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Hotkeys

ShotX supports configurable global keyboard shortcuts for common actions.

Configuring Hotkeys

Via Settings Dialog

  1. Open Main Window → Settings → Hotkey Settings
  2. Click the key field next to the action
  3. Press the desired key combination
  4. Click Save

Via settings.yaml

Edit ~/.config/shotx/settings.yaml:

hotkeys:
    capture_fullscreen: "Print"
    capture_region: "Alt+Shift+X"
    capture_window: ""
    capture_ocr: "Alt+Shift+O"
    capture_color_picker: "Alt+Shift+Q"
    capture_ruler: ""
    capture_qr_scan: ""
    pin_region: ""

Available Hotkeys

Action Default Description
Fullscreen Capture (none) Capture entire screen
Region Capture Alt+Shift+X Select and capture a region
Window Capture (none) Capture a window
OCR (none) Extract text from screen region
Color Picker Alt+Shift+Q Pick a color from screen
Ruler (none) Measure pixel distances
QR Scan (screen) (none) Scan QR code from screen region
Pin Region (none) Capture region and pin as floating window

Key Format

Use Qt-style key names separated by +:

  • Modifiers: Ctrl, Alt, Shift, Meta (Super/Win key)
  • Keys: A-Z, F1-F12, Print, Home, End, etc.

Examples: Alt+Shift+X, Ctrl+Print, F5

Wayland Limitation

On Wayland, applications cannot globally intercept keyboard shortcuts due to security isolation. Hotkeys only work when the ShotX window/tray is focused.

Workaround: Configure your desktop environment to run ShotX CLI commands as custom keyboard shortcuts:

Desktop Where to configure
GNOME Settings → Keyboard → Custom Shortcuts
KDE Plasma System Settings → Shortcuts → Custom Shortcuts
Sway ~/.config/sway/config: bindsym Print exec shotx --capture-fullscreen
Hyprland ~/.config/hypr/hyprland.conf: bind = , Print, exec, shotx --capture-region