Help / Capture & annotate
Website Quick Capture
Website capture is on Mac. It's coming to Windows and Linux next.
On Mac, open Studio and choose Website in the top bar. Your captures are listed on the left; click New capture, enter an HTTP or HTTPS URL and choose how to capture it. Cropped records the page at three breakpoints, one take each:
- Desktop: 1440 × 900
- Tablet: 834 × 1112
- Mobile: 390 × 844
Choose your breakpoints
The size fields beside the capture settings, marked with desktop, tablet and phone icons, set each take's width and height in CSS pixels: widths from 320 to 2560 and heights from 400 to 1600. Use it to match your site's own breakpoints, for example 1280 × 800 for a laptop, 768 × 1024 for a tablet or 375 × 812 for a small phone. A changed size is highlighted; click its reset arrow to return it to the default. Each size loads the page fresh, so you see the layout your CSS gives at that width.
These are responsive viewport sizes in an isolated WebKit browser, not mobile device or touch emulation. The browser does not import your usual cookies or logins.
Section tour or continuous scroll
Choose Section tour or Continuous scroll next to the URL:
- Section tour (recommended for showcases): Cropped first scans each screen size, loading lazy sections and finding the meaningful sections of the page. Review your section tour then lists the stops for each breakpoint. Rename a stop with Section label, adjust its Scroll position (px) and Pause (seconds), turn stops off, Add a stop or Remove stop, and set Peak scroll pace (px/s) from 100 to 1200. Scan again if the page changed. Then click Record section tour. Cropped glides between stops and pauses on each so the design can breathe.
- Continuous scroll: one smooth scroll from top to bottom in up to 3 to 60 seconds. Turn on 2× design render for 2× pixels with exact frame timestamps.
Recording begins before the page navigates, includes loading, then scrolls. Each take holds briefly at the top and bottom.
Ways to use it
- Responsive design review: capture all three breakpoints of a staging page and play them side by side to spot layout breaks before launch.
- Portfolio and case studies: a section tour of a finished site, with insets showing tablet and mobile, makes a polished showcase video.
- Client hand-off: record the approved desktop, tablet and mobile versions, add text callouts, and export one MP4 for the record.
- Release notes and changelogs: capture the page that changed at your exact breakpoints, then open each take in the Studio to trim, caption and annotate.
- Social clips: export the composition at 2× for crisp text, or open the mobile take alone for a vertical post.
- Bug reports: set a custom size that reproduces the problem, such as 360 × 740, and record just that breakpoint.
Arrange and annotate
The desktop recording fills the 1440 × 900 canvas. Tablet and mobile appear as insets. Drag an inset to position it, drag its corner to resize it, or use the numeric controls. Arrow keys move a focused inset one pixel; Shift moves ten. Show or hide either inset and change its frame, border width, border color and corner radius.
Insets keep each recording's own shape. Turn on Animate inset to move or resize an inset over time; insets can start outside the canvas and slide in. Choose a Frame (Dark browser, Light browser or Border only) for each inset.
Under Layers, add Text, Rectangle, Ellipse or Arrow callouts, or Generate walkthrough labels. Callouts can be timed and animated like the Studio's annotation layers. Editing outlines and resize handles are omitted from the export. Reset layout restores the default inset arrangement and clears annotations; Reload saved brings back the layout saved on this Mac. Layouts save locally as you edit them.
Playback starts all three takes together. Because websites load at different speeds, the recordings can have different lengths; the shorter takes hold their final frame until the longest finishes. The captures are made in sequence, so live content may differ between breakpoints.
Export and review
Export composition writes a new, silent MP4 on your Mac, with your frames and annotations. In the Export panel at the bottom right, choose a resolution (1× for 1440 × 900, or 2× for 2880 × 1800) and a frame rate (60 or 120 FPS). It cannot create motion frames that were not captured. Open in Studio opens the export for trimming, captions, further processing and saving. Show in Finder reveals the exported file. Cancel an export to discard its unfinished file; the originals remain untouched.
To tidy the list, hover a finished capture and click its trash icon, then Remove. This removes the capture and its saved layout from the list; its original recordings stay in capture history. A capture that is still running must be stopped first.
Each original is available under Takes with Open in Studio, Export original and Show file, and in capture history. Re-record replaces just that view. The Website list shows the 20 most recent capture batches. Originals remain in capture history when a batch ages out of this list.
Permissions and limits
Screen Recording permission is required. The built-in browser does not need Accessibility, camera or microphone access. Use App preferences → Permissions & privacy setup for an optional walkthrough; every step can be skipped.
60/120 FPS are requested capture rates. WebKit can stay near 60 Hz even on high-refresh displays, and encoder or page load can lower the saved rate. Cropped shows each take's measured average rate. 120 FPS is experimental, not a guarantee.
Sites with infinite feeds, nested scroll areas, blocked automation or content that changes while scrolling may need a manual recording. A failed batch retains completed captures and explains the issue. Use Stop capture to end the run. Record only content you are authorized to capture and obtain required consent before recording other people.
Cropped does not upload the recordings or compositions to its servers. Exporting to a folder synced by another service follows that service's settings. Connected assistants and optional generation providers have their own data practices; the permissions guide explains those separate choices.
Still stuck? Click the ? button at the bottom left of the Cropped Studio to ask, send us a message, or request a feature.