Does NotchStar take screenshots, or only hold them
NotchStar does not take screenshots. The Screenshot Tray is a place where screenshots wait after you take them with macOS. There is no capture button, no recording, no scrolling capture and no markup in it. If you want a different way to capture, you need a separate tool.
What does the capturing
macOS does. Apple’s shortcuts, checked 4 November 2026 on Apple’s Take a screenshot on Mac page:
- Shift Command 3 captures the whole screen.
- Shift Command 4 captures a selected area. Press Space after it to capture a window.
- Shift Command 5 opens the Screenshot toolbar with timers, save location and recording.
NotchStar sees the file that macOS saves and shows it under the notch.
What the tray adds
- A bigger thumbnail than the corner preview, held for five minutes.
- Up to 12 at once.
- Dragging into a chat, an email or a folder, one or several at a time.
What it does not do
- It does not capture or record the screen, so it needs no Screen Recording permission. Read permissions.
- It does not edit, crop, blur or annotate. Clicking a thumbnail opens the file in the app macOS uses for that image type.
- It is not a screenshot history. Leaving the tray keeps the file in your folder, but there is no gallery in NotchStar.
Other apps do capture
Some notch and menu bar apps include their own capture. The comparison guide, Mac screenshot tray apps compared, lists them with prices as of 4 November 2026. The overview of NotchStar is on the Screenshot Tray page.
