Introducing Action Capture: Turn Clicks into Step-by-Step Guides

Action Capture turns accepted clicks into a sequence of documented steps. Start a capture session and complete the task in another app. Shotomatic saves the target state immediately before each accepted click and marks where the action belongs.

See Action Capture in action

This one-minute demo follows a capture from the first click through review and PDF export.

Capture steps as you work

Manual tutorial capture makes you stop after every action, take a screenshot, and then return to the task. That interruption makes it easy to miss a step or lose your place.

Action Capture uses each accepted click as the capture trigger. You can move through the task at a normal pace while Shotomatic collects the screenshots in order. The click marker shows the action the reader should take on that saved screen.

Free users can save up to 5 steps in one session. Shotomatic saves the fifth step and pauses the session, then lets you open the document in the editor or activate Pro and continue the same session. The number of saved guides and documents is not limited.

Review the captured sequence

When the capture session ends, open the screenshots in the editor and check the sequence from beginning to end. Remove steps that do not help the reader and keep one screenshot for each action they need to follow.

Every user can edit titles and descriptions, organize pages, add text, rectangles, ellipses, lines, and arrows, and adjust Framing or Action Focus. Pro adds Blur, extra Click Markers, and Step Numbers.

Export the finished document

Free and Pro users can export the finished Document as PDF, PNG, JPG, WebP, or ZIP. The pages stay in step order in each export. For PDF, choose the paper size, orientation, cover and numbering options, description placement, and image quality before saving the file.

Action Capture and Auto Capture

Auto Capture takes screenshots on a time interval. It works well for progress records, page sequences, and timelapses where time determines when a frame should be saved.

Action Capture saves the target state immediately before an accepted click. It is the better fit when the task itself should determine the steps, such as showing how to change a setting, complete a form, or move through a product flow.

When to use Action Capture

Action Capture is designed for tasks where the order of clicks matters:

• product tutorials and help center guides
• customer support instructions
• onboarding and training material
• internal procedures and software documentation
• repeatable QA or bug reproduction steps

For a short task, manual screenshots may still be enough. Screen recording is a better fit when motion, timing, or audio is part of the explanation. Use Action Capture when the output should be an ordered visual guide built from the actions the reader needs to repeat.

See the full Action Capture feature page, follow How to Create a Step-by-Step Guide from Clicks on Mac, or explore Documents for the shared editing and export workflow.