Lens is a Chrome extension that captures a region of any tab as a PNG, a JPEG, a high-quality animated GIF or an MP4, then files it into a project — kept by the extension itself, and mirrored into a folder on your own machine if you link one — along with a metadata timeline. It also turns a flow you click through into a step-by-step guide. Nothing is uploaded — see Privacy.
Lens works completely offline, and there is no subscription. No account, no sign-in and no licence check: install it and every feature on these pages works with the network switched off. The only thing that ever touches the network is a cloud AI provider you connect yourself, which is off on install and optional.
1. Install and pin
- Install Lens from the Chrome Web Store or load the unpacked folder via chrome://extensions with Developer mode on.
- Pin it to the toolbar click the puzzle-piece icon in Chrome's toolbar and press the pin next to Lens. The toolbar icon is where recording status and capture errors are reported.
- Open the popup click the Lens icon. This is where you pick the active project and start a capture.
2. What is in the popup
Top to bottom: the header, the project, the capture actions, and this project's recent captures.
| Where | What it is |
|---|---|
| Header, right | The arrow opens the full dashboard in a tab. ? holds Docs, Support and Security. The gear goes straight to the dashboard's Settings |
| Project | The dropdown switches project; the row under it names the linked folder, with Link, Change or Reconnect beside it. With no folder linked it reads kept in the extension |
| Capture region | The full-width button, because it is the one most people reach for |
| Steps, GIF, Full tab | The row of three under it. Each shows its own keyboard shortcut |
| Interactive walkthrough | A switch. On, a walkthrough also records which control each step points at, so it can be played back against the live page. Off records the screenshots and the words only |
| Timeline | This project's captures, newest first. See Timeline and dashboard |
| Footer | License states the built-in free licence, which covers every feature and needs no key. Privacy opens the policy |
3. Make a project
A project is a name, and the captures filed under it. Lens keeps those itself, so a project works straight away with nothing else set up. Linking a folder on your computer is optional: do it and every capture is also written there, next to a project_metadata.json file recording what was captured, from which page, and when.
- Open the popup and press New project the default project is already there if you would rather just start capturing.
- Name the project for example, the documentation set or release you are capturing for.
- Press Create, or Create & link folder the second asks Chrome for a folder and read/write access to it. Lens can only ever see the folder you pick.
A folder can be linked at any time afterwards, from Link in the popup or Link folder on the dashboard's project card. Lens offers to copy everything the project already holds into it, so a folder linked late still ends up complete.
4. Take your first capture
- Press Capture region or use the keyboard shortcut. The page dims and the cursor becomes a crosshair.
- Drag a rectangle over the area you want. Drag the handles to resize, or drag from the middle to move it.
- Press Capture Image the save screen opens with your capture loaded, its tools down the left and the file name on the right.
- Annotate if you want to, then name it and save the file lands in the project folder and appears in the popup timeline.
5. Where to go next
- Capturing a region — selection, annotation and saving in detail.
- Recording GIF and MP4 — the recorder, its controls and the two output formats.
- Step-by-step guides — click through a flow once and get a documented walkthrough out of it.
- Projects and folders — multiple projects, switching, linking folders and catching one up.
- Settings — every preference and what it changes.