---
title: "Getting started"
description: "Install Bigshot, allow Screen Recording, pick your screenshot keys, take a first screenshot, try the island, and find Bigshot in the notch and the menu bar."
url: https://www.bigshot.pics/getting-started
---
# Getting started

The Setup Guide takes you through these steps the first time you open Bigshot. It takes about a minute.

[Download for macOS](https://www.bigshot.pics/api/download)macOS 14+ · Apple silicon

## Install

Open the disk image, drag Bigshot into Applications, and open it from there. The Setup Guide opens on its own and lists its steps down the side. Each one is ticked off when Bigshot sees it done.

![The Setup Guide's first page: seven steps down the left, the island dropping out of the notch above the heading, and Capture, Code Lens and Inline Agent below it.](https://www.bigshot.pics/_next/image?url=%2Fscreenshots%2Fsetup-guide-welcome.webp&w=3840&q=75&dpl=dpl_6ojew8aijpffbAADhkDfnsq4QGyT)

## Allow Screen Recording

Bigshot needs Screen Recording to take screenshots. Open System Settings from the guide and switch Bigshot on in the Screen Recording list under Privacy & Security. The guide notices the moment you do. If it keeps waiting, choose Quit & Reopen: macOS only gives the permission to a fresh copy of the app, and the guide picks up on the next step.

![The Screen Recording page of the Setup Guide: a drawing of System Settings with Bigshot's switch being turned on, and an Open System Settings button.](https://www.bigshot.pics/_next/image?url=%2Fscreenshots%2Fsetup-guide-permission.webp&w=3840&q=75&dpl=dpl_6ojew8aijpffbAADhkDfnsq4QGyT)

## Pick your screenshot keys

Use ⇧⌘3 and ⇧⌘4, and Bigshot turns the macOS screenshot keys off for you; ⇧⌘5 stays with macOS. Or keep the macOS tool and use Bigshot's own keys, such as ⌃⌥A for an area. Press the key while the page is open and the guide shows that Bigshot heard it.

![The screenshot keys page: the keys ⇧, ⌘ and 4 lit up, the choice between ⇧⌘3 and ⇧⌘4 or Bigshot's own keys, and the line Bigshot heard ⇧⌘4.](https://www.bigshot.pics/_next/image?url=%2Fscreenshots%2Fsetup-guide-keys.webp&w=3840&q=75&dpl=dpl_6ojew8aijpffbAADhkDfnsq4QGyT)

## Take a screenshot

Press the key and drag over part of the screen, or click Capture an Area in the guide. The screenshot is saved to your Desktop, copied to the clipboard, and kept in the island. The guide shows it as soon as it lands.

![The first screenshot page after a capture: the screenshot itself, then Saved to Desktop, Copied to the clipboard, and Kept in the island.](https://www.bigshot.pics/_next/image?url=%2Fscreenshots%2Fsetup-guide-capture.webp&w=3840&q=75&dpl=dpl_6ojew8aijpffbAADhkDfnsq4QGyT)

## Try the island

Bigshot hangs from the notch at the top of the screen, or from the middle of the menu bar on a display without one. Hover it to see your latest screenshots, hold the camera to choose a capture mode, and click it to open everything. The guide ticks each one off as you do it.

![The island page: a drawing of the notch with Bigshot is here under it, and three ticked steps, Hover the notch, Hold the camera and Click the notch.](https://www.bigshot.pics/_next/image?url=%2Fscreenshots%2Fsetup-guide-island.webp&w=3840&q=75&dpl=dpl_6ojew8aijpffbAADhkDfnsq4QGyT)

## Find Bigshot later

Bigshot has no Dock icon and no window. It runs in the background, in the notch and in the menu bar. The last page of the guide dims the screen for a few seconds around both. If you cannot see the menu-bar icon, a full menu bar may be hiding it behind the notch, or it may be switched off in System Settings › Menu Bar. The island is still there.

![The last page of the Setup Guide, Where Bigshot lives: the top of a screen with the island in the notch and Bigshot's menu-bar icon each ringed and named.](https://www.bigshot.pics/_next/image?url=%2Fscreenshots%2Fsetup-guide-home.webp&w=3840&q=75&dpl=dpl_6ojew8aijpffbAADhkDfnsq4QGyT)

## Open the guide again

Choose Setup Guide… from Bigshot's menu-bar icon, or open Settings › General. Everything else is in the [user guide](https://www.bigshot.pics/docs), and fixes for common problems are in [Troubleshooting](https://www.bigshot.pics/docs/troubleshooting).