For my screen-capture all-rounder app ScreenFloat, I’ve received feedback from users that, under macOS Sequoia, their keyboard shortcuts suddenly stopped working.
Well, with macOS 15 Sequoia comes an undocumented change that boggles the mind (and which developers have never been told about during the macOS upgrade’s beta period) : In 3rd-Party-Apps, users are no longer allowed to set up keyboard shortcuts that use only the option ⌥, only the shift ⇧, or only option + shift ⌥ ⇧ keys as the modifier (like ⌥ ⇧ 2).
Why? As an Apple Frameworks engineer puts it, “to limit the ability of key-logging in malware”. A make–shift reason, if you ask me (or the other developers in that thread):
I also don’t get the logic. The change only impacts sandboxed apps, but malware wouldn’t use sandboxing. Plus, any app can request input monitoring and misuse it, so this mostly hurts legitimate apps and their users, and does very little to stop actual malware. – sindresorhus
That’s sadly something that’s becoming more and more routine at Apple: punish developers that adhere to the sandbox and Mac App Store rules, for no good reason.
How does this even prevents key loggers? – IzsakSVK
Beats me (and Apple).
Of course, as always, Apple’s own software is exempt from this restriction, as you can see in this screenshot of System Settings > Keyboard > Keyboard Shortcuts, where I could set it up just fine. Why this matters? Consistency. Users expect that if it works in Apple’s software, it should also work in other apps they use. And I agree!
Just yet another change where Apple oversteps its bounds to prevent users from configuring and using their own computers how they want to.
Updated for macOS 15.2
Apple seems to have reversed their decision – option-based keyboard shortcuts are allowed again for sandboxed 3rd-party apps on macOS Sequoia 15.2.
ScreenFloat v2.2.2 is now available and fixes a couple of irritating bugs.
What is ScreenFloat?
ScreenFloat is your Screenshot All-Rounder. Capture screenshots and recordings that float above other windows, allowing you to reference anything on your screen, anywhere. It’s like Picture-in-Picture, only for screen captures. It keeps your Desktop clutter-free, as every capture you make is stored in its Shots Browser, where you can manage, organize and find your shots. They’re also synced across your Macs. Easily copy the non-copyable, as ScreenFloat recognizes text, barcode and faces in your shots, which also allows you to effortlessly redact sensitive parts of your screenshots. Add non-destructive annotations, redactions and markup, crop, “fold“, resize, or de-retinize your shots, or trim, cut or mute your recordings. Quickly pick colors. Create shareable and embeddable links for your captures using iCloud, ImageKit.io or Cloudinary.com. And so much more.
A screenshot is just a screenshot. Until you use ScreenFloat.
Tip: Check out the Get to Know ScreenFloat 2 Blog Post series for a deep-dive into its functionality and what it can do for you.
What’s New in ScreenFloat v2.2.2
Fixes a bug where sometimes recording the screen would fail
Fixes a bug that would cause all screenshots to be copied instead of displayed if the keyboard shortcut to trigger the screenshot contained the control modifier key
Fixes a bug where the video recording settings panel would not come up when re-capturing an area
Links and Availability
ScreenFloat is a one-time purchase, exclusively available on the Mac App Store for USD 15.99 / EUR 14,99 / GBP 15.99 , and a free update for existing customers. A free, 28-day trial is available for download from the website. It requires macOS 12 Monterey (macOS 14 Sonoma recommended for full functionality) A (free) iCloud account is required if you want to sync your ScreenFloat library across your Macs. ScreenFloat is currently localized in English, German, Chinese (Simplified), and Dutch.
ScreenFloat v2.2.1, a free update for existing customers, is now available on the Mac App Store and includes numerous improvements for cutting recordings, automation, and more.
What is ScreenFloat?
ScreenFloat is your Screenshot All-Rounder. Capture screenshots and recordings that float above other windows, allowing you to reference anything on your screen, anywhere. It’s like Picture-in-Picture, only for screen captures. It keeps your Desktop clutter-free, as every capture you make is stored in its Shots Browser, where you can manage, organize and find your shots. They’re also synced across your Macs. Easily copy the non-copyable, as ScreenFloat recognizes text, barcode and faces in your shots, which also allows you to effortlessly redact sensitive parts of your screenshots. Add non-destructive annotations, redactions and markup, crop, “fold“, resize, or de-retinize your shots, or trim, cut or mute your recordings. Quickly pick colors. Create shareable and embeddable links for your captures using iCloud, ImageKit.io or Cloudinary.com. And so much more.
A screenshot is just a screenshot. Until you use ScreenFloat.
