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Troubleshooting and FAQ

Cropped closes as soon as it opens, or quits by itself (Windows)

On a Windows on Arm PC (Surface Pro X, Surface Pro 9 with 5G, Surface Pro 11, Surface Laptop 7 and other Snapdragon computers) Cropped needs Windows 11 24H2 or later with the December 2025 updates or newer. Older Windows 11 versions and Windows 10 cannot run Cropped's runtime, so the app closes at once. Install Windows updates, then try again. See Windows on Arm.

Any other time Cropped quits by itself, send a bug report with the log attached: Preferences › Bug report, Report a bug, with Attach system details and the recent app log ticked. You read every line before it is sent. The log is also at %APPDATA%\Cropped\logs\cropped.log on Windows, ~/Library/Application Support/Cropped/logs on the Mac and ~/.config/cropped/logs on Linux.

The capture shortcut does nothing

Screenshots are black or only show the desktop (Mac)

Cropped needs Screen Recording permission. Open System Settings › Privacy & Security › Screen & System Audio Recording, turn on Cropped, then quit and reopen Cropped.

Camera or microphone not working in a recording (Mac)

The Mac asks the first time Cropped uses each one:

If you clicked Don't Allow, the toolbar shows Camera: not allowed. Click it to open System Settings, or go to System Settings › Privacy & Security › Camera (or Microphone), turn on Cropped, then quit and reopen Cropped.

Where did my file go?

Optimized files go to Downloads/Cropped unless you picked another folder. Click Show in Finder on the result, or check Preferences › General › Saving and Preferences › Drop Zone. Screenshots and recordings are also in the capture history: click All captures in the Drop Zone.

My original file changed

It didn't. Cropped never changes or overwrites originals. It always writes a new file, with -cropped (or your chosen ending) in the name.

The optimized file is bigger than the original

Cropped keeps your original image when optimizing a whole PNG or JPEG in the same format would make it bigger, so this only happens after a crop, a resize or a format change, or with WebP and AVIF sources. Files that are already heavily compressed can still grow. Try a lower quality, a smaller max width or height, or a different format such as WebP or AVIF.

Pasting into an AI chat uses too many tokens

Use the Agent / LLM preset. It makes images 1280 px wide and then halves them, which keeps text readable at a fraction of the size. It's the default for the Drop Zone.

A video or captions ask me to install something

Video optimizing, exports, GIFs and the captions engine are built into Cropped on Mac, Windows and Linux, so there's nothing extra to install. Mac versions before 0.3.42 downloaded them separately and showed Install Video Tools; if your Mac still asks, update Cropped from the version number at the bottom of the Studio's queue. See App updates.

Captions download their speech model once, the first time you make captions, on every computer. Your video never leaves your computer and your original file is never changed. See Speech models.

A video looks washed out

An HDR video (from an iPhone, for example) can look washed out or too bright in a player or on a site that doesn't support HDR. Turn off Keep HDR in Video optimization, or pick the Web or Share preset, to save normal (SDR) colors that look right everywhere. See HDR video.

A video won't preview

Click Create compatible preview. You can trim, crop and export even when the preview can't play.

Can I get the Drop Zone back?

On a Mac, click Cropped in the Dock, choose Window › Show or Hide Drop Zone, or press ⇧ Shift + ⌘ Command + D while the Studio is in front. On Windows and Linux, click Cropped in the taskbar, then press Ctrl + Shift + D or choose Window › Show or hide Drop Zone from the menu button at the top left. You can also click Show or hide Drop Zone in Preferences.

Does Cropped upload my files?

No. Everything is processed on your computer. Cropped only goes online to check for updates, check your license, and send feedback or diagnostics if you choose to.

Which version do I have?

Look at the bottom of the Studio's queue, next to the ? button. It shows the version you're running, such as v0.3.42, with a small α on Cropped Alpha. Click it to check for an update. See App updates.

Is there a Linux version?

Yes, as a Beta for Ubuntu 24.04 and later on x64 and ARM64. See Cropped on Linux (Beta) to install it and for what's different.

Settings or the Drop Zone stopped responding after updating to 0.3.10 (Mac)

On Mac, 0.3.10 could stall the native connection while its window still appeared normal. This release has been withdrawn. Install 0.3.11 or later using the app update recovery instructions. Replacing the same edition in Applications preserves your saved preferences and license; you do not need to reset settings.

I still need help

Click the ? button at the bottom left of the Studio to ask a question, or send us a message. We reply by email.

To report a bug or ask for a feature from the app, use Preferences › Bug report; Your reports shows when it's received and resolved. On the website, use Request a feature. You can also see what's planned and tap I have this too on a bug someone already reported.

Still stuck? Click the ? button at the bottom left of the Cropped Studio to ask, send us a message, or request a feature.