How screenshots reach the NotchStar Screenshot Tray
Take a screenshot the normal way and NotchStar puts it in the Screenshot Tray, a strip of thumbnails under the notch. It does this by watching the folder where macOS saves your screenshots. NotchStar never takes the picture itself, so the usual Shift Command 3, 4 and 5 shortcuts stay exactly as they are.
What happens, step by step
- You capture with macOS. By default the file saves to the Desktop, and the name starts with “Screenshot” (older macOS versions used “Screen Shot”).
- macOS writes the file into the folder. NotchStar is told the folder changed, waits about a fifth of a second, then looks at what is new. It also checks the folder once a second as a backup.
- If the new file is a finished image, it appears under the notch.
Which files count
NotchStar reads PNG, JPEG, HEIC and TIFF files. In a normal folder such as the Desktop, a file counts when macOS marked it as a screen capture, or when its name starts like a screenshot name (Screenshot, Screen Shot, and the same word in a few other languages). In a folder named Screenshots, any new image counts.
Files that were already in the folder when NotchStar started are not added, so old screenshots do not flood the notch.
The delay you may notice
macOS shows a small preview in the corner first and saves the file only after it goes away, about five seconds in NotchStar’s own description. The tray cannot show the file before it exists. The optional Show screenshots instantly setting removes that wait.
Limits
The tray holds the latest 12, each for five minutes unless you use it. Read how long screenshots stay in the tray. The overview is on the Screenshot Tray page.
