Movavi Screen Recorder 23.1.1 — macOS

You need to capture what's on your Mac screen — a tutorial, a bug report, a meeting clip — and you want it done without fuss. Movavi Screen Recorder covers the basics and adds a few extras that make recordings clearer for the person watching them.

Records desktop, apps, windows, audio, clicks, and keystrokes

• Recording desktop activity, applications, or a specific window
• Including audio from the system, a microphone, or both
• Adding cursor click effects and displaying keyboard presses on screen
• Grabbing a screenshot and editing it before saving
• Saving as a video file or an animated GIF
• Scheduling recordings to start at a set date and time
• Uploading finished recordings directly to Google Drive or YouTube

Requires macOS 10.13 or later and an Intel Mac

• You can customize hotkeys to start, pause, or stop a recording
• The app runs on macOS 10.13 or later, Intel Mac only
• Version 23.1.1 brings minor improvements and bug fixes

System sound not captured unless you manually select it

A few things trip people up early on. Knowing them ahead of time saves a little head-scratching.

• No system sound captured. The app records system audio by default, but sometimes it's not selected. Before you start a recording, check that system sound is turned on in the audio settings. If you're only getting microphone audio, that's the first place to look.
• Hotkeys don't respond. If you press a custom hotkey and nothing happens, another app is probably using that key combination. Open the hotkey settings and pick something more unusual. I've seen Fn keys and Shift combinations work well.
• Recordings stop too soon. The recording limit setting is easy to overlook. If your videos keep cutting off at five minutes, check the scheduler or duration limit. You can set it to record without a time cap.
• Screenshots save but can't be edited. The screenshot editing function works before you save, not after. When you take a screenshot, the editor opens immediately. Save the image once you're done editing, or you'll have to take another shot.
• Webcam overlay looks wrong. If the webcam feed is oversized or in the wrong corner, adjust it before recording starts. You can resize and reposition the webcam window in the preview area. Once recording begins, those settings stay put.

Recording the full screen instead of a single window

The most common one is recording the entire screen when you only need a specific window. You can select a single application window from the recording area dropdown. That keeps the viewer focused and reduces file size.

Another is forgetting to test audio levels. Record a ten-second test clip, play it back, and adjust the microphone gain. Nothing ruins a tutorial like muffled narration or loud background hum.

Beginners also tend to skip the cursor effects. Turning on click effects and keystroke display costs nothing and makes the recording much clearer for anyone watching. It's one checkbox you'll learn to set automatically.

And a small one: not closing unnecessary notifications or browser tabs before recording. The app records everything on screen, so a Slack pop-up or an email alert can break the flow. Clean up your desktop first.

Recorded a billing walkthrough for a remote colleague

I had to record a short walkthrough of a billing process for a colleague who works remote. Here's how it went.

I opened Movavi Screen Recorder and selected the application window for the accounting software. I turned on system sound so clicks and dialog tones would be audible, and I enabled the microphone for a voiceover. I checked the webcam preview — I kept it small in the lower-right corner.

Before recording, I switched on cursor click effects and set the keystroke display to show shortcuts as I typed. I customized the hotkey to Cmd+Shift+R to start recording, since my usual hotkey was taken by another app.

I clicked record, walked through three screens of the billing process, explained each field as I filled it in, and then pressed the stop hotkey. The app saved the file as an MP4 automatically. I watched it once to make sure the audio synced, then uploaded it directly to Google Drive from the export dialog.

The whole thing took maybe twelve minutes. No editing needed afterward. That's the main value here — you can publish a clean recording without opening separate video software.

Steps for recording a feature demo from start to finish

Say you need to record a demo of a new feature for your team. Start to finish, here's the workflow.

1. Open the app you're demoing and prepare the screens you'll navigate. Close any irrelevant windows.
2. Launch Movavi Screen Recorder. From the recording area menu, choose "Application window" and pick the app you're demoing. This crops the recording to that window only.
3. Set audio sources. Turn on system sound if the app makes sounds. Turn on the microphone for your narration. Test levels with a short clip.
4. Enable cursor effects. Check the box for click effects. Check the box for keystroke display. This helps viewers follow your clicks and see which keys you press.
5. Adjust the webcam overlay if you want one. Resize it and move it to a corner that doesn't block important content.
6. Set a hotkey for starting and stopping. I use Cmd+Shift+R to start and Cmd+Shift+S to stop. Confirm no other app uses those.
7. Record the demo. Start with a brief introduction, walk through each step deliberately, then stop.
8. Review the output. If it looks good, export directly to YouTube or Google Drive, or save locally as an MP4 or MOV file.

That's the whole process. You can get through it quickly once the settings are familiar. If you record demos regularly, the scheduler feature can also be useful — you can set the app to start recording at a specific time if you're presenting live and want to capture it automatically.

• Minor improvements and bug fixes.

• macOS 10.13 or later
• Intel Mac
• Interface: English