Screencastify has a handful of simple, intuitive keyboard shortcuts that allow you to use our tool more quickly and create better recordings. When you use our keyboard shortcuts, your audience won't have to watch you moving your mouse to start, annotate and stop your recordings.
We recommend taking a few minutes to memorize and practice these shortcuts. Your future self will thank you!
List of all keyboard shortcuts
| Shortcut | PC / Chromebook | Mac |
| Open the extension | Alt + Shift + S | Option + Shift + S |
| Start / stop recording | Alt + Shift + R | Option + Shift + R |
| Pause / resume recording | Alt + Shift + P | Option + Shift + P |
| Show / hide annotation toolbar | Alt + T | Option + T |
| Focus spotlight on mouse | Alt + F | Option + F |
| Highlight mouse clicks with a pink circle | Alt + C | Option + C |
| Pen tool | Alt + P | Option + P |
| Eraser | Alt + E | Option + E |
| Wipe screen | Alt + Z | Option + Z |
| Return to classic mouse cursor | Alt + M | Option + M |
| Rectangle | Alt + R | Option + R |
| Sticker | Alt + S | Option + S |
| Fireworks mouse on clicks | Alt + X | Option + X |
| Return to main toolbar and select default mouse |
Esc | Esc |
| Toggle embedded webcam on/off* | Alt + W | Option + W |
*Tab recordings only
NOTE
Our keyboard shortcuts only work when you're actively using the Chrome browser, and won't work if you're clicked on another application (PowerPoint, Word, document camera software, etc.). This happens because other applications have their own keyboard shortcuts, and we aren't able to overwrite shortcuts for non-Chrome applications.
Customize your keyboard shortcuts
You have the option of customizing any keyboard shortcuts that are not specific to tab recordings. To view and edit the shortcuts you can customize, follow these steps:
- Open the extension
- Open the Main Menu
- Click "Options"
- Scroll down to the Keyboard Shortcuts section
- Click "Configure Recording Shortcuts"
- Customize the shortcuts however you'd like
