Kovadh Help Center

Open the Capture Hub

1. Open Kovadh from Applications.
2. Open the Capture Hub from the Kovadh menu-bar item or its app window.
3. Choose Screenshot, Recording, or Tools in the section picker.
4. Select an action from the options menu when you need a different target or mode.
5. Capture your content, then open it from Recent Captures or Recent Recordings to edit it.

Screenshot is Kovadh's primary Capture action. The primary Capture button in the Hub and image-editor toolbar always uses the saved screenshot action. Use the Recording section when you want to start a recording.

The Capture Hub footer includes Settings…, Help, and Open File. Open File imports an image, movie, or audio file you select. Images open in the image editor. Movies and audio open as local recording projects.

When permissions are requested

Kovadh requests permission only when you select a feature that needs it. If a feature needs access, Kovadh explains why and offers a direct route to the matching macOS settings page.

Change one permission

1. In the Capture Hub, choose Settings….
2. Open the Permissions section.
3. Select Change… beside the permission.
4. In System Settings > Privacy & Security, enable Kovadh.
5. Return to Kovadh and repeat the action you were taking.

Set up all outstanding permissions

Choose Set Up All Permissions in the Capture Hub or Settings. Kovadh opens the first unresolved Privacy & Security pane directly. macOS grants each permission separately, so return to Kovadh and repeat the action for any remaining permission.

What each permission is for

Screen Recording is required for screen capture. Microphone and Camera are optional. Enabling one of them does not start recording by itself.

If you change access while Kovadh is open, return to the relevant Hub section and retry. You may need to select the display, region, or window again.

Choose a screenshot target

Open Screenshot in the Capture Hub. The options menu lets you select an available capture target, including a display, a selected area, or a window.

Capture a display or window

1. Choose the display or window mode from the Screenshot options menu.
2. Click the primary Capture action.
3. Select the display or window if Kovadh asks for a target.
4. Open the completed item from Recent Captures to edit, copy, save, show, or delete it.

Capture a selected area

1. Choose the area mode from the Screenshot options menu.
2. Click the primary Capture action.
3. Drag to select the part of the screen to capture.
4. Confirm the selection to capture it, or press Escape to cancel.

The selection controls close before Kovadh takes the image, so they are not included in the screenshot.

Use Recent Captures

Recent Captures shows the newest screenshots in a fixed gallery of up to three rows. Each row contains seven fixed-size thumbnails. The Capture Hub grows to show the second and third rows; the gallery does not scroll. Use the visible thumbnail actions to edit, show in Finder, copy, save, or delete a managed recent capture.

By default, completed screenshots are stored as flattened PNG files in:

~/Pictures/Kovadh/Recent Captures

Use Open Recent Captures Folder to browse saved files outside the Hub. Deleting a Recent Captures item removes its managed PNG and its recent-item entry. It does not delete a separate editable project or a History item.

Open an image to edit

Open an image by selecting a recent capture, choosing Edit, or using Open File. Kovadh edits images non-destructively: your source image remains unchanged while the project retains the editing decisions.

Common image-editing workflow

1. Use the tool rail and toolbar to crop, resize, rotate, flip, annotate, or adjust the image.
2. Add arrows, shapes, text, drawing, highlights, magnifiers, blur, pixelation, or other markup when needed.
3. Use the Photo controls for image adjustments such as colour, exposure, tone, detail, and locally applied adjustments.
4. Review the result with the editor's before/after controls when available.
5. Save the editable project or export a flattened image.

Save an editable image project

• Save updates the current editable project package.
• Save As… creates a separate editable project package at a location you choose.

Saving a project is separate from exporting an image. A saved project keeps the edits editable; an export creates the output image file.

Use Secure Redact for sensitive information

Use Secure Redact when the exported image must not contain the covered content. Secure Redact removes the covered pixels when Kovadh materializes the exported file.

Blur, Pixelate, highlights, ordinary shapes, and covers are visual effects. They do not remove the underlying information and are not a substitute for Secure Redact.

Before sharing a sensitive image:

1. Check that every sensitive area uses Secure Redact.
2. Export a flattened image.
3. Review the exported artifact and its destination before sharing it.

Choose a recording mode

Open Recording in the Capture Hub. Choose the recording mode that matches what you want to capture:

Start a recording

1. Open the Recording section and choose a mode.
2. Select a display, draw a region, or select a window when asked.
3. Review the recording configuration, including optional microphone, system audio, and camera choices.
4. Choose Start Recording.
5. Use the countdown to prepare. Select Cancel or press Escape if you do not want to start.

Kovadh checks access, the selected target, optional inputs, and the destination before recording begins. If the target becomes unavailable, select it again.

Use recording controls

While recording, Kovadh keeps recording controls visible. Depending on the selected configuration, they show elapsed time, Stop and Save, pause and resume, microphone state, camera state and position, live annotation controls, and recording markers.

Use Stop & Save to finish and finalize the recording. Do not close Kovadh while finalization is in progress.

Completed recording projects are stored locally by default in:

~/Movies/Kovadh/Recordings

The Recording section shows recent recordings and includes an action to open that folder.

Open a local recording project

Open a completed recording from Recent Recordings, or choose Open File to start a local project from a movie or audio file.

