How to draw on your Mac screen with Lasso
Lasso is a screen annotation app for Mac. Press Option–Shift–A (⌥⇧A) to draw over the app you are using, then press Escape to clear the drawing. Use it to explain a design, teach a lesson, present a demo or mark up a screenshot without opening an editor first.
Install Lasso on your Mac
Lasso runs on macOS 14 Sonoma or later, on Apple silicon and Intel Macs. It costs $4.99 USD including tax, paid once for lifetime app access. There is no subscription, account, license key or activation.
- Buy Lasso from this website. After checkout, download the disk image from your purchase page.
- Open the disk image, drag Lasso to Applications, then open Lasso. Its icon appears in the menu bar.
- Press ⌥⇧A to start drawing. You can change this shortcut in Settings → Shortcuts.
Circle, highlight and point at anything on screen
Choose a tool from the floating toolbar or press its key while drawing. Your marks sit over the apps on your screen. You can draw over a browser, slides, code or a document without changing the original file.
| Action | Key while drawing |
|---|---|
| Pen | P |
| Highlighter | H |
| Arrow | A |
| Rectangle | R |
| Text | T |
| Numbered steps | C |
| Blur | B |
| Laser pointer | F |
| Eraser | E |
| Undo | ⌘Z |
| Clear and finish | Escape |
Take an annotated screenshot
Screenshots and blur need macOS Screen Recording permission because they read screen pixels. Drawing alone needs no permission. A Share Link encrypts your screenshot on your Mac and lets anyone with the full link open it in a browser for 24 hours.
- Draw your arrows, circles or numbered steps on the live screen.
- Press S to capture the display, or Shift–S (⇧S) to select an area. The screenshot includes your marks and omits the toolbar.
- Use the screenshot card to copy, save or drag the image into another app. Click the card to crop it or edit its annotations.
Keep drawing on an endless whiteboard
Press W for a whiteboard or K for a blackboard while drawing. Scroll with two fingers to move around, pinch to zoom, and press Shift–1 (⇧1) to fit the drawing in view. Use the page tabs or arrow keys to return to your other pages. Pin a drawing when you want to keep the marks visible while clicking through to the apps underneath.