How to Keep Screen Recordings On-Brand With Presets

Screen recording presets let every video start from the same style. In Screen Bolt, style one recording the way you want it, then click Presets in the editor toolbar and choose Save Current as Preset.... On each later recording, open Presets, pick your preset and click Apply.

If you want new recordings to open with that look automatically, turn on Use last project settings as default for new recordings in Settings ▸ Editing.

Why a saved style matters for screen recordings

A help center, a launch thread or a course gets watched as a set. If one clip has a purple wallpaper and 12 px corners and the next has a gray background with the webcam in the other corner, the set looks inconsistent.

Rebuilding the look by hand also drifts over time: padding at 5% one week and 8% the next, a cursor at 3× in one video and 2× in another. A preset stores those values once, so every video starts from the same numbers.

The built-in recorders (the Screenshot toolbar, ⇧⌘5 or Shift-Command-5, and QuickTime Player) capture the screen as it is. They have no background, padding or zoom styling, so there's nothing to save as a preset. Without a dedicated app, your only option is a written style sheet. That still helps for things a preset can't hold, as covered below.

What screen recording presets store in Screen Bolt

A preset saves the look of a project, not the content on the timeline. Some saved settings show in the editor preview but are not rendered into the exported file in version 1.11.5. If the goal is a consistent final video, that difference matters.

A preset does not include:

• Camera 2 styling. Presets cover camera-1 styling only.
• Anything you place on the timeline: text overlays, annotations, blur and focus regions, image overlays, cuts and clips.
• Export format, quality, frame rate and compression. Those live in the Export sheet and Settings ▸ Quick export.

Get brand colors into the export

Custom gradient and solid colors don't export as chosen in 1.11.5, so don't build a brand look on them. Use an image in your brand colors instead:

1. Make an image in your brand colors in any design tool.
2. In the editor, open the Background panel (⌘2).
3. Choose Image, then click Choose Image under Custom Image.
4. Save the preset after this step.

Custom images do export.

Save a preset

1. Record something, or reopen a project with File ▸ Open last project (⌥⌘Z, Option-Command-Z). Use a recording made in Screen Bolt: imported videos have no cursor data, so you can't see the cursor and zoom settings you're saving.
2. Open the Screen panel (⌘1). Set Aspect Ratio, Padding and Corner Radius. Pick a Camera 3D preset if your style uses one.
3. Open the Background panel (⌘2) and pick a wallpaper or your brand image.
4. Open the Webcam panel (⌘3) and set the position, aspect, size, roundness and border for Camera.
5. Open the Audio panel (⌘4) and set the volumes and any Audio Enhance options you always want.
6. Open the Zoom panel (⌘5). Check that Auto Zoom on Click is on, then set Default Level, Animated Zoom and Glide Effect.
7. Open the Cursor panel (⌘6) and set Size, Smooth Movement and the click effects.
8. Open the Sounds panel and turn on any click, zoom or keyboard sounds you use.
9. Check the speed menu in the timeline controls. It should read 1x unless you want every video sped up.
10. Click Presets in the toolbar and choose Save Current as Preset....
11. In the Save Preset dialog, replace "My Preset" with a clear name and confirm. Name presets by format as well as by brand, because aspect ratio is part of the preset. For example, use "Acme 16:9" for YouTube and help-center videos and "Acme 9:16" for vertical clips for Reels and Shorts. One preset can't hold both.

Check the playback speed before saving

The J and L keys change the project speed in 0.25 steps, and that speed is exported. If you pressed L while skimming and then saved, the preset carries 1.25x or faster into every video you apply it to.

Apply a preset to a recording

1. Open the recording in the editor.
2. Click Presets in the toolbar.
3. Choose your preset, then click Apply.

The built-in presets (Default, Presentation, Social Media, Clean, Device Showcase) are listed above your own. They make reasonable starting points: apply one, adjust it, then save it under your own name.

To remove one of your presets, open Presets, choose it and click Delete. Only your own presets have this option.

Your presets are saved in a file called UserPresets.json. The default location is ~/Documents/Screen Bolt Presets. To change it, open Settings ▸ Editing ▸ Save presets in and click Change directory.

Start every recording with your last look

If you use one style for almost everything, you can skip applying a preset each time:

1. Open Settings: press ⌘, (Command-comma) or click the gear in the recording bar.
2. Click the Editing tab.
3. Turn on Use last project settings as default for new recordings. It is off by default.

