AutoScreenshot

A native macOS menu bar app that automatically captures screenshots at regular intervals with optional annotations, compression, and custom quality settings.

Recommended settings: 1280px, 40% compression

Features

🎯 Core Functionality

• Menu bar integration - Quick access from anywhere
• Automated intervals - 30 seconds to 1 hour intervals
• Play/Pause control - Easy start/stop
• Auto-resume - Continues capturing after app restart

📝 Annotation Options

• Manual annotations - Popup prompts for custom notes per screenshot
• Preset annotations - Set once, apply to all screenshots automatically
• Stylish overlays - Professional semi-transparent text boxes on images
• Skip option - Press ESC to save without annotation

🖼️ Image Quality Control

• Resolution options
  • Original (full resolution)
  • High (1920px)
  • Medium (1280px)
  • Low (960px)
  • Very Low (640px)
  • Minimal (480px)
• Compression slider - 10% to 100% JPEG quality
• File size estimation - Real-time preview of output size
• Actual pixel-accurate resizing - True dimensions, not retina-scaled

⚙️ Customization

• Configurable save location - Choose any folder
• Timestamp filenames - Optional date/time in filename
• Camera sound toggle - Enable/disable capture sound
• Persistent settings - All preferences saved automatically

Installation

Requirements

• macOS 14.0 or later
• Xcode 15.0 or later (for building)
• Apple Silicon (M1 series) or Intel Mac

Building from Source

1. Clone or download the project

2. Open in Xcode

   open AutoScreenshot.xcodeproj

3. Select your development team

   • Select project in sidebar
   • Go to "Signing & Capabilities"
   • Choose your Apple ID/team from dropdown

4. Build and run

   • Press ⌘+R or click Run button
   • App appears in menu bar (camera icon)

Note: App Sandbox is already disabled in the project to allow file system access.

Usage

Quick Start

1. Click camera icon in menu bar
2. Choose save location with "Choose..." button
3. Select interval (e.g., 5 minutes)
4. Configure quality settings (optional)
5. Press Start button

Annotation Modes

Manual Annotations

1. Enable "Enable annotation prompts"
2. After each screenshot, a window appears
3. Type 1-2 sentences
4. Press Cmd+Enter to save or ESC to skip

Preset Annotations

1. Enable "Use preset annotation"
2. Enter text in preset field (e.g., "Working on project X")
3. Press Start
4. Text automatically applied to all screenshots - no interruptions!

No Annotations

• Disable both toggles
• Screenshots saved immediately without any text overlay

Keyboard Shortcuts

In annotation window:

• Cmd + Enter - Save with annotation
• ESC - Skip annotation

Settings Overview

Intervals:

• 30 seconds
• 1 minute
• 5 minutes
• 10 minutes
• 15 minutes
• 20 minutes
• 30 minutes
• 1 hour

Image Quality:

• Choose resolution (Original to 480px)
• Adjust compression (10-100%)
• View estimated file size

File Sizes (approximate):

• Original + 100%: ~3 MB
• Medium (1280px) + 70%: ~500 KB
• Minimal (480px) + 30%: ~30-50 KB

How It Works

Screenshot Process

1. Capture - Uses macOS native screencapture command
2. Annotation - Optionally adds text overlay with styled background
3. Resize - Scales to selected resolution using bitmap rendering
4. Compress - Converts to JPEG with chosen quality
5. Save - Writes to your specified folder

Technical Details

• SwiftUI - Modern native macOS UI
• Bitmap rendering - Pixel-accurate resizing (not retina-scaled)
• JPEG compression - Efficient file sizes
• Timer-based - Reliable interval triggering
• UserDefaults - Settings persistence

File Structure

AutoScreenshot/
├── AutoScreenshotApp.swift    # Main app code
├── Info.plist                 # App configuration
└── Assets.xcassets/           # App icons

Troubleshooting

Screenshots not saving to chosen folder

Solution: Disable App Sandbox

• Project settings → Signing & Capabilities
• Remove "App Sandbox" capability

Image dimensions wrong (doubled)

Fixed in latest version - Now uses bitmap-based rendering for accurate pixel dimensions

Layout recursion warning

Fixed in latest version - Improved annotation window layout

Task name port warning

Solution: Disable App Sandbox (see above)

Configuration Files

Settings stored in UserDefaults:

• Interval
• Save directory
• Image quality
• Compression level
• Annotation preferences
• Screenshot count

Performance

• Minimal CPU usage when idle
• Low memory footprint (~50-100 MB)
• No background processes when paused
• Efficient JPEG compression reduces disk usage

Use Cases

• Time-lapse projects - Document progress over hours/days
• Productivity tracking - Visual log of work sessions
• Tutorial creation - Capture step-by-step workflows
• Client reporting - Show project development
• Personal diary - Visual timeline with notes
• Focus sessions - Automatic documentation without interruption

Roadmap

Potential future features:

• Multiple display selection
• Cloud sync integration
• Screenshot preview thumbnails
• Custom keyboard shortcuts
• Export as video/GIF
• Scheduled start/stop times

Privacy

• No data collection - Everything stored locally
• No network access - Fully offline
• User-controlled - You choose where files are saved
• No telemetry - No analytics or tracking

License

MIT License - Feel free to modify and distribute

Credits

Built with Swift and SwiftUI for macOS

Support

For issues or questions, check the troubleshooting section or review the code comments.

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Tip: For long recording sessions, use lower quality settings (640px + 50% compression) to save disk space while maintaining readability.