upload copies the resulting link.

Save to a file

Save opens a standard Windows file dialog so you can write the snip to disk.

Default folder. The dialog opens in your save directory, which defaults to Pictures\Snipdeck\. You can change it with the save_dir setting.
Default file name. The suggested name is built from the capture time and the snip’s size, for example:

2026-06-02_14-08-31 (1280x720).png

Default extension. The pre-filled extension comes from the default_format setting ("png" out of the box). The dialog’s image filter accepts the following formats, and the extension you type or pick determines how the file is encoded:

Format	Extensions
PNG	`png`
JPEG	`jpg`, `jpeg`
BMP	`bmp`
GIF	`gif`
TIFF	`tif`, `tiff`

Note: default_format ("png" | "jpg" | "bmp") only sets the pre-filled extension in the Save dialog. The wider set above — including GIF and TIFF — is for opening/importing images, not the Save default.

Whether the floating-snip border is included in the saved file is controlled by the include_border_on_save setting (off by default), independent of the clipboard setting above.

Note: PNG is lossless and the best choice for screenshots of text and UI. JPEG is smaller but lossy, which can blur sharp edges and small type — prefer PNG unless you specifically need a smaller JPEG.

Share → system opens the native Windows 11 share sheet (the share flyout) with the snip attached as an actual bitmap. Every app that registers as a share target — Mail, WhatsApp, Telegram, Teams, and so on — receives the real picture, not just a file path.

Because the share flyout has to anchor on a normal, focusable, foreground window, Snipdeck brings the main gallery window to the front first and hosts the sheet there. The flyout then appears, and the snip is handed to whichever target you pick.

Tip: The share sheet is also the most reliable way to attach a snip to the new Outlook or to a web/UWP mail app, because those clients do not accept the Simple MAPI attachment used by Share → Mail below.

Email a snip (Simple MAPI)

Share → Mail opens a new message in your default desktop mail client with the snip already attached as a PNG. It uses Simple MAPI (the same “Send to → Mail recipient” mechanism Windows itself uses), so it works with classic desktop clients such as classic Outlook and Thunderbird.

The compose window blocks until you send or close it, so this runs on a background thread and never freezes the app.

If no Simple MAPI client is registered — which is the case for the new Outlook and for web/UWP mail apps, since they cannot accept a programmatic attachment — Snipdeck falls back gracefully:

It copies the snip to the clipboard.
It opens an empty new message via mailto:.
It shows a notice telling you to paste the image into the message with Ctrl+V.

Note: If you mostly use the new Outlook or a web mail app, use Share → system instead — the share sheet attaches the image directly, with no paste step.

Open in the system image editor

Share → editor opens the snip in the system image editor for a quick edit, typically Paint. Snipdeck writes the snip to a temporary PNG and asks Windows to open it with the registered image editor (the shell “edit” verb). If your setup does not register an “edit” verb for PNG files, Snipdeck falls back to launching mspaint.exe with the file directly.

Tip: For Snipdeck’s own markup tools — pen, highlighter, shapes, arrows, and text — use the built-in annotation editor instead of an external editor. Share → editor is for quick edits in a tool you already know.

Upload to an image host

Upload sends the snip to an image host on the internet and, on success, copies the resulting link to your clipboard and shows a confirmation. This is the only action that transmits your snip to a third party, so it is opt-in and gated behind an explicit consent dialog every time.

Before any bytes leave your machine, Snipdeck shows a topmost confirmation that names the destination and spells out the privacy implications. The upload only proceeds if you click OK; Cancel aborts before anything is sent. The dialog warns, in plain language, that:

The image will be uploaded to the internet, to the named host.
It will not appear in any public gallery or search (it is unlisted).
Anyone who has the resulting link can open the image.
The image is not encrypted.
For catbox.moe uploads specifically: because the upload is anonymous, you cannot delete it yourself later.
You should not upload sensitive content such as IDs, passwords, or private messages.

Choosing a host

The host is chosen by the upload_service setting. Two services are supported:

Service	`upload_service` value	Account / key needed	Notes
catbox.moe	`"catbox"` (default)	None	Anonymous; uploads cannot be deleted by you afterwards
Imgur	`"imgur"`	A free Client-ID	Anonymous, unlisted upload via Imgur’s API

catbox.moe is the default and needs no account, login, or API key — the snip is posted anonymously and catbox replies with a bare direct link.

Imgur requires a free Client-ID (no user login and no Client-Secret). If you set upload_service to "imgur" but have not configured a Client-ID, Snipdeck does not fail silently — it shows a notice explaining exactly how to get one and where to put it:

Register a free application at imgur.com → Settings → Applications → Register, choosing “OAuth 2 authorization without a callback URL.”
Paste the Client-ID into your settings.json:

{
  "upload_service": "imgur",
  "imgur_client_id": "YOUR_CLIENT_ID_HERE"
}

Restart Snipdeck.

See Settings for the full list of keys.

How the upload runs

The HTTP upload is blocking, so it runs on a background thread — the app stays responsive while the snip is sent. When it finishes:

On success, the image link is copied to your clipboard and a notification shows the URL.
On failure (for example, a missing or invalid Imgur Client-ID, a rate-limit/quota error, or no network), a notice explains what went wrong.

Because the notification is topmost, you will see the result even if it arrives after you have moved on and the gallery window is hidden — which is common when you trigger Upload from a floating snip.

Privacy notes

Most export routes keep your snip on your machine; only Upload sends it to a third party, and only after you confirm. Keep these caveats in mind when you do upload:

Public by link. Both catbox.moe and Imgur uploads are unlisted — they will not show up in a public gallery or search — but the link itself is unauthenticated. Anyone who obtains the link can view the image. Treat the link as the secret.
Not encrypted. Uploaded images are not encrypted at rest on the host. Do not upload IDs, passwords, banking details, private messages, or anything else sensitive.
No self-delete on catbox. Anonymous catbox.moe uploads cannot be deleted by you afterwards. If you may need to remove an image later, that is a reason to prefer a host where you control the upload.

For Snipdeck’s overall data-handling posture — including how capture and OCR stay fully local — see Privacy & security.