Bug reports
Box the broken element, number the steps you took, blur the customer’s email and paste it into the issue. Then let the bug report writer turn your rough notes into a report a developer can act on.
Rectangle · Numbered steps · Blur · Text
Screenshot annotation tool
Paste a screenshot, point at the problem, send it. Arrows, boxes, text, numbered steps, highlights and blur, right in your browser, withArrows, text, steps and blur: no signup, nothing uploaded.
- 1 Paste with Ctrl+V or ⌘V, or capture your screen
- 2 Mark it up with single-key tools
- 3 Copy straight into the ticket
Built for the three jobs screenshots actually do
Design feedback
Circle spacing issues, highlight copy that needs changing and drop a label on each point, so the designer sees exactly what you mean without a call.
Ellipse · Highlighter · Labels
Tutorials and docs
Numbered badges, spotlight and a clean background frame turn a raw capture into a step in a help article or README.
Steps · Spotlight · Frame
Private by design, fast because of it
Most online editors upload your image first, and screenshots are full of things you shouldn’t upload: customer data, internal URLs, access tokens. AnnotateFast opens the image straight into a canvas in your tab. Drawing, blurring and exporting all happen on your device, which is also why it opens instantly and works on a slow connection.
Blurred and pixelated areas are baked into the exported pixels. For secrets, use Redact: our blur guide shows interactively why pixelated text can sometimes be recovered.
Your colour, size and export settings are remembered in this browser (localStorage) so the next screenshot is one paste away. Clear them any time on the privacy page.
Keyboard shortcuts
- V
- Select, move, resize
- A
- Arrow
- R
- Rectangle
- E
- Ellipse
- L
- Line
- T
- Text
- N
- Numbered step
- P
- Pen
- H
- Highlighter
- S
- Spotlight
- B
- Blur
- X
- Pixelate
- D
- Redact
- C
- Crop
- Ctrl/⌘ Z
- Undo
- Ctrl/⌘ Shift Z
- Redo
- Ctrl/⌘ C
- Copy image
- Ctrl/⌘ S
- Download
- Shift + drag
- Snap to 45° / square
- Delete
- Remove selected mark
What makes a good annotated screenshot
- One idea per image. If a screenshot needs five arrows, it’s probably three screenshots.
- Crop to context. Keep enough surroundings to orient the reader (a heading, the nav), drop the rest.
- Use a colour the UI doesn’t. Magenta rarely appears in interfaces, which is why it’s our default. Keep the white outline on so it survives dark mode.
- Order with numbers, not arrows. Numbered steps make sequences unambiguous and are easy to reference in text (“at step 3…”).
- Hide what isn’t yours to share. Emails, names, tokens and internal hostnames.
The full walkthrough, including the built-in tools on Mac and Windows, is in how to annotate a screenshot. Marking up a photo or diagram rather than a screen? Use the image annotation page, or the image highlighter for text in pictures. Comparing apps? See our honest Snagit, Lightshot and Greenshot comparison.
Questions people ask
Is AnnotateFast really free with no signup?
Yes. There is no account, no trial and no watermark. The editor is a web page that runs in your browser, so there’s nothing to sign up for.
Are my screenshots uploaded?
No. Images are opened and exported entirely in your browser using the HTML canvas. They are never sent to a server. The only optional server call is the AI bug-report writer, and it only sends what you choose to send.
How do I paste a screenshot?
Take the screenshot to your clipboard (Windows: Win+Shift+S; Mac: ⌘+Ctrl+Shift+4), then press Ctrl+V or ⌘+V on this page.
What annotation tools are included?
Arrows, rectangles, ellipses, lines, text and labels, numbered steps, a freehand pen, a highlighter, spotlight, blur, pixelate, solid redaction and crop, plus a background and frame for presentation screenshots.
Can I edit marks after drawing them?
Yes. With the Select tool (V) you can move marks, drag end points and corners, change colour and size, or delete them. Undo and redo keep up to 100 steps.
What formats can I export?
PNG (lossless, keeps full resolution) or JPG (smaller files). You can also copy the finished image to the clipboard and paste it into Slack, Teams, Jira, Linear or GitHub.
Does it work on a phone or tablet?
Yes. Tap “Choose image” to pick a screenshot from your photos, then draw with your finger or a stylus. Page scrolling pauses while you draw on the image.
Is there a free screen annotation tool?
Yes. AnnotateFast is free with no account or watermark. On a desktop browser you can press “Capture screen” to grab a window, tab or monitor directly, or paste a screenshot you already took. Windows Snipping Tool and macOS Markup are also free but have no blur or numbered steps.
How do I annotate using the Snipping Tool?
Press Win+Shift+S, select an area, and click the notification to open Snipping Tool, which offers a pen, highlighter and (in recent Windows 11 builds) shapes. For blur, labels or step numbers, press Ctrl+V on this page instead; the snip is already on your clipboard.
Can I capture my screen from the browser?
In desktop Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Safari, “Capture screen” uses the browser’s screen-sharing prompt to take a single frame of the window, tab or screen you choose, then stops sharing immediately. Nothing is recorded or uploaded. Phones don’t support this, so use the phone’s screenshot button and “Choose image”.
Is it good for teams?
Because there are no accounts, anyone on the team can use it instantly, including contractors and clients. Consistent numbered steps, outlines and a shared colour make screenshots from different people look alike.