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Media Capture Editor
Navattic makes it easy to create demos of Desktop or Mobile native apps by uploading any screenshots, videos or GIFS you already have.

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Taking Media Captures

Follow these instructions for taking media captures across different platforms:
The Navattic Capture Extension can be used to Capture screenshots and video of any application that can be opened in a browser. When capturing with the extension, select Screenshot or Video.

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Desktop Capture

The Navattic Desktop app lets you capture screenshots of applications that can’t be opened in a browser, including native Windows and macOS apps. Download the app for your platform: After installing, open the app and sign in with your Navattic account. Choose a capture source:
  • Display: captures your full screen
  • Window: hover over a window to highlight it, then click to confirm your selection
  • Area: drag to define a capture region on your screen
  • Device: captures a connected iOS or Android device via a screen mirroring app
Then choose what the recording produces. Click the Capture type button next to the record button and pick one:
  • Clicks: a screenshot each time you click
  • Video: a recording of everything you do
Click Record clicks or Record video to start. Recording begins after a three-second countdown, and clicking anywhere skips the countdown. Click through your application, then click Stop recording in the floating toolbar. Your captures are automatically saved to a new project in your Navattic workspace.

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Record video in the Desktop app

Video recording is available for the Display and Window sources. On the Area and Device sources the Video capture type is unavailable, so those sources record clicks only. The floating toolbar shows how long you have been recording, along with four controls:
  • Stop recording: ends the recording and saves it
  • Pause and Resume: hold the recording and pick it back up, without splitting it into two captures
  • Restart recording: discards what you have recorded so far and starts the same session over
  • Discard recording: throws the recording away and returns to the start screen
The finished recording is saved as a video capture named with the date and time it was taken. To cut the parts you do not need, open the capture and use the Video Editor.
Desktop app recordings capture your screen only. They do not record sound.

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Recovering missing captures

If a capture session fails to start, screenshots and recordings may be saved to a temporary folder without being uploaded. You can recover these files from the app’s Troubleshooting screen.
1

Open Settings

In the Desktop app, click the settings icon to open Settings.
2

Open Troubleshooting

Click Troubleshooting at the bottom of the Settings screen.
3

Recover your captures

The Recover missing captures tool shows how many files are waiting. Click Recover to upload them.
4

View your demo

If recovery succeeds, the captures open automatically in your browser as a new demo.
Click the refresh icon next to the file count to re-check for missing captures at any time.

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Edit Media Captures

Media Captures can be edited to tell the perfect story for your demo. Open a Media Capture and click Edit to open the Media Capture Editor. The Media Capture Editor gives you controls for editing any of the following:
Display your demo inside a realistic Device frame, such as a Mobile, Desktop, or Tablet, to match the application’s platform. This helps visitors imagine using your product on their own device and adds visual polish. You can also switch orientations and device types to best suit the flow of your demo.
See how Mobile Device Frames look in action by viewing Calm’s demo.
For the best results, use images that match the aspect ratio of the device frame you plan to use. Images that don’t match will either be letterboxed or require scrolling.Mobile frames (portrait)Tablet frames (portrait)Desktop frames
The plain Mobile, Tablet, and Desktop shadow frames scale to fill the available space and don’t require a specific aspect ratio.

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Video Editor

For video captures, Navattic includes a built-in Video Editor. It lets you trim and crop your footage before it’s added to your demo, no external tools required.
Video Editor
To open the Video Editor, open a video capture and click Edit, or upload a video file and click Edit before finalizing the upload. You can trim and crop in any order, then save when you’re ready.

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Trim

Trimming lets you cut out the beginning or end of a video so your demo starts and ends exactly where you want. The timeline at the bottom of the editor shows your full video as a strip of frames, with a ruler of timestamps above it. Use the blue trim handles on either end of the strip to set your trim points. Everything outside the handles is left out of the demo, and the kept range stays outlined in blue. Use these controls to navigate and fine-tune your trim:
  • Play/Pause — Preview your video to find the right cut points
  • Volume — Set the preview volume while you work
  • Zoom slider — Zoom the timeline up to 8x for more precise control over short clips
The red playhead shows where the video is currently playing. Click anywhere on the timeline to move the playhead to that moment.

