Share a screen recording link, not a file: how to send a video people actually open

You finish a screen recording, and then the real work starts: how do you get it to the person who needs it? To share a screen recording link instead of a file is the simplest answer we know. You send one line of text. They click it. The video plays. Nothing to download, nothing to unzip, nothing bouncing back from a full inbox.

This post is about why a link works better than an attachment, and how to make one on a Mac in about ten seconds.

Why attachments fail

A recording is a big file. Even a short one can be too large for a mail server, a chat app or a ticket form. So you reach for a cloud drive, upload, set the permissions, wait, copy the address, and hope you picked the right setting.

Then the other side. Your colleague gets a file. They download it, find a player that opens it, and watch it on their own. If they have a question, they write a separate reply. The recording and the conversation about it live in two different places.

Every step is small. Together they are the reason a lot of useful recordings never get sent at all. The friction is not the recording. It is the delivery.

What a link changes

A link is only an address. The video stays where it is, and the person opens it in their browser. A catu link opens a clip page that works in any modern browser, on a computer or a phone. Nobody needs a catu account to watch.

The page shows the recording ready to play at once, your name, the date and the number of views. If you allow it, people can comment, and on a recording a comment can be pinned to a moment, so clicking it jumps the video there. You can also allow a download, but you do not have to.

Because the link is the only thing you send, you can paste it anywhere: a chat, an email, a pull request, a project board, a document. It is the same sentence in every place.

How to do it in catu

Press ⇧⌘3, choose what to record and click Start. When you stop, a card appears with the first frame and the length. Click the link button on the card. Its tooltip says "Copy share link".

catu encrypts the recording on your Mac, uploads it, and shows progress next to the menu bar icon. When the notice says Link copied, the link is on your clipboard. Paste it.

Want it faster? In the recording bar, choose the cloud icon, Upload while recording. catu uploads as you record, so the link is ready a few seconds after you stop. A copy always stays on your Mac, and if you discard the recording, the uploaded copy is deleted too.

Screenshots work the same way. Take one, then click the link button under Edit on the card that slides in.

Make the link say something

Chat apps show a preview of a pasted link: the title, whether it is a recording, its length, who shared it and the first frame. New clips are called "Recording", which tells the reader nothing.

Rename the clip in your Library before you send it. "Checkout bug on Safari" is a much better preview than "Recording".

Two more settings are worth a look:

• Expiry. Recording links never expire by default, which suits documentation. For something temporary, choose 7, 30 or 90 days. The days count from the moment you choose.
• Password. Hold Option (⌥) as you click the link button and type a password. The link preview then shows no picture and no title, only that a clip was shared.

You can change both later in your Library, and the link itself stays the same.

When the link stops working

Links can end, and that is a feature. If a link expires, or you switch sharing off, the person sees "This clip is no longer available". Nothing is deleted. The clip stays in your Library with its comments and views, and turning sharing back on opens the same link again.

That makes a link easier to take back than an attachment. Once a file has been mailed, it is in someone else's inbox for good. A link you can switch off.

Try this today

Pick the next thing you would normally explain in a paragraph. Press ⇧⌘3, record it in under a minute, click the link button, rename the clip, and paste the link instead of the paragraph. Notice how much shorter your message is.

What catu does about it

Sharing a link is part of the Web app plan: encrypted storage, share links, the Library on the web and comments, with a 14-day free trial. Recording, trimming and saving on your Mac are free. The people you send links to never pay or sign up. The steps are in our help page on sharing a capture as a link.