Give Me Back My Screenshot
The thumbnail vanished. Your screenshot didn't.
Take a screenshot like you always do. It's already on your clipboard, so just press ⌘V. Missed it? Drag it straight out of the menu bar, any time.
You know the dance.
macOS gives you about five seconds with that little floating thumbnail. After that, you're on your own.
Blink and it's gone
The thumbnail slides away before you've even switched to the app you wanted to paste into.
Desktop archaeology
Now you're digging through “Screenshot 2026-09-14 at 15.24.07.png” and its forty cousins.
⌃⌘⇧4 finger yoga
The clipboard shortcut works, until you forget it, or wanted the file saved too.
It just gives it back.
No new shortcuts to learn. Keep screenshotting exactly the way you do today.
On your clipboard, automatically
Every new screenshot is copied the moment it's saved, as an image for chats and docs and as a file for Finder and Mail.
Drag it from the menu bar
Grab the icon and drop your latest screenshot into Slack, an email, a browser upload box or a folder. It's the thumbnail's drag, but it never leaves.
Works however your Mac is set up
It spots screenshots by the metadata macOS attaches, not by file name, so any language and any save folder just work.
Tiny, private, yours
400 KB. No account, no network access, no tracking. Pause it from the menu whenever you want your clipboard to yourself.
Set up in under a minute.
Three steps, once. After that it starts with your Mac and stays out of the way.
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Download & unzip
Drag Give Me Back My Screenshot into your Applications folder.
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Open it
A camera icon appears in your menu bar. It turns itself on at login.
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Click Allow
macOS asks whether it can see your Desktop, which is where new screenshots land.
“Apple could not verify…” on first open? The app is free and isn't notarized by Apple yet. Open System Settings → Privacy & Security, scroll down, and click Open Anyway. You only do this once. Or build it yourself from the source.
Questions
Won't it overwrite whatever I copied?
Yes, that's the point: a new screenshot takes over the clipboard, just as if you'd pressed ⌘C on it. Copied something important? Untick Copy New Screenshots Automatically in the menu to pause it.
I copied something else. How do I get my screenshot back?
Click the menu bar icon and choose Copy Latest Screenshot, or simply drag the icon to wherever you want the screenshot.
Why does it need access to my Desktop?
That's where macOS saves screenshots by default, and macOS protects the Desktop folder. If you save screenshots somewhere else (⌘⇧5 → Options), it follows that folder instead.
Does it send my screenshots anywhere?
No. It contains no networking code at all. It reads the new file and hands it to your clipboard. The whole app is one Swift file you can read on GitHub.
Why is there a short delay before it's copied?
While the floating thumbnail is showing, macOS hasn't written the file yet. It lands (and gets copied) when the thumbnail goes away. Swipe the thumbnail off to skip the wait, or turn thumbnails off in ⌘⇧5 → Options.
How do I uninstall it?
Choose Quit from its menu and drag the app from Applications to the Trash.