The global shortcut isn't working
The default shortcut is ⌥Space. If pressing it does nothing, something else on your Mac has almost certainly claimed that combination.
Test it first
Settings → Shortcut has a Test button. Press it, then press your shortcut.
- “Shortcut received successfully” — the shortcut works and the problem is elsewhere. Skip to It works in Settings but not in other apps below.
- Nothing happens — another application owns the combination. Continue.
Find what’s taking it
⌥Space is popular. Common claimants:
- Spotlight or another launcher — Raycast, Alfred and LaunchBar all offer it
- Alfred’s snippet or clipboard viewer
- Input source switching — System Settings → Keyboard → Keyboard Shortcuts → Input Sources
- Rectangle, Moom or another window manager
Screenshot Inbox registers its shortcut exclusively and reports a failure rather than silently doing nothing — so if registration failed, Settings → Shortcut will say so and offer an alternative such as ⌃⇧S.
Choose a different one
Settings → Shortcut → click the shortcut field → press the combination you want.
The app rejects combinations macOS reserves, and warns when the one you picked is already taken. Restore Default puts ⌥Space back.
Combinations that are usually free: ⌃⇧S, ⌥⇧Space, ⌃⌥S.
It works in Settings but not in other apps
If the test succeeds but the overlay doesn’t appear over a specific application, that app is capturing the keystroke before macOS passes it on. Full-screen games and remote-desktop clients do this routinely.
Pick a shortcut that application doesn’t use.
The overlay opens but immediately closes
The overlay dismisses on Escape or when you click outside it. If it closes on its own, something is stealing focus — most often a notification or another menu-bar app opening a panel at the same moment.
If it happens consistently, tell me which app is in the foreground when it does.
After an update, it stopped
Quit and reopen the app. The shortcut is registered at launch, and an interrupted launch can leave it unregistered. If it persists past a restart, that’s a bug — please report it.
Didn't answer it? Write tosupport@screenshotinbox.com — one person reads it, and questions that land here twice become a new page.