Bug 506054

Summary:	Spectacle not taking "Rectangular Region" or "All screens" screenshots when TV connected but disabled
Product:	[Applications] Spectacle	Reporter:	wty2idmn
Component:	General	Assignee:	Noah Davis <noahadvs>
Status:	NEEDSINFO WAITINGFORINFO
Severity:	normal	CC:	kde, nate, ojsl, sannythebest95
Priority:	NOR	Keywords:	multiscreen
Version First Reported In:	6.4.0
Target Milestone:	---
Platform:	Other
OS:	Linux
Latest Commit:		Version Fixed/Implemented In:
Sentry Crash Report:

Description wty2idmn 2025-06-23 15:19:28 UTC

SUMMARY

When trying to take a regional screenshot or "all screens" screenshot, Spectacle silently fails when TV is "disabled" inside display configuration.

STEPS TO REPRODUCE
1. Have a TV plugged into system (I'm not sure if it's specifically a TV or just a HDMI source)
2. Disable the TV in Display Configuration
3. Launch spectacle and try and take a "all screens" screenshot
4. See that nothing is captured

OBSERVED RESULT
No screen data is captured

EXPECTED RESULT
Screen data to be captured

SOFTWARE/OS VERSIONS (ran `kinfo`)
Operating System: EndeavourOS
KDE Plasma Version: 6.4.0
KDE Frameworks Version: 6.15.0
Qt Version: 6.9.1
Kernel Version: 6.12.34-1-lts (64-bit)
Graphics Platform: Wayland
Processors: 24 × AMD Ryzen 9 5900X 12-Core Processor
Memory: 32 GiB of RAM (31.3 GiB usable)
Graphics Processor: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960
spectacle: 6.4.0

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
I usually have a TV plugged into my system but disabled during the day. Recently tried taking some regional screenshots but, Spectacle would silently fail. 
After a _lot_ of searching I managed to find a thread on the Arch forums with the exact same issue as me: https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=306440

After I enabled the TV in the display configuration, I could take screenshots again.

If you need more information, let me know. I would be happy to provide more!

Comment 1 Olivia Laari 2025-06-28 11:12:21 UTC

*** Bug 506303 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Comment 2 Noah Davis 2026-02-13 15:02:24 UTC

I tried disabling my 2nd monitor connected via HDMI, but couldn't reproduce the issue.

Comment 3 Noah Davis 2026-02-13 15:08:49 UTC

When you say you are taking an "All Screens" screenshot, does the label actually say "All Screens" while only having 1 screen enabled? If so, that would indicate a bug in how screens are detected. When there is only 1 screen enabled, it should say "Full Screen".

Comment 4 wty2idmn 2026-02-13 16:03:09 UTC

(In reply to Noah Davis from comment #3)
> When you say you are taking an "All Screens" screenshot, does the label
> actually say "All Screens" while only having 1 screen enabled? If so, that
> would indicate a bug in how screens are detected. When there is only 1
> screen enabled, it should say "Full Screen".

Thanks! So, a little more info about the setup: I have three output devices. Two monitors connected via Display Port and a TV (used on occasion) connected via HDMI.
When I go into KDE Settings -> Display & Monitor -> Display Configuration and disable the HDMI connection, this is when the bug occurs. I still have two monitors connected and enabled so I do expect the "All Screens" button to appear.
I've also tested with having one of the Display Port displays disabled and spectacle still captures "All Screens" accurately - it only seems to not capture the screens when the HDMI source is disabled.

I wanted to create a video of the bug (might explain the issue a lot better than my shitty explanation) and in the process figured out another quirk. When I rearrange the displays after I have disabled the HDMI, spectacle seems to capture data correctly again.
If you can't reproduce with two displays, I have a feeling it could be because I'm using three in total and not because of the display connection. The video of the issue can be found at https://limewire.com/d/zXpET#byGcHLVz6i (let me know if there's a better solution for sharing videos).