Capture

Take scrolling screenshots on your Mac, in any app

The Screenshot tool built into macOS only captures what fits on the screen. Plumshot scrolls the window for you, or follows your own scrolling, and stitches everything into one tall image: a web page, a chat thread, a PDF, a long list of settings.

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3-day full-feature trialmacOS 14 Sonoma or laterUniversal (Apple Silicon & Intel)

The live preview grows beside the frame as you scroll. The finished image can run dozens of screens.
How it works

How to take a scrolling screenshot on a Mac

Scrolling capture has no default shortcut. Start it from the menu bar or All-in-One, or assign keys under Settings ▸ Shortcuts ▸ Capture Scrolling.

  1. Start a scrolling capture

    Choose Capture Scrolling Content from Plumshot's menu bar icon, press your shortcut, or click the scrolling button in the All-in-One toolbar.

  2. Frame the part that scrolls

    Drag over the content you want, such as a page's body rather than the whole window. Fine-tune it with the width and height fields, then click Start.

  3. Scroll, or let Plumshot scroll

    Scroll down with your trackpad or mouse, or click Auto Scroll and keep the pointer inside the frame. A live preview beside it shows the image growing.

  4. Click Done

    The stitched image opens in Quick Access, ready to copy, save, annotate, pin, or drag into another app. It's in your capture history too.

Built in vs. Plumshot

Can a Mac take a scrolling screenshot on its own?

Not as a screenshot. The Screenshot toolbar (⇧⌘5) captures the entire screen, a window or a selected portion, and only what's visible at that moment. Anything below the fold needs another shot, and lining several shots up by hand rarely works.

Browsers can save a whole web page, as a PDF or with their own screenshot and developer tools, but only web pages. That's no help with a chat thread, a document in Notes, a PDF in Preview, or a long list in System Settings.

macOS Screenshot (⇧⌘5)

  • Captures the entire screen, a window, or a selected portion
  • Only what's on screen at that moment
  • Long content means several shots, lined up by hand

Plumshot scrolling capture

  • Content taller than the display, as one image
  • Works in any app that scrolls: it stitches what's on screen, not a page's code
  • Auto Scroll, or scroll by hand at your own pace
  • A live preview while it stitches; you decide when it's done
Stitching

Built to keep long captures clean

As you scroll, Plumshot reads the frames and lines each new strip up with what it already has, so you get one continuous image instead of a stack of overlapping screenshots.

  • Slim sticky headers appear once. A navigation bar pinned to the top of the frame usually isn't repeated all the way down.
  • Scrolling back up is harmless. Going back never adds duplicate content. If you scroll too fast and it loses its place, it asks you to scroll back a little and carries on.
  • Videos and animations don't derail it. A video playing inside the page doesn't stop the rest of the page from stitching.
  • Full resolution, no pointer. Frames are captured at the display's native resolution, Retina pixels on a Retina screen, with the pointer left out.
Auto Scroll

Let it scroll for you, or do it yourself

Click Auto Scroll and Plumshot scrolls the window in small steps while the pointer stays inside the frame. Move the pointer out to pause, or click Pause. It works out the scroll direction by itself, so your Natural scrolling setting doesn't matter, and it tells you when it reaches the end. Then click Done.

Scrolling another app's window takes Accessibility permission, which Plumshot asks for when you first click Auto Scroll. Without it, or in a window that won't scroll that way, just scroll yourself. Stitching works the same either way.

Prefer to always scroll by hand? Turn off Auto-scroll during scrolling capture in Settings ▸ Screenshots and the button goes away.

The details

Works in
Any app whose content scrolls: browsers, chat, mail, notes, PDFs, code editors
Scrolling
Auto Scroll or your own trackpad or mouse, top to bottom
Length
Up to 60,000 pixels tall, with no time limit while you scroll
Resolution
The display's native pixels, pointer hidden
Permissions
Screen & System Audio Recording (Screen Recording on macOS 14); Accessibility for Auto Scroll only
Output
Quick Access thumbnail and capture history; saves as PNG (default) or JPEG
Automation
plumshot capture-scrolling on the command line, or plumshot://scrolling-capture links. See the agent guide

Questions, answered

Can a Mac take a scrolling screenshot without extra software?

No. The built-in Screenshot tool (⇧⌘5, or ⇧⌘3 and ⇧⌘4) captures only what's visible on screen. Browsers can save a whole web page as a PDF, but for chat threads, documents and other apps you need a tool that scrolls and stitches, like Plumshot.

Does it work outside the browser?

Yes. Plumshot stitches what's on screen rather than reading a page's code, so it works in any app whose content scrolls: chat threads, mail, notes, PDFs, code editors, long lists. If Auto Scroll can't move a window, scroll it yourself. For a chat, scroll up to the first message you want before you start, since the capture adds content as you scroll down.

How long can a scrolling screenshot be?

Up to 60,000 pixels tall, which is 30,000 points on a Retina display. If a page keeps loading more forever, Plumshot stops adding at that limit and Done saves everything stitched so far. There's no time limit while you scroll.

Why does Auto Scroll need Accessibility permission?

macOS only lets an app scroll other apps' windows once you allow it under Privacy & Security ▸ Accessibility. Plumshot needs it for Auto Scroll alone; the capture itself uses Screen Recording permission, like every capture. You can skip it and scroll by hand.

Can I edit or redact a long screenshot?

Yes. From Quick Access, Annotate opens it in the editor, where you can add arrows and text, crop, and blur or pixelate private details. OCR copies the text out of it.

How much does Plumshot cost?

Scrolling capture is part of Plumshot, not an add-on. Every feature is free for 3 days, counted from your first capture, then it's a one-time $9.90 license with no subscription. Details are on the pricing card.

Anything else? Write to support and a human replies. support@plumshot.app

More of what Plumshot does

Capture the whole page, not just the screen

Every feature is free for 3 days from your first capture. After that, a one-time $9.90 license keeps it.

Download free trialSee pricing

3-day full-feature trialmacOS 14 Sonoma or laterUniversal (Apple Silicon & Intel)

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