Tracer: Screenshot & Translate

Tracer is an all-in-one screenshot tool. Capture anything on your screen, annotate it, translate it, record it, and float it above your work. It's built for designers, developers, and anyone who spends the day in front of a screen.

--- KEY FEATURES ---

• Many ways to capture

Area, OCR, Translate, Scroll, Full screen, Last area, Video/GIF, Color Picker, and subject background removal.

• Floating Shots

Capture anything on screen and pin it as a window that always stays on top. It stays in view, so you can keep referring to it while you work without switching windows.

• OCR / Translation

Pull text out of anything on screen, including text inside images, with OCR. Then get fast, high-quality translations from two strong engines, DeepL and Google.

• Screen recording (Video & GIF)

Record any region to MP4 (H.264/HEVC) or GIF. Capture system audio, show or hide the cursor, add a countdown, and adjust the resolution and GIF frame rate to keep files light.

• Color Picker

Grab the exact color of any pixel with a magnifier loupe, then bring it straight into your other design tools.

• Markup (Annotation)

A full set of tools: arrows, lines, shapes, a freehand pencil, text, highlighter, auto-numbered badges, magnifier, spotlight, and redaction for sensitive details.

• Tracing & image comparison

Pin a reference image on top at partial opacity and trace over it without it getting in your way. Your clicks pass straight through to the app below. Turn on Blink Test to flash the reference, and the differences between the two images blink into view.

• Multiple save locations

Register up to five favorite folders alongside your default, and save to any of them with a single shortcut (⌘1–⌘5). Everything stays organized from the moment you capture.

• A shortcut for everything

Every core feature has a keyboard shortcut. Once you learn them, your hands stay on the keyboard. (The full list is in the in-app cheat sheet.)

• Custom shortcuts

Assign your own shortcuts for each capture mode and for what happens after capture.

• Settings that fit you

Assign resize or opacity to a right-drag, turn individual UI sounds on or off, auto-close a shot after copying, and plenty more to set up the way you like.

--- TRANSLATION ---

• Connect the DeepL and Google Cloud Translation APIs. Both are fast and high-quality.

• DeepL includes your first 1 million characters free, and Google Cloud Translation gives 500,000 characters free every month. You can also connect a higher-tier paid key from either service.

• See a live preview as it translates.

• Copy just the translated text without capturing an image. It's great for back-to-back translations.

• Select (highlight) text and run Instant Translation to get the result right away, with no capture needed.

--- DROP ZONE ---

Drop Zone appears as a radial wheel. Drag an image from a web page or a local file and drop it straight into a floating shot, or send it to a save location, subject background removal, or copy. Each is a one-tap shortcut action.

--- TRACING ---

Professional designers reach for this one. Pin a reference image over your canvas and trace freely. Even when Tracer isn't the active app, the overlay stays on top, and click-through lets you keep working in the app underneath. Turn on Blink Test and the reference flashes on and off, highlighting even the tiniest visual differences between two versions. It's ideal for pixel-level design QA and before/after comparison.