The recording editor keeps media and edit decisions separate. Timeline edits, privacy masks, audio choices, captions, and presentation settings do not change the source recording.

Basic timeline editing

1. Move the playhead to review the recording.
2. Use Mark In and Mark Out to select a range, or select clips in the timeline.
3. Choose Trim, Split, Delete and Close Gap, or Delete and Leave Gap to change the sequence.
4. Use Join decisions, Duplicate decisions, or compound clips to organize longer edits.
5. Add transitions, fades, overlays, media, narration, or music when needed.

Video, audio, captions, and presentation

The recording editor provides controls for the project features that apply to your media, including:

• screen and camera layout, framing, crop, canvas ratio, and background
• separate system-audio, microphone, camera, music, and narration decisions
• audio level, mute, fade, and voice-clarity controls
• captions and caption export when supported by the selected output
• metadata inspection
• timeline markers and chapter-copy controls
• presentation variants for different output layouts

Preview mode can use the original media or a performance-oriented local preview. Export uses the original media rather than a disposable preview.

Redact video safely

Use a privacy mask for a visual area that needs treatment over time. A mask can be positioned, resized, rotated, keyframed, and tracked. Cosmetic blur or pixelation does not provide secure redaction.

For sensitive material, convert the mask to Secure Redact and create a secure flattened export. Review the entire selected range, including any audio, captions, camera material, and metadata choices before sending it elsewhere.

Save an editable recording project

• Save updates the current recording project.
• Save As… creates a complete independent project package at a location you choose.

Save keeps the project editable. It does not create a finished movie file.

Choose an export and destination

Use Export… to create an image, video, audio, or animated GIF output from the current project. Kovadh shows the available options for the current media, such as format, quality, size, selected range, audio, captions, camera layout, and metadata handling.

Choose a destination explicitly. If a file already exists at that destination, Kovadh asks before replacing it.

Safe exports and sharing

Use Share Safe Export… when you want Kovadh to prepare a reviewed, flattened artifact for sharing. Review the exact output and destination before you send it.

Kovadh does not automatically upload, message, or share captures. A transfer starts only after you explicitly select an export, share destination, or integration action.

Keep content local

Kovadh keeps capture and project workflows local to your Mac.

• Screen content, recordings, OCR text, captions, and project content do not enter logs, analytics, diagnostics, or crash payloads.
• Search, OCR indexing, and caption indexing stay local when enabled.
• Camera and microphone are used only after you select a feature that needs them.
• You control History, retention, local storage limits, and deletion in Settings.

Use Private Mode

Use Private Mode when you do not want Kovadh to create new Recent Captures bookkeeping, thumbnails, history entries, or OCR indexing for a capture.

Delete local content

Deleting an item removes Kovadh-managed local files and references for that item. It cannot delete copies you exported, shared, moved to another location, or included in a backup.

Navigate with keyboard and VoiceOver

Kovadh supports keyboard navigation and VoiceOver.

• Tab moves between controls.
• Return activates the focused control.
• Escape cancels a target picker, region selection, or recording countdown.
• Command–Shift–S starts the default screenshot action.
• The image editor also keeps a Screenshot-first Capture action in its toolbar.

Important recording state, elapsed time, microphone state, camera state, and audio indicators have text and spoken descriptions. Kovadh does not rely on colour, animation, or waveform shape as the sole source of status information.

What is included with each plan?

Kovadh Free is available indefinitely and includes screenshot capture, editing, history, export, Secure Redaction, Safe Share, and privacy verification.

Kovadh Pro adds recording, camera recording, local analysis, Documentation Builder, automation, and integrations. The introductory price is £14.99 for the first year, then £24.99 per year; it renews automatically unless cancelled. The purchase screen in Kovadh shows the price available to your App Store account before you confirm a purchase.

Manage or cancel an App Store subscription in your Apple Account subscription settings. If Pro ends, the Free features remain available.

Kovadh says it needs permission

Open Capture Hub > Settings… > Permissions, choose Change… beside the listed permission, enable Kovadh in System Settings, return to Kovadh, and retry the feature.

I cannot select or capture a window

The selected window may have closed, changed identity, moved to another display, or become unavailable. Start the capture again and select the window again.

I cannot see an expected recording input

Check that the input is connected and available to macOS. For microphone or camera input, confirm its permission in Kovadh Settings and System Settings. Then reopen the Recording section and retry the configuration.

I need to recover an interrupted recording

If Kovadh detects an interrupted local recording session, it shows a recovery window. Choose Inspect to review its state, Recover & Edit when a recoverable recording is available, or Delete to remove the local recovery entry. Kovadh does not auto-play or upload recovered content.

I cannot export in the format I expected

The available recording formats depend on the current media, macOS, installed system encoders, and selected project options. Choose one of the formats shown in the Export sheet, or adjust the selected output settings.

Contact Byldya support

Before contacting support, collect:

• your Kovadh version
• your macOS version
• the actions that led to the issue
• the exact wording of any message shown by Kovadh
• whether the issue concerns capture, recording, editing, export, permissions, or a purchase

Do not send screenshots, recordings, project packages, passwords, access tokens, or other sensitive content unless Byldya support asks for a specific file and you have reviewed it first.

Contact Byldya at support@byldya.com. For more information, see the Byldya Privacy Policy.