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software
Helvety Screen Tools
Windows app for quick screenshots and a see-through drawing layer on top of your desktop.
Helvety Screen Tools
SoftwareApr 21, 2026Art by Ferdinand Hodler
Windows app for quick screenshots and a see-through drawing layer on top of your desktop.
About
Helvety Screen Tools is a small Windows desktop app for two jobs: grab a screenshot with a global hotkey, or draw on a transparent layer that sits above your desktop.
Distribution
Free and AGPL-3.0-licensed open source; releases live on GitHub. Use the Go to App button on this page to open GitHub Releases, choose the architecture that matches your machine, and download the ZIP.
Workflow highlights
- Frozen overlay selection with window snap or free regions.
- Shape primitives from arrows through ellipses plus freehand strokes.
- Separate hotkeys for capture versus Live Draw, with modifier ergonomics.
- Tray behavior, optional autostart on packaged builds, and quality tuning from Settings.
Documentation
Packaging modes, keyboard maps, and release notes stay in the project README so the latest details are always next to the source.
Installation
- Open GitHub Releases
Use the Go to App button on this page to open the Helvety Screen Tools GitHub Releases page.
- Download the ZIP asset
Choose the latest release and download the ZIP for your platform (for example win-x64 or win-arm64).
- Extract the archive
Extract the ZIP to a folder you keep on disk, then open that folder in File Explorer.
- Run the app
Start helvety.screentools.exe from the extracted folder and configure hotkeys in Settings if needed.
Access
Current Helvety products in this catalog are free to use with no paid tiers or subscriptions.
Features
- Global hotkey screenshot capture
- Frozen-screen selection overlay with window snapping
- Live Draw fullscreen annotation overlay
- Shape tools: arrows, lines, rectangles, circles, ellipses, and free draw
- Configurable hotkeys and shortcut modifiers
- System tray support with settings-driven behavior
- Free and AGPL-3.0-licensed open source
Requirements
- Windows 10 or Windows 11