# Preferences

hypershot's settings are organized into tabs in the Settings window.

## Opening Settings

1. Click the hypershot icon in your menu bar / system tray
2. Select **Settings**

The Settings window uses a tabbed layout with a custom title bar. Each tab covers a different area:

| Tab | Description |
|-----|-------------|
| **General** | Start at login, save directory, delete behavior, undo limit, performance mode, experimental features, reset |
| **Shortcuts** | Global hotkey customization — see [Hotkeys](/docs/hypershot/settings/hotkeys ) |
| **Appearance** | Theme, accent color, reticle style, preview folder corner, UI scale — see [Appearance](/docs/hypershot/settings/appearance ) |
| **Captures** | Capture delay, capture window, storage format/quality, export quality, after-capture behavior |
| **OCR** | Text recognition output settings |
| **About** | Version info, license status, usage sharing, updates, update channel |
| **Help** | Bug reports, feature requests, diagnostics, support contact, documentation (1.3.2 and later) |

On macOS, permissions live in their own window — choose **Show Permissions Setup** from the menu bar menu.

## General tab

### Start with system
Launch hypershot automatically when you log in (**Start at login**).

### Save directory
Where captures are saved.

Default: `Pictures/hypershot/`

Click **Browse…** to choose a different folder.

### Undo stack limit
How many undo steps each document keeps (1–2000, default 500). Applies to
documents opened after the change.

### Experimental features
Enable cutting-edge features that are still being tested (**🧪 Enable
experimental features → I accept**).

⚠️ May be unstable — only enable if you're adventurous.

## Updates (About tab)

The update settings live in **Settings → About**.

### Auto-check for updates
When enabled, hypershot periodically checks for new versions in the background. You'll be notified when an update is available.

### Update channel

Choose which release track hypershot follows for automatic updates:

- **Stable** (default) — Production-ready releases. Recommended for most users.
- **Beta** — Early access to new features before they ship in Stable. Beta builds may be less polished.

#### How it works

- Beta and Stable are **independent feeds** — switching from Beta back to Stable won't downgrade your current install.
- Changing the channel takes effect after you **restart hypershot**. A "Restart to apply" hint appears when the chosen channel differs from the one currently running.
- Your current version label (visible in **Settings → About**) reflects the build you're running — e.g. `v1.1.0-beta.1 (build 1347)` for a beta, or `v1.0.4 (build 1343)` for a stable release. This is determined by the build itself, not your channel setting.
- On fresh installs, the channel follows the build type — beta builds default to the **Beta** feed, stable builds to **Stable**.

#### How releases reach each channel

Each channel is built from its own branch, automatically:

- **Stable** is published from the `main` branch — every tagged release
  there ships to the Stable feed
- **Beta** is published from the `staging` branch — merges there produce
  prerelease builds (e.g. `v1.1.0-beta.1`) on the Beta feed

Both lines build on every push; versioning keeps beta and stable from ever
colliding (a beta of 1.1.0 and the later stable 1.1.0 are distinct, ordered
builds). Nothing is published by hand — a release goes out when its branch
is tagged.

> **Tip**
> Beta builds let you try upcoming features early. If you rely on hypershot for daily work, consider staying on Stable.

## Captures tab

### Storage format

The format new captures are stored in:

- **WebP** (default) — Much smaller files at high quality; keeps transparency
- **PNG** — Larger files; keeps transparency

Applies to new captures — existing captures keep their stored images. Both
formats preserve transparency, and very large captures fall back to PNG when
they exceed WebP's size limit.

### WebP quality

How much detail new captures keep:

- **Range:** low → **Lossless** (all the way right)
- **Default:** 85%
- Lower values reduce file size but can soften text and fine detail; lossless
  preserves every pixel. All levels keep transparency.

### Storage resolution

How much detail to store on high-resolution displays:

- **Original** (default) — Keeps full resolution, including Retina detail
- **1×** — Stores one pixel per screen point — smaller files with less detail
  on high-resolution displays

### Capture window
Controls how many seconds of frames a region capture keeps (the burst you scrub in the timeline).

- **Range:** 0–5 seconds (adjustable in 1-second steps)
- **Default:** 1 second
- Set to **0** (shown as **Off**) for single-frame capture only

### Capture delay
Set the countdown (in seconds) used by the [delayed capture](/docs/hypershot/capturing/delayed-capture) modes.

- **Range:** 1–30 seconds
- **Default:** 5 seconds

Useful for capturing menus, tooltips, and hover states.

### Capture cursor
**Show cursor in timed and fullscreen captures** — when enabled, the mouse cursor is included in delayed and full-screen captures. Default: **Off**

### After capture

Choose what happens when you finish a capture:

- **Preview** — The capture warps into the preview folder as a card
- **Edit** — The capture opens directly in the editor
- **Only Copy** — Skip the editor and preview folder entirely. The capture is copied to your clipboard, and a small info pill appears at the bottom of the screen for a few seconds (click it to open the capture in the editor).

In **Only Copy** mode, the **Copy to Clipboard** checkbox is locked on — copying is the point of the mode.

## Capture animations

When you take a capture, hypershot plays a **warp effect** — a subtle screen distortion that ripples outward from the capture area. This gives instant visual confirmation that the screenshot was taken.

By default, hypershot shows the warp animation after capture. You can change this behavior with **Settings → Captures → After capture** (**Edit**) to open the editor directly instead.

## OCR tab

### OCR text editor
Choose which text editor opens extracted text after OCR runs. Leave blank to use the system default.

### Open text editor on capture
When enabled (the default), the recognized text file is automatically opened in your editor after being copied to the clipboard.

### Remove line breaks
When enabled, line breaks are removed from the recognized text.

OCR settings appear on macOS and Windows where OCR APIs are available.

## About tab

Displays the current version number and license status. Click **Check for Updates** to look for newer versions.

The version label shows the display version (e.g. `v1.1.0-beta.1`) and a build number (e.g. `build 1347`). The display version identifies the release track; the build number is used internally by the auto-updater to determine whether a newer version is available.

License key entry also lives here (see [Licensing](/docs/hypershot/settings/licensing)).

## Help tab

The **Help** tab (hypershot 1.3.2 and later) gathers everything you need in
one place:

- **Report a Bug** / **Request a Feature** — open the support site; both attach
  a diagnostics summary (app version, OS, graphics, screens, license state —
  never your license key or email)
- **Copy Diagnostics** — puts the same summary on your clipboard for pasting
  anywhere
- **Contact** — the support email address
- **Documentation** and **Roadmap** links

## macOS: Hold ⌘Q to quit

On macOS, holding **⌘Q** shows a prompt: "Hold ⌘Q to Quit" → "Release to Quit". This prevents accidental quits. Release the keys to confirm, or let go early to cancel.

## System requirements

- **macOS:** 14.4 (Sonoma) or later
- **Windows:** Windows 10 or later

## Resetting settings

The **Reset All Settings** button in **Settings → General** restores every setting to its
default after a confirmation prompt. Your usage-sharing and Start-at-login
choices are kept, and existing captures are untouched.

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*See also: [Appearance](/docs/hypershot/settings/appearance ) | [Hotkeys](/docs/hypershot/settings/hotkeys ) | [Licensing](/docs/hypershot/settings/licensing )*

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From https://hypernuclear.com/docs/hypershot/settings/preferences/