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Remove a section

Removing a section cuts a stretch out of the middle of a video. Drop a slow page load or a wrong turn without re-recording.
1

Select the section

Drag across the timeline to select the stretch you want to cut.
2

Remove it

Click Remove on the selection, or the button in the playback controls. The removed stretch turns gray on the timeline and is skipped during playback.
3

Change your mind

Click a removed stretch to select it, then press Delete or Backspace to bring that footage back.
Trimming and removing sections aren’t available for videos over 250MB. You can still play and scrub a video that large.

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Crop

Cropping lets you define a specific region of the video frame to keep, removing any surrounding areas you don’t want to show. To enter crop mode, click the Crop button in the playback controls. A crop overlay with drag handles will appear over the video preview. Drag the handles to adjust the crop area. The current dimensions are shown in pixels as you resize. Use the aspect ratio dropdown to constrain your crop to a common format: When you’re satisfied with the crop area, click Apply to confirm. To exit crop mode without making changes, click Discard.

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Saving your edits

Once you’ve finished trimming, removing sections, and cropping, click Save to apply your edits. The edited video replaces the original and is ready to use in your demo.
Your trim, removed sections, and crop are applied together when you save. You can adjust any of them at any point before clicking Save.

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Video capture controls

Video captures can be a good option for showcasing dynamic content, such as animations or user interactions like drag-and-drop. To control the following settings, select Video options from the Capture dropdown in the Demo Builder. You can also select Advanced on a Video capture in the Flow builder:
Autoplay your video capture when a viewer lands on the step. This creates a smooth, immediate viewing experience without requiring the user to click play.
If the video capture is on the first step, audio will not play until the visitor has interacted with the demo (such as clicking or scrolling) due to browser restrictions.

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Example Media capture demos

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Slack Mobile App Demo

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SwipedOn Employee App

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Duolingo

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FAQ

Navattic includes mobile, tablet, and desktop borders for Apple and non-Apple devices. Adding a device border helps end users best visualize your desktop or mobile application. Learn more about’ ’ adding a device border to a media capture.
Yes, to add a PDF to your demo, you’ll have to convert the file to a .PNG or .JPEG file before uploading it as a Media Capture. We recommend using this free online converter: https://www.freeconvert.com/pdf-converter/download.Watch a 1-minute tutorial on converting and uploading PDFs in Navattic.
Using device mode in Google Chrome paired with a tool like this , you are able to take screenshots that better fit with the device borders.
Yes. Open a media capture and click Edit to open the Media Capture Editor. The Edit tab gives you blur, crop, and draw tools to clean up and annotate your capture. For video captures, use the built-in Video Editor to trim and crop footage.
Follow these guidelines to get the best results when uploading images or videos to Navattic:ResolutionUse images with a width of at least 1200px. Images narrower than this will appear blurry at full size. For retina or high-DPI screens, aim for 2x your target display size (e.g., 2400px wide for a 1200px display slot).Aspect ratioMatch your image’s aspect ratio to the device frame you plan to use. Mismatched ratios result in letterboxing (black bars) or require visitors to scroll. Common ratios by device type:An easy way to export at the right ratio is to create a Google Slides deck set to the target dimensions and place your screenshots in each slide, then export as PNG.VideoFor video uploads, use MP4 or WebM format. The built-in Video Editor lets you trim and crop footage after uploading, so you can clean up extra content without needing an external tool.
Match your image’s aspect ratio to the device frame before uploading. For example, the Desktop border uses a 3:2 ratio. Screenshots that don’t match this ratio will require scrolling inside the frame.One approach: create a Google Slides deck set to the same ratio as your target device border, add your screenshots to each slide, and export as PNG. See the FAQ above for a full list of aspect ratios by device type.