Where did that screen go?
Specs, errors, diagrams, references. Whatever you opened, still at hand.
Paste your screens onto one board.
Never hunt fora screen again.
No more “where did that thing go?”Specs, reference images, to-dos — cut out the screens you need, paste them onto one board, and work with all of it in view.
- Free never expires
- Pro is a one-time purchase
- Nothing is sent anywhere
Paste it. See it all. Keep working.
Get that time back
Ten seconds of hunting, and the thought is gone.
What you lose is not the time. It is the state you were in.
Switch less, get further
Hundreds of app trips a day. Every trip skipped, straight back into the work.
Side by side, and it is clear
Differences, the moment things sit side by side. As wide as you like.
What it does
The screens you need, at hand.
The screens you already have, parked beside the work. Not a blank surface to draw on — a place for what you need to see.
Tavula is a screenshot board for macOS: it lays the screenshots you took and the windows you captured onto one canvas, and keeps that canvas always on top of your work, translucent.
Always on top · translucent
References laid faintly over the editor or the canvas.
Window and region capture
The window or region you are looking at — no save dialog.
Endless canvas
Arrange, move, zoom. The whole picture, still in view.
Workspaces
A workspace per mode of mind. Free 3, Pro up to 12.
Local only
Everything stays on this Mac. No uploads · no cloud sync · no telemetry.
OCR · export
Image text into an editable note. The arranged view as PNG / PDF / SVG (Pro).
Everything it can do
Every operation, at a glance.
Gather screens, lay them out, keep them on top. Here is each operation and what it saves you.
Capture
- Capture a windowEven one buried behind others
- Capture a whole monitorPick one when you have several
- Drag out a regionOnly the part you mean
- Drag and drop imagesUp to 100 at a time
- Place files by referenceNothing is copied or duplicated
Compare
- Zoom an endless canvasPull back or move in close
- Arrange and overlap freelyYou decide what sits on top
- Set the stacking levelFront · Mid · Back · Rear
- Pin a card in placeArranging and group moves leave it alone
- Select many and move themDrag a box around the lot
- Tidy up in one tapPacked with no wasted gaps
- Split work into workspacesFree 3 · Pro up to 12
Compose
- Keep it above everythingIt stays over your work
- Lay it on translucentThe work underneath stays readable
- Set opacity per cardAs faint or as solid as you like
- Switch light and darkOr follow the system
- Pick one of four display qualitiesLeave it light, or zoom in sharp
Edit and read text
- Resize and cropEight handles, any direction
- Read the text in an imageText you can copy · Free 10 a day / Pro unlimited
- Write a note cardCatch the thought where it happened
Export and save
- Export as PNG / PDF / SVGProThe whole canvas as one file
- Autosave with generationsOpens from the last good version
Privacy and systems
- Runs entirely on your deviceNothing is ever sent out
- macOS today, Windows soonLight enough to leave running
How it works
Capture · Compare · Compose · Extract.
Four moves. That is the whole thing to learn.
Capture
A window, a monitor, a region, the clipboard, a file.
Compare
Lay things out, move them, zoom. Take in the whole thing.
Compose
Pinned on top and translucent, a faint reference sits over the real work.
Extract
Image text becomes a note; the arranged view becomes one document (Pro).
How it differs
Not switching — keeping it in view.
A tab manager shortens the trip. Tavula putsanother screen in place — both in view, one decision.
| Tab manager | Screenshots | Shared board | Tavula | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Main purpose | Switch faster | Capture and share | Brainstorm together | A personal reference desk |
| Layered on top | — | Briefly | — | Always |
| Focus without losing the overview | — | — | Partly | The whole point |
| Requires the cloud | Often | Optional | Always | Never |
How people would use it
You can picture where this fits.
Real reviews after launch.
"The API and the error sit side by side, and I implement by glancing."
"Interview notes and the screenshots I quote fall into one field of view."
"Our screens never reaching a cloud is what decided it."
Pricing
Start free. Pro is bought once.
The core, free and never expiring. One payment for Pro: up to 12 workspaces · drag-to-reorder tabs · unlimited OCR · export of the arranged view.
Free
$0
The core, free for as long as you like.
- Capture · Compare · Compose
- Always on top · translucent · persistent
- Unlimited cards
- 3 workspaces
- OCR (macOS) 10 times a day
- Export of the arranged view is Pro
One-time purchase
Pro
$11.99
Bought once (¥1,800), not a subscription
For several projects at once.
- Everything in Free
- Up to 12 workspaces + rename · icon · reorder
- Unlimited OCR
- Export as PNG / PDF / SVG
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
What does Tavula actually do?
Tavula is a board you paste your screens onto. It captures windows, monitors, and screen regions onto one infinite canvas and keeps that canvas above your work, so you can see everything while you keep working. In one line: never hunt for a screen again.
Is Tavula a subscription or a one-time purchase?
A one-time purchase. Free is $0 with no time limit, and Pro is a single payment of $11.99 (¥1,800). There is no monthly or annual plan.
Can I keep a window always on top on a Mac?
Yes. Tavula itself pins above everything, and the whole app can be made translucent, so references sit over your editor or canvas without hiding it. Opacity is adjustable per card.
Does it eat memory if I leave a lot of cards open?
Display quality has four steps — Fast, Standard, High quality, and Maximum. A lower step caps the resolution used for drawing, so it uses less memory and GPU. The default is High quality, which stays clean as you zoom in. It only affects what you see: export, OCR, and crop always work from the original image at full resolution.
Can I use it to organise the screenshots I already took?
Yes. Drag PNGs from your desktop or a whole image folder straight onto the canvas — up to 100 in one drop. Files placed by reference are not copied, so nothing takes extra disk space.
How is this different from a tab manager or a shared whiteboard?
A tab manager makes switching faster. A shared whiteboard is a blank surface you draw on together. Tavula takes screens that already exist and keeps them on top — yours alone. A desk to look at, not a board to draw on.
How far does the free version go?
Three workspaces, with capture, layout, always-on-top, and persistence. OCR 10 times a day. More workspaces, unlimited OCR, and export are Pro.
Which systems can run OCR on images?
OCR uses Apple Vision, so it runs on macOS only, for Japanese and English. There is no OCR on Windows. Everything else — capture, layout, the overview — works on both.
Where is my data stored, and does anything leave my machine?
On your device, nowhere else. On macOS it lives in ~/Library/Application Support/Tavula/. No cloud, no tracking, no account.
Does Tavula run on Windows?
Not yet. Today it runs on macOS 14.0 (Sonoma) or later. A Windows 10 or later build is in preparation and has not been released.
Where does the name "Tavula" come from?
From Latin tabula (board, table, writing tablet), a relative of Italian tavola (table). It is not a blank board to draw on but a desk where the screens you need stay laid out.
Get it
Stack screens.
Stay focused.
The screens you need, at hand.
Start free. Pro is bought once.
Early access, announced on the support page.