New recordings then open with the look of the last project you edited. The catch is the word "last." If you edited a vertical clip yesterday, today's 16:9 tutorial starts vertical. Keep your named presets as the reference and apply one whenever the previous project was an exception.

The setting's description mentions presets marked as default, but 1.11.5 has no way to mark a preset as default. The setting copies from your last project, not from a chosen preset.

Quick export skips your style

If Settings ▸ Recording ▸ After recording is set to Export to file, Screen Bolt renders the recording right away with default styling (no background or padding), so your look isn't applied. Set After recording to Open editor when the video needs your brand style.

Share screen recording presets with teammates

Screen Bolt 1.11.5 can import a preset but has no command to export one. A team has three practical options.

Because there's no export command, copying UserPresets.json is the most direct way to hand your presets to someone else.

Import a preset file

1. In Screen Bolt, choose File ▸ Import preset....
2. Select the preset .json file.
3. If it works, you'll see "Preset imported" with a note that the preset has been added to your presets. If the file can't be read, you'll see "Import failed" with "Could not read preset file:" and the reason.

Copy the presets file to another Mac

This replaces the presets already on the other Mac. Only do it when the teammate has no presets of their own, or after they've written theirs down.

1. On your Mac, quit Screen Bolt.
2. Find UserPresets.json in your presets folder (by default ~/Documents/Screen Bolt Presets).
3. Send the file to your teammate.
4. On their Mac, quit Screen Bolt and put the file in their presets folder. Check Settings ▸ Editing ▸ Save presets in if they changed the folder.
5. Reopen Screen Bolt and check the Presets menu.

If your preset uses a custom image background, check the Background panel after applying it on the other Mac. If the image doesn't show, choose it again with Choose Image, then save the preset again.

Write down what presets can't hold

Text overlays, annotations, camera 2 and export settings aren't stored in a preset. Add a short style sheet to your team's docs with values like these:

• Text: Font Size 48, Weight Bold, Position Bottom Center, brand Color, Shadow on.
• Annotations: one Color and one Line Width for arrows and rectangles.
• Camera 2: corner, size and roundness.
• Export: MP4, 1080p (needs a license), and the Compression level your team uses.

Text animations other than fade are rendered as a fade in exports, so a style sheet that specifies Fade In matches what viewers will see.

For full panel references, see Effects and Overlays and Editing Your Recording.

If a preset doesn't look right

The export looks different from the preview. Shadow, inset, device frames, reflection, background blur, custom gradient colors and solid colors don't export in 1.11.5. Use a wallpaper or a custom image background, and don't rely on a frame or shadow for the brand look. Format and quality options are on the export help page.

Every video plays too fast or too slow. The preset saved a project speed other than 1x. Set the speed menu to 1x, save the preset again, then delete the old one.

The second camera doesn't match. Presets store camera-1 styling only. Style Camera 2 by hand in the Webcam panel, or follow your style sheet.

All zooms vanished after applying a preset. Open the Zoom panel. If Auto Zoom on Click is off, every zoom region is disabled, manual ones included. Turn it on.

Keyboard sounds are silent. The Sounds panel shows "No keystrokes captured" when Input Monitoring wasn't granted during the recording. Grant it with Open System Settings, then record again.

Your presets disappeared. Reset preferences in Settings ▸ General restores all settings to their defaults, including Save presets in. If you had moved your presets elsewhere, point Save presets in back at that folder. If the list is empty after you pick a new folder with Change directory, quit Screen Bolt, copy UserPresets.json from the old folder into the new one, and reopen.

Edits on an imported video were lost. Videos opened with Create project from video... or Open project... (a movie file) aren't saved as projects. They also have no cursor data, so the cursor and auto zoom settings in a preset have nothing to act on. Presets work best on recordings made in Screen Bolt.

FAQ

Are presets in the free version? Yes. The free version includes every editor feature, presets included. Free exports are limited to 720p and 3 minutes, carry a watermark and can't be GIFs. As of November 2026, a one-time $79 license removes those limits (see pricing).

Does a preset save export quality? No. Each export saves the format and quality you chose as the Quick export defaults, and frame rate and compression are set in Settings ▸ Quick export.

Can I set one preset as the default? Not in 1.11.5. The closest option is Use last project settings as default for new recordings, which copies the look of the last project you edited.

For layout ideas to build your presets around, see how to add a background to a screen recording, onboarding video examples and how to make a feature announcement video.