Desktop floating ball
Use PixPin's desktop floating ball to capture, pin dropped content, customize buttons, switch toolbar modes, hide it automatically, and reopen it.
After you install PixPin, a floating ball with the PixPin icon appears on your desktop. It gives you access without remembering shortcuts: click to take a screenshot, expand it for tools such as pinning and delayed screenshots, or drag images, text, or files onto it to pin them directly.
Screenshots and common tools
The floating ball works slightly differently on Windows and macOS:
| Action | Windows | macOS |
|---|---|---|
| Screenshot | Click the floating ball | Double-click the floating ball |
| Expand tool buttons | Hover over the floating ball | Click the floating ball; click again to collapse |
When expanded, a row of buttons appears beside the floating ball. Screenshot, Pin, and Delayed Screenshot appear directly by default. Click More for OCR, Long Screenshot, Record Screen, Translate, Document Recognition, Table Recognition, and Formula Recognition.
- Pin: pin the clipboard contents to your screen, just like the pin shortcut. See Pin basics.
- Delayed screenshot: by default, capture starts after a 3-second countdown, which you can cancel. Right-click the floating ball and select 5 or 10 seconds under Delayed Screenshot.
Drag to pin
- Drag contentDrag images, text, or files from a folder, webpage, or document.
- Drag onto the ballThe ball becomes a drop zone.
- Release the mouseContent is pinned according to its type.
Drag images, text, or files onto the floating ball. It becomes a Drop here to pin area; release the mouse to pin the content. PixPin creates a pin for the content type: image files become image pins, selected text becomes text pins, and multiple files become file pins.
On Windows, you cannot drop content onto the floating ball or toolbar while PixPin is running as administrator. To use drag and drop, turn off Run as administrator on the System settings page and restart with normal permissions.
Move and dock
Drag the floating ball to place it anywhere on the screen. It remembers its position and always keeps at least half of itself on the screen.
After the mouse has been away for 3 seconds, the floating ball fades. Near a screen edge, it also retracts partly into the edge to cover less content. Move the mouse back to restore it. Set the faded opacity under Idle Opacity in the context menu: Opaque, 80%, 50%, or 20%. The default is about 60%.
Icon mode and toolbar mode
- Icon ModeOnly the ball is visible; expand buttons when needed.
- Toolbar ModeButtons stay expanded; drag the left icon to move.
- Icon Mode: the default appearance. Only the floating ball is visible until you expand the buttons.
- Toolbar Mode: combines the floating ball and buttons into a toolbar that stays expanded, useful for frequent access. Drag the PixPin icon on its left to move the toolbar.
Right-click the floating ball or toolbar and select Toolbar Mode or Icon Mode to switch. You can also change Desktop tool Bar display on the System settings page.
Customize buttons
Right-click the floating ball and select Customize Buttons, or open More and click Adjust.
Choose where each tool appears: Always Show puts it beside the floating ball, More Tools puts it in More, and Always Hide hides it.
Drag tools to reorder them and click Confirm to save. Click Restore Defaults to restore the original layout.
Auto hide
Use the floating ball's context menu to choose when it hides automatically:
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
| Hide on Fullscreen | Hide when using another app full screen, such as watching videos or playing games. On by default on Windows; off by default on macOS |
| Hide on Screenshot | Hide during screenshots so the floating ball stays out of the captured image. On by default |
| Hide on Specified Programs | Hide when the active app is on the list. The number in parentheses is the number of apps; click to select or enter apps |
Close and reopen
Hover over the floating ball to reveal a close button at its corner. In toolbar mode, this button is at the toolbar's upper-right corner. Click it, or select Close in the context menu:
- Hide for Today: hide the floating ball for the rest of today. It reappears automatically the next day.
- Close Permanently: close the floating ball after confirmation.
To reopen it after closing it permanently, set Desktop tool Bar display to Floating ball mode or Toolbar Mode on the System settings page. Settings in the context menu opens the settings window directly.
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