Bug 490483

Summary:	[Feature Request] Open straight into edit mode in fullscreen
Product:	[Applications] Spectacle	Reporter:	J D <privat>
Component:	General	Assignee:	Noah Davis <noahadvs>
Status:	RESOLVED FIXED
Severity:	wishlist	CC:	dajomu1, kde, nate
Priority:	NOR
Version First Reported In:	unspecified
Target Milestone:	---
Platform:	Manjaro
OS:	Linux
Latest Commit:		Version Fixed/Implemented In:
Sentry Crash Report:

Description J D 2024-07-19 09:18:01 UTC

SUMMARY
I'd like to be able to open Spectacle from the command line straight into its editing mode in fullscreen, without having to manually go into the edit mode and maximizing Spectacle.
There does not seem to be any command line argument to achieve this at the moment.

My current workaround is to take a screenshot with Spectacle in the background and then open that created file in an editor (eg. "spectacle -a -b -n -o bla.png && krita --nosplash bla.png"). This command I have laid on a shortcut so I can trigger it easily on a single button press and can get right into annotation.
While this works, Krita is certainly overkill for quick screenshot annotation.
You can get closer to the desired result with this: "spectacle -a -b -n -o bla.png && spectacle -E bla.png", however this will open Spectacle in some default size and not maximized.

Something like this would be nice "spectacle -a --maximized --edit_mode".  
Or maybe instead of "--edit_mode" allow the "-E" argument to not load an existing file, instead using whatever screenshot was taken by the other arguments.

Comment 1 dajomu 2025-01-22 15:11:34 UTC

I would really like to be able to configure Spectacle to automatically launch a screenshot directly into the editor as well.

Comment 2 Noah Davis 2025-01-22 21:25:26 UTC

Is your request only for CLI or do you also need a way to do this for the GUI?

> Or maybe instead of "--edit_mode" allow the "-E" argument to not load an existing file, instead using whatever screenshot was taken by the other arguments.

That sounds like a good idea. Maybe I'll also shorten --edit-existing to --edit to make the name more generic. I'll probably leave --edit-existing available as a deprecated command for a while if I do that.

Comment 3 J D 2025-01-24 05:57:34 UTC

(In reply to Noah Davis from comment #2)
> Is your request only for CLI or do you also need a way to do this for the
> GUI?
> 
For me, it's mostly about the CLI so I can put it on a shortcut.  
But of course, UI functionality that goes immediately into editing mode after taking a screenshot would not be a bad idea, either.  
Maybe an additional checkbox in the "Screenshot settings" section below the "Take a new screenshot" buttons?

> Maybe I'll also shorten --edit-existing to --edit to make the name more generic. I'll probably leave --edit-existing
> available as a deprecated command for a while if I do that.
Sounds good to me.

Comment 4 Nate Graham 2025-10-30 20:45:21 UTC

That's basically what it does now; it launches into a fullscreen view in which you can start editing what's on the screen immediately.

If what you're really looking for is a way to use the annotations feature foe general image editing, you might be happy to hear that it was just added to Koko (a potential replacement for Gwenview in the future).