Tip: Check out the Get to Know ScreenFloat 2 Blog Post series for a deep-dive into its functionality and what it can do for you.
What’s New in ScreenFloat v2.2.1?
When you cut your recordings, you now get more info about the resulting video, where the playhead is, and how long your individual cuts are. Also, preview playback has been improved, as well as scrubbing through the recording.
At the top, you now see the duration of the finished recording. At the bottom left, you can see the duration and range of the currently selected cut, and at the bottom right the position of the playhead
There’s now an easier way to make new cuts, by holding down X on your keyboard as you play back your recording:
Standby Window Capture(macOS 14 or newer required) – grab a screenshot of any window from its green resize button, or from the Capture item in your menu bar.
AppleScripts and Shortcuts can now be run on floating shots directly, in addition to the already existing Double-Click Workflow Actions.
Right-click a floating shot to send it off to an AppleScript or Shortcut.
The new Permissions overview gives you all the details you need to know about why, how and when ScreenFloat makes use of certain privileges you grant it
You’re now able to set a floating shot’s visibility not only to the currently active app, but any currently running app
And many more minor improvements and bugfixes, like the Shortcuts app no longer launching right away when setting up a new Double-Click action, or the cutting window remembering its size.
Links and Availability
ScreenFloat is a one-time purchase, exclusively available on the Mac App Store for USD 15.99 / EUR 14,99 / GBP 15.99 , and a free update for existing customers. A free, 28-day trial is available for download from the website. It requires macOS 12 Monterey (macOS 14 Sonoma recommended for full functionality) A (free) iCloud account is required if you want to sync your ScreenFloat library across your Macs. ScreenFloat is currently localized in English, German, Chinese (Simplified), and Dutch.
I recently had a feature request to add Direct-Paste to ScreenFloat. I had not idea what that meant, so I looked it up. It basically combines the copy-paste operations into one, immediately pasting the freshly copied content into the currently active, frontmost app’s active window. So instead of having to copy the shot and then pasting it into the active app using command-v (or your method of choice), it’s all done in one go.
Now, there is no way this is allowed in the Mac App Store: ScreenFloat would require the Accessibility sandbox entitlement for it (to emulate the command-v key press), and that’s a big no-no. Why? I have no idea – they do have an entire process of reviewing apps set up for this sort of thing, after all. But I digress.
With the recently released ScreenFloat v2.2, I introduced support for Application Scripts, where users can supply their own, custom-made AppleScripts, and ScreenFloat can run them with a copy of a double-clicked floating shot. With that, it’s possible to set up a direct-paste double-click workflow. Here’s how.
A floating shot being double-clicked, immediately copy-pasting it into the currently active app, TextEdit.
The AppleScript
The AppleScript is fairly simple, and I’ve prepared it for you to download here (.zip, ~4KB). It expects the shot already having been copied to the clipboard (doable within the same double-click workflow), and then emulates a command-v key press to paste it into the active, frontmost app’s active window.
After you download and unzip the script, place it into this folder on your Mac: /Users/yourname/Library/Application Scripts/at.EternalStorms.ScreenFloat-[appstore|trial]/
Now it’s accessible from within ScreenFloat for the Run AppleScript double-click action.
Creating the Double-Click Workflow
Your double-click workflow will consist of two actions:
Copy Shot copies the double-clicked shot as a file path, or as image data (png, tiff, etc)
Run AppleScript runs the selected AppleScript
To set it up, open ScreenFloat’s Settings, select the Floating Shots tab, and under Double-clicking:, click with the mouse-button and modifier keys of your choice (you can set up multiple double-click workflows for different mouse buttons, with different modifier keys).
Press the + button below and select Copy Shot > Filepath | PNG | TIFF | etc Press the + button again and select Run AppleScript > Direct-Paste Double-Clicked Shot into Active App
Now, when you double-click a shot with your specified mouse button and modifier keys, the shot will be copied to your clipboard, and then the AppleScript will be executed, pasting the clipboard’s contents (your shot) to the active app’s active window.
That’s it. You can now easily copy-paste floating shots into the active app, without having to do the copy and pasting manually.
Minor Caveat If you set up the double-click workflow for a mouse button with a bunch of modifier keys, be sure to release the modifier keys as soon as you finish the double-click, otherwise the AppleScript will not send command-v to the active app, but [your pressed modifiers] – v, possibly resulting in a beep. That’s why I implemented a slight delay into the script (0.5 seconds), which you can adjust yourself by just changing that number, giving you more leeway for releasing the modifier keys you set up for the double-click workflow.
