Record your screen

Open the recorder

Press ⌥⇧R from any app, or click New recording in the Library. The capture bar appears at the bottom of your screen. New recording opens it with Record chosen at its left. ⌥⇧R opens it the way you used it last, so check that Record is chosen.

Choose what to record

• Display: a whole screen.
• Window: one app window. The Window size chip can snap it to 720p, 1080p, Mac or Vertical 9:16 as the take starts, then restore its original size when the take ends.
• Area: part of the screen. Hold ⇧ while you drag for a square, or ⌥ to draw out from where you pressed. Pick a shape (16:9, 9:16, 1:1, 4:3 or Free) on the card and lock it if you like. Faint guides mark 25%, 50% and 75% across the area to help you line it up. They never appear in the recording.
• Device: an iPhone or iPad on a cable, or an iPhone through iPhone Mirroring. See Record an iPhone or iPad.

Know the size before you record

In Record mode, the line under the bar ends with what a take will cost your disk, such as ~200 MB/min (rough) · room for 9 h. For a window or an area it says up to, because it can never be larger than its display. The number starts from the bit rate Slyve records at. After a couple of screen takes, Slyve measures how big your recordings actually come out on this Mac and switches to (measured). Only the size ratios are kept, on this Mac.

Choose what to hear and see

Camera and microphone start on for new recordings. Each has a one-click on/off toggle beside its device menu, and Slyve remembers your choice for the next take. Change the same defaults in Settings › Recording.

• Camera: shows you in the video, with a preview before Start so you can check your framing. ⌥⇧C also turns it on or off.
• Microphone: records your voice. The file is stereo. For a single voice, Settings › Recording › Record microphone in mono makes the file smaller and puts the same sound in both ears. The change starts with your next take.
• System audio: records the sound your Mac plays.

If permission is missing, choose Allow camera or Allow microphone beside that device. You can press Start anyway: the screen records and the status line says which device was skipped. A device you turned off reads Camera off or Microphone off. If no device is connected, its toggle is off and the bar says No camera or No microphone. Taking a screenshot never starts either device.

In Record mode, the ⚙▾ menu at the bar’s right end has a Recording group:

• Show clicks and Show keys: click emphasis and the keys you press, for new recordings. A check means on.
• After recording ▸ sets what happens when you stop: Edit in Slyve (the default), Save video straight away or Save as GIF.

While one of these is changed from its default, a small green dot shows on ⚙▾.

A small line under the bar says what to do next, such as “Pick a display to record”. It goes away while you record.

Record

Pick a display, window or area. Start appears on the overlay; click it or press Return. A 3 · 2 · 1 countdown runs first. Press Esc to cancel it, or Return to start at once.

To record the area you used last, choose Record previous area in the ⚙▾ menu at the bar’s right, or press ↩ before you pick anything. There is no separate record button on the bar. The countdown length is in the ⚙▾ menu.

While you record:

• ⌥⇧P pauses and resumes.
• ⌥⇧R finishes the take.
• ⌃⌥⌘⌫ throws the take away and counts down into a new one.
• ⌃⌥⌘B drops a bookmark at this moment (see below).
• ⌃⌥⌘M mutes or unmutes your microphone (see below).
• ⌃⌥⌘R retakes from your last bookmark (see below).

The recording controls sit clear of what you record. Drag them by their background to move them; the next take on that display opens them where you left them. While paused, the finish button and time turn amber and Paused blinks.

When you finish, the take opens in the editor, unless you chose another option under ⚙▾ › After recording.

Draw while you record

Press ⌃⌥⌘D during a take, or click Pen on the toolbar at the top of the screen, then drag to draw. The toolbar has five tools: Pen, Highlighter (a wide see-through stroke), Arrow, Rectangle and Spotlight circle. Each comes in red, yellow or blue. With Fade 2 s on, a drawing fades two seconds after you let go; hold ⌥ while drawing to keep it until the take ends.

Your drawings are not burned into the recording. They are added to the video’s Elements lane, so you can recolour, move, retime or delete them in the editor, and they appear in the export.

To turn drawing off, untick Drawing while recording in the ⚙▾ menu or in Settings › Recording. When it is off, the toolbar does not appear and ⌃⌥⌘D does nothing.

Bookmark a moment

Press ⌃⌥⌘B during a take, or click the flag on the recording controls, to mark a moment you want to find again: a mistake to cut, the start of a new part. The flag on the controls lights up briefly so you know it worked. Nothing appears in the recording.

In the editor, each bookmark is a small flag on the ruler above the timeline. Click one to move the playhead there. Right-click one to remove it; Undo brings it back. Bookmarks stay with the footage they were dropped on, so a cut before one moves it along, and one inside a part you cut away is hidden. Change the keys in Settings › Shortcuts.

Mute your microphone

Press ⌃⌥⌘M, or click the microphone on the recording controls, to mute your microphone while you record. The microphone turns red with a line through it while it is muted. Press again to talk.

Turn on ⚙▾ › Push to talk to start every take muted: hold ⌃⌥⌘M while you talk and let go to mute again.

Muting never throws anything away. Slyve keeps recording your microphone and plays the muted parts as silence, only on the microphone; system audio keeps playing. In the editor, the Audio card lists them as Muted while recording · 2 ranges. Click Unmute beside one to bring its sound back; Undo mutes it again. If you stay muted for more than 20 seconds while your microphone hears sound, the recording controls say Mic is muted.

Retake a part

Said it wrong? Press ⌃⌥⌘R, or click Retake on the recording controls, then say it again. The take keeps recording. When you stop, Slyve cuts from your last bookmark up to where you pressed Retake. With no bookmark, it cuts back to where you last resumed from a pause, or to the start of the take. The controls count your retakes.

The project opens already cut, and nothing is deleted: press ⌘Z once to bring the cut part back. Save straight away and Save as GIF save the cut version.

Recording safety

The controls warn when the microphone is silent for several seconds or unplugged; if automatic fallback fails, you can switch to the built-in microphone. A take pauses before the Mac sleeps or its lid closes without an external display, and does not resume by itself. If a video app blocks capture, the controls say so.

In ⚙▾, Hide notifications while recording keeps Notification Center out of Display and Area takes. Turn on Do Not Disturb while recording uses your Shortcuts named “Slyve Do Not Disturb On” and “Slyve Do Not Disturb Off”.

If you quit during a take, Slyve asks whether to Stop and keep, Keep going or Discard. Stop and keep finishes the recording and waits for it to save before quitting.

Speaker notes

Slyve has a teleprompter for your script. Press ⌃⌥⌘/ to show or hide the speaker notes while the recorder is open, during a take too.

Keep your desktop clean

⌥⇧D covers the icons on your desktop with your wallpaper, so they stay out of every recording. Press it again to bring them back.