# Hold to freeze

A region capture doesn't have to catch the screen as it is right now — hold
the mouse and the capture keeps recording a short burst of frames, then lets
you freeze on the exact moment you want.

## How it works

During a **region capture**, instead of releasing the mouse button to take
the shot:

1. **Hold** the mouse button down after drawing your selection — hypershot
   keeps recording frames into the selection window
2. Keep holding while the content changes — the moment you want approaches
3. **Release** to capture; in the editor, scrub the
   [timeline](/docs/hypershot/editing/frame-timeline) to pick the exact frame

While the overlay is open you can also press **Space** to toggle a frozen
snapshot of the screen — handy when the content is moving too fast to time
the hold.

## When it's useful

- A tooltip or menu appears only while the mouse is held
- An animation or video hits the right pose for a split second
- A web page's hover state is what you actually want to capture

## Notes

- The recording window length is configurable — see
  [Area Capture](/docs/hypershot/capturing/area-capture) for the capture
  window setting (set it to 0 for a single-frame capture)
- Works in region capture and OCR capture modes; the freeze hint appears at
  the top of the overlay as a reminder, then fades

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From https://hypernuclear.com/docs/hypershot/capturing/hold-to-freeze/