Share a screenshot with the explanation attached
A screenshot shows what the screen looks like. A paste explains what you were doing when it broke. Most bug reports need both, and a paste can hold both: capture your screen or a window, attach it to the paste, and write the context underneath.
Capturing into a paste
- Open the editor at pastesite.com on a desktop browser.
- Click Capture screenshot. The browser asks which screen, window or tab to share — pick only what the reader needs to see.
- The frame is drawn to a canvas, scaled to at most 1280 pixels wide and encoded as JPEG. Nothing is uploaded until you create the paste.
- Paste the error text or the steps to reproduce into the editor as well, then create the paste.
- Send the link. The screenshot appears above the text for anyone who opens it.
Where capture works, and where it does not
| Browser | Screen capture | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Chrome / Edge on desktop | Yes | Screen, window or tab; audio is never requested |
| Firefox on desktop | Usually | Depends on the platform; a denied permission returns no image |
| Safari on macOS | Recent versions | Permission dialog wording differs; tab capture can be restricted |
| Mobile browsers | No | iOS and Android do not expose screen capture to pages; use the OS screenshot and a file host |
| Embedded webviews | No | In-app browsers usually block the permission |
If capture fails, the editor tells you instead of silently creating a paste without an image. The image is capped at about 500 KB of encoded data, so a 4K display is downscaled rather than rejected.
When a screenshot is the wrong choice
Images are not selectable text. If the reader needs to copy an error, search a stack trace, or diff two versions, a screenshot makes them retype it — and people retype wrong. Send the text and use the screenshot only for what text cannot express: a layout that overlaps, a dialog with an unusual state, a chart.
For terminal output, screenshots are almost always the wrong call: the text is right there, and the paste keeps it exact.
Screenshots and privacy
Look at the whole frame before capturing, not just the window you mean to show. Notification pop-ups, browser tabs with client names, bookmarks, and a second monitor with a chat window are all in scope if you share the full screen. Choose the specific window or tab, and crop mentally before you click.
Frequently asked questions
Is the screenshot uploaded when I capture it?
No. The capture stays in the browser as a data URL until you create the paste, and it is sent with the rest of the form.
What image format is used?
JPEG, encoded in the browser and downscaled to at most 1280 pixels wide. The server accepts PNG, JPEG, GIF and WebP data URLs and rejects anything else.
Why did capture fail on my phone?
Mobile browsers do not expose screen capture to web pages. Take a normal screenshot and use a file or image host, or paste the text instead.
Can I attach an existing image file?
Not as a general upload. The screenshot attachment is produced by the browser capture flow; other binaries belong on a file host.