Record a window
Record a window when only one app matters. The movie is that window alone, at its own size, with nothing else on your screen in it.
- Menu
- File ▸ New Recording…
- Keys
- ⌥⌘N
- Where
- New Recording panel ▸ Source ▸ Window…
- Needs
- The Screen Recording permission.
- Agent tools
record_screen
Record a window
Section titled “Record a window”-
Open the recorder panel with ⌥⌘N.
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Choose Window… in Source. macOS’s window picker opens.
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Click the window you want. Source now reads Window (picked), and the note under Size reads “the picked window’s own size”.
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Press Record. After a 3, 2, 1 countdown recording starts and the panel leaves the screen. The first time, macOS asks for the Screen Recording permission instead, and you relaunch Frame Job after turning it on. See Recording permissions.
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Stop with the menu-bar item or ⌥⌘N.
Size and Rate work as they do for a display: Nominal (points) records the window at its point size, and Best (pixels) at every pixel.
If the window closes while you’re recording, see When a recording stops on its own.
Pick a different window
Section titled “Pick a different window”Choose Window (picked) again to open the picker and pick another window.
Choosing any other row in Source drops the pick. A pick lasts until you quit: close and reopen the panel and it’s still there, but it’s never remembered between launches.
If you cancel the picker
Section titled “If you cancel the picker”Cancel the picker and Source goes back to the display you used last, or the main display. That’s also true when you’ve already picked a window and choose the row again, so the earlier pick is gone.
If the picker can’t open at all, Source goes back the same way and the panel reads “The window picker could not open: …” with the reason.
Which windows the picker lists
Section titled “Which windows the picker lists”The picker lists other apps’ windows. Frame Job’s own windows depend on Include Frame Job windows:
| Box | The picker lists |
|---|---|
| Off | None of Frame Job’s windows |
| On | Frame Job’s windows, but never the recorder panel |
The box only changes the next time the picker opens. A window you’ve already picked stays picked.
Record needs a picked window
Section titled “Record needs a picked window”If you press Record while the row still reads Window…, with nothing picked, the panel says “Choose a window with Window… first, or pick a display.” No countdown starts, so nothing wrong gets recorded.
With an agent
Section titled “With an agent”An agent doesn’t use the picker. It names a window by its system window id, and if Frame Job can’t record that window the call stops with an error. It can’t name a window and a display at once, and include_framejob_windows changes nothing for a window. See Record with record_screen.