CleanShot X 5.0.1 — macOS

The screenshot background feature in CleanShot X lets you set an image or a solid color behind your capture. That’s one small example of how this app handles screen capture, recording, and annotation on macOS without extra clutter.

What does CleanShot X do?

It takes screenshots and screen recordings, including GIFs, and gives you a built-in editor for highlighting, hiding, or commenting on what you captured. You get both still capture and video tools in one app.

For anyone who regularly takes screenshots or recordings on a Mac

Anyone who regularly takes screenshots or recordings on a Mac—whether for work documentation, tutorials, or quick feedback. The built-in editor and features like pinning a screenshot above other windows make it practical for daily use.

What else should you know?

CleanShot X can disable desktop notifications during recording and switch between Retina and standard resolution. It runs on macOS 11 or later and works on both Intel and Apple Silicon Macs.

What version 5.0 and 5.0.1 changed in everyday use

The jump to version 5.0, released in September 2026, was a major update. From a daily-use standpoint, the most noticeable change is that the app now feels more polished when you are moving between capture, editing, and sharing. The interface refinements in 5.0 mean fewer clicks to get to the annotation tools you use most often. The scrolling capture feature, which lets you grab an entire webpage or document window, also received attention in this update—it is more reliable when you are working with longer content.

Version 5.0.1, the current release, is a maintenance update. It addresses minor bugs that came up after the 5.0 overhaul. If you were using an earlier version and ran into an occasional hiccup when switching between recording modes or applying annotations, this version smooths those out. Neither update changes the core workflow, but together they make the app feel more consistent across different Mac setups, including both Intel and Apple Silicon machines.

Set your default capture behavior before your first use

When you first launch CleanShot X, take a few minutes to open the preferences and set your default capture behavior. Decide whether you want captures to open automatically in the editor or save directly to a folder. This single choice will shape how you interact with the app every time you use it.

Try the desktop icon hiding feature early on. If you take screenshots for presentations or tutorials, turning this on before a capture keeps your desktop clean without having to manually tidy up icons beforehand. It is a small toggle in the settings, but it saves time if you capture frequently.

Set up a keyboard shortcut for the area capture mode right away. The default shortcuts work fine, but mapping the one you use most to a combination you remember will make the tool feel faster from day one. You can adjust these in the app's preferences under the hotkeys section.

If you record video or GIFs regularly, test the notification disabling feature during your first recording session. It is turned off by default, so you need to enable it in the recording settings. Once on, it prevents incoming messages or calendar alerts from appearing in your captures.

Keeps tutorials and documentation in one app instead of two

Content creators who produce tutorials, software walkthroughs, or documentation will find the combination of screen recording and annotation in one app particularly useful. Instead of capturing video in one tool and editing screenshots in another, you handle everything here. The GIF recording option is also handy for showing a quick process without asking viewers to play a video file.

Productivity users who communicate through visual feedback—designers reviewing mockups, project managers commenting on documents, or support staff documenting bugs—benefit from the pinning feature. You can capture an area, annotate it, and pin it above your other windows so it stays visible while you work in another application. This keeps reference material handy without switching between windows.

Anyone who manages multiple Macs, whether in a small office or for personal use, will appreciate that CleanShot X runs on macOS 11 and later on both Intel and Apple Silicon. The same license works across architectures, so you do not need to track different versions for different machines.

Switch between Retina and standard resolution to control file size

The ability to switch between Retina and standard resolution during capture is easy to overlook. If you take screenshots for documentation that will be viewed on non-Retina displays or embedded in web pages, switching to standard resolution keeps file sizes smaller and ensures text appears at the expected size.

The timer feature is another convenience. Set a delay before capture, and you can position windows, open menus, or prepare the screen exactly how you want it before the screenshot is taken. This is useful for capturing dropdown menus or hover states that disappear when you press a keyboard shortcut.

The scrolling capture tool is straightforward to use once you know it is there. Instead of taking multiple screenshots of a long page and stitching them together, you start a scrolling capture and the app automatically scrolls and combines the content into one image. It works well for web pages, document previews, and chat threads.

Fix captures blocked by media players or password managers

One issue that comes up is the app not capturing certain windows or menus. This usually happens because the window is part of another application that restricts screen capture, such as some media players or password managers. If a capture comes out blank or shows a black area, try using area capture instead of window capture.

Another snag is the recording stopping unexpectedly. This can occur if your Mac goes to sleep during a long recording. Before starting a lengthy capture, check your energy saver settings and set the display to stay awake. CleanShot X itself does not control sleep behavior, so adjusting system preferences is the fix.

Some users find that the pinned screenshot does not stay visible after switching spaces or full-screen apps. If this happens, check whether the pin is set to stay on all desktops. You can adjust this by right-clicking the pinned window and selecting the appropriate option from the window menu that appears.

If the scrolling capture stops mid-page, the content you are trying to capture may be inside a web view or application that does not support standard scrolling. In that case, use area capture and take multiple screenshots manually. The scrolling tool works best in web browsers, PDF viewers, and native macOS apps that use standard scroll events.

Finally, if you are running macOS 11 and notice any sluggishness with version 5.0.1, check that you have granted CleanShot X screen recording permissions in System Preferences under Security and Privacy. Without this permission, the app may behave unpredictably. Re-granting permission by removing the app from the list and adding it again often resolves lingering permission issues.

• Minor bug fixes and improvements.

• macOS 11 or later
• Intel or Apple Silicon