Uploading

This page covers uploading recordings and screenshots with Screen Tools: connecting Google Drive and Dropbox, adding your own upload server, uploading, share links, following an upload, and what happens when one fails. For how uploads work inside the extension, see Upload Pipeline. For what's sent where, see Privacy.

Uploading works the same in Chrome and Firefox.

Destinations

Destination	Where files go	What Screen Tools can see
Google Drive	A Screen Tools folder in your Drive, made on the first upload.	Only files and folders it made itself (the drive.file scope).
Dropbox	Apps/Screen Tools in your Dropbox.	Only that folder.
Upload server	Wherever your server puts them.	Nothing: it only sends files to the server.

Files only leave your computer when you upload them. Your sign-ins and tokens stay on this computer, in the extension's storage.

Connecting Google Drive or Dropbox

Open Settings and find Connections. Each service shows whether it's connected and, once it is, the account.

1. Click Connect next to the service.
2. Your browser asks to let Screen Tools sign in and talk to that service. Screen Tools doesn't have these permissions until you connect, and asks for them only then.
3. Sign in and pick the account in the window that opens.

You can connect one account per service. Google Drive renews its sign-in in the background, and Dropbox keeps a refresh token. If a renewal fails, an upload stops with "Connect Google Drive again in Settings, then try again" (or Dropbox). Disconnect and connect again. The sign-in code is auth.ts.

A build made without the service's OAuth app ID shows "Not available in this build" in place of Connect. Building your own? See cloud connections.

Disconnect signs Screen Tools out of the service, forgets the account and gives back the permissions the service needed. Files you uploaded stay in Drive or Dropbox.

Adding an upload server

An upload server is your own server, or your team's, that hands out an upload address and a public link for each file. Under Upload servers in Connections, click Add upload server and fill in:

Field	What goes in it
Name	What the save dialog shows, such as "Team uploads".
Upload URL	The address that hands out upload links, from whoever runs the server. It starts with https:// or http://.
Access token (optional)	Only if the server asks for one. It stays on this computer.

Click Add server. Your browser asks to let Screen Tools talk to that server. Screen Tools then checks the server answers, and shows "Couldn't reach …" if it doesn't. The server can be on a private network or a VPN, as long as your computer can reach it.

Screen Tools warns you if you enter a token for an http:// URL, since the token travels unencrypted. Use https if you can.

Every upload to an upload server gets a public link, so there's no share link switch for it. Remove forgets the server and its token. Its past uploads stay listed as "Upload server", but they can't be retried.

Running a server? The upload server guide covers what it has to do. The code is upload-server.ts.

Uploading a recording

Click Save video after a recording, or on a recording in Latest videos. In the save dialog, pick a destination under Save to: This computer or any connected service or server. Then click Upload.

• The dialog remembers the last destination. If that service isn't connected any more, it goes back to This computer.
• If nothing is connected, the dialog links to Settings: "Connect a service or add an upload server in Settings".
• The file name you type is the name the file gets in the service. Dropbox adds a number if the name's taken.
• If you pick a smaller size, Screen Tools compresses the video first, then uploads the copy. The button says Compress and upload.

With Show save options off in Settings, Save video downloads straight away without the dialog, so turn it on to upload. Save a smaller copy on a large video opens the dialog either way.

A finished upload marks the recording saved. See Recording for the rest of the save dialog, and save-video.tsx.

Uploading a screenshot

Once a service or server is connected, an Upload button shows in two places:

• The screenshot editor's toolbar, between Copy and Download. It uploads the screenshot with your edits so far.
• The thumbnails on the Screenshots page, on hover.

The upload dialog shows Upload to when more than one destination is connected, and remembers your pick. If the remembered destination is no longer connected, it picks the first one that is. Click Upload.

Screenshots upload in the format picked next to Download, PNG or JPG, with the same screenshot-YYYY-MM-DD-HHMMSS name a download gets. A finished upload stores your edits and marks the screenshot saved, like a download does. See Screenshots and upload-dialog.tsx.

Share links

For Google Drive and Dropbox, Create a share link is on by default. With it on, Screen Tools makes a link anyone can open. With it off, the file stays private and you get a link that opens it for you. Screen Tools remembers the switch for next time.

Sometimes the service won't make a public link, for example when a Google Workspace admin blocks public sharing, or your Dropbox email address isn't verified. The file still uploads, and Screen Tools says why there's no link.

Following an upload

While a file uploads, the dialog shows how much has gone and a progress bar. Keep the window open until it's done: your browser asks before closing a window with an upload running. Stop cancels the upload and forgets it.

When it's done, an "Uploaded to …" message shows for 15 seconds with Copy link and Open.

Each recording and screenshot lists its uploads under Uploads: in the recorder after you stop, on the recording in Latest videos, and under the screenshot in the editor. Each row shows the destination, date and size, and then:

Status	What you see
Uploading	A progress bar and percentage.
Uploaded	The link, with Copy link (when there's a share link) and Open.
Failed	The error, with Retry.
Interrupted	"Stopped at N% when the window closed.", with Resume.

Deleting a recording or screenshot removes its upload list. The uploaded files stay in the service. The list is upload-list.tsx.

Failed and interrupted uploads

Screen Tools tries again by itself up to three times, waiting longer each time, when the network drops or the service is busy. Other errors, such as a refused token or a file too big for an upload server, stop straight away.

• Retry starts a failed upload again from the beginning.
• Resume carries on an upload that stopped because its window closed. Google Drive and Dropbox pick up from what they already have. Upload servers, and Dropbox files of 8 MB or less, start again from the beginning.

Screen Tools keeps a copy of anything it can't read again from the recording, such as a compressed copy or an edited screenshot, so Retry and Resume send the same file. The retry and resume code is upload.ts.