Each recorded step has a picture of the screen at the moment you acted, with a purple box around what you clicked and the step number sitting on the top of the box. Neither ever covers the control itself. You can move the box, blur private details, choose a better moment, or swap the picture for another one.
Move or resize the box
The purple box shows the reader where to click.
- Open the manual.
- Drag the purple box to move it onto the right button or field.
- Drag its corner to make it bigger or smaller.
Changes save by themselves.
Add or remove the box
Library › open a manual › a step's ⋯ menu › Add a box
Some steps don't need a box, for example a step that shows a whole screen. Open the step's ⋯ menu and choose Remove the box. To put one back, choose Add a box, then drag it into place.
Hide the step numbers
- For one step: open the step's ⋯ menu and choose Hide the number. Choose Show the number to bring it back.
- For the whole manual: choose More options (⋯) › Numbers on the pictures to turn them all off or on.
Blur something private
Library › open a manual › a step's ⋯ menu › Blur something
Use this to hide a customer's name, an email address, a card number or anything else that shouldn't be in the manual.
- Click Blur something under the step's picture, or choose it from the step's ⋯ menu.
- Drag over the part you want to hide. It becomes pixelated.
- Drag over more areas if you need to. Drag a blur to move it, or drag its corner to resize it.
- Click Done blurring.
To remove a blur, click Blur something again and click × on that blur. The button shows how many blurs a step has, for example Blur (2).
Check the whole manual before you share it. Private details often show in more than one step, for example a customer name that stays on screen the whole time.
Blur personal details automatically
Settings › Buttons while recording › Blur personal details in the pictures automatically
Turn this on and Sopycat looks for email addresses, phone numbers, card numbers and social security numbers in the pictures of new recordings, and blurs them for you. It works on your computer and adds a few seconds per step. It is off unless you turn it on.
If you use an online option to write the words, the copies of the pictures that are sent are blurred too. See What is sent with the online options.
Automatic blurring can miss things, such as names or account numbers in an unusual format. Always look through the pictures yourself before you share a manual.
Blurs and videos
Blurs change the step pictures, and the PDF, Word, web page and text file exports use the blurred pictures. The films are made from the screen recording itself, so Sopycat carries each step's blurs into them:
- In the tutorial video, each blurred area is blurred for that step's whole part of the film. If you add or change a blur after the video was made, press Make it again in the Tutorial video panel.
- In Follow along, each step's blurs are laid over that step's film.
A blur covers the same spot for the length of its step. If the private detail moves around the screen, or shows during another step, blur it on that step's picture too, and watch the video through before you share it.
Sopycat also keeps the original, unblurred picture of each step inside the manual's folder, so you can change a blur later. If you share the manual's folder itself, the originals go with it. Share an export instead. See Save and share a manual.
Pick a better moment from the recording
Library › open a manual › a step's ⋯ menu › Change picture
If a picture was taken a moment too early or too late, for example before a menu opened, pick another moment from the recording.
- Open the step's ⋯ menu and choose Change picture. The Pick a better picture for step N window opens.
- Drag the slider, or click Play, to find the moment you want.
- Use Back 1 s, Back a little, On a little and On 1 s to get it exactly right.
- Click Use this picture.
The purple box stays where it was. Drag it afterwards if it needs to move.
Use a different picture
For steps you added by hand, Change picture lets you choose a picture file or paste one from the clipboard instead.
A step with no picture shows three buttons:
- Choose a picture… to pick a file from your computer.
- Paste to use a picture you have copied.
- From the recording… to pick a moment from the recording, when the manual has one.
Take a screenshot and paste it
- Press Windows+Shift+S and select the part of the screen you want.
- Go back to the manual and click the step you want the picture near.
- Press Ctrl+V.
If the selected step has no picture, the screenshot goes into it. Otherwise it becomes a new step after the selected one.
Which pictures can I use?
You can use PNG, JPG, JPEG, GIF, BMP, WEBP, TIF, TIFF, HEIC and HEIF pictures. Very large pictures are made smaller, to at most 2560 pixels across, so the manual stays a sensible size.
Common questions
The box is around the wrong thing
Drag it onto the right thing and resize it with its corner. If the whole picture shows the wrong moment, use Change picture first.
The picture caught the screen mid-change
Use Change picture and move a little later. Next time, pause for a moment after each click while you record.
I only want to show part of the screen
Take a screenshot of just that part with Windows+Shift+S, then paste it as a new step and remove the old one if you don't need it. See Take a screenshot and paste it.
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