This year seems to be the prime time for must-have updates. First came the MacBook Pro 2018. Now, It's ScreenFlow 8 by Telestream for the Mac.

I've long been a fan of ScreenFlow. I started using it several versions back when I switched from a Windows PC to a MacBook Pro for my daily computing tasks, application development, and book publishing work. I've tried competing products like Camtasia and even Apple's own Final Cut Pro. But I keep coming back to ScreenFlow because not only is it the easiest to use for a prosumer like me, it's very intuitive and requires a very short learning curve. I still use Final Cut Pro once in a while, but mostly for creating my own motion graphics for intros or outtros. All the rest is handled superbly by ScreenFlow.

ScreenFlow is my go to tool for screen video capture, creating tutorials, promo videos, book trailers, and such. I've always liked its features and interface. But now, the ScreenFlow 8 upgrade, with its 25 new features and 41 improvements and fixes, is a product you can love!

ScreenFlow 8 Highlights

Create New Project From Template

ScreenFlow 8 supports creating new projects from templates. If you do a lot of similarly styled videos like a tutorial series, video course, etc., you can prebuild your projects with just a few placeholders and all of your content immediately gets dropped into that project when you're done recording. ScreenFlow's new template feature will save you ton's of time!

Stock Media Library

One of my favorite new features is the incorporation of a stock media library. Yes, that's right! We now have access to a stock media library built right into the ScreenFlow 8 interface. No more searching the web for stock videos, audio, images, transitions, and chroma key support.

The stock media library includes over 500,000 unique pieces. With a library this large the interface includes filters and search capabilities to make the job of finding the perfect media element a piece of cake. Using the stock library requires a minimal subscription fee of $60/year. Where else can you find so much for so little a cost?

Other New Features

• Track Thumbnails—Now you can see a quick and easy visual representation of your content via thumbnails displayed over the duration of a media file. Easily identify scene changes and areas of interest. No need to scrub through content to find specific moments!
• Styles—Always want your camera in a certain spot with specific filters and a drop shadow? Well, regardless of the edits you make to any assets in your projects, you can now save those settings as “Styles” to easily re-use over and over. A massive time saver. Combine with templates for a mostly automated workflow!
• Quick Narration & Voice-Over Additions—Need to record a quick audio clip? Quick narrations allow you to add narrations or voice-overs without leaving the timeline or configuring a traditional recording.
• Detachable Editing Timeline—The new detachable editing timeline allows for a more customizable editing experience and enables multi-monitor editing by separating the editing timeline and canvas on to different monitors.
• Additional Timeline Frame Rates—Additional Timeline Frame Rates of 24, 25, and 50 have been added. These are in addition to the existing 30 and 60 options.
• Export Animated PNG (APNG) Files—ScreenFlow now supports APNG export. Like GIF’s, APNG’s are single file moving pictures that support transparent backgrounds but allow for higher quality and smaller sizes!
• Freehand Annotation—Custom shapes and lines can now be drawn directly onto the ScreenFlow canvas for highly customizable annotations.
• Instagram Project and Export Presets—Uploading to Instagram? ScreenFlow has you covered with built in project dimensions and export settings specific to everyone’s favorite social image site!
• Frame for Selected Monitor—When choosing your recording monitor, a red frame now indicates the current selection… no need to remember monitor model numbers!
• H.265/HEVC Decoding—Previously, HEVC could only be exported in ScreenFlow 7. You can now import and edit files encoded with HEVC such as iPhone X 4k recordings.
• Arrange Menu—Various new options such as alignment, scale, and distribute allow you to more quickly arrange your media within your project.
• Auto-Scale Large Imports—ScreenFlow will now automatically scale imported media to fit the canvas if the dimensions of the media are larger than the canvas.
• Burn in Captions on Export—You can now burn-in captions if you need captions in a player that does not support caption tracks. Simply check the box during export.
• Content-Type Badge for Items in Media Libraries—Media within your library now has a badge overlay depicting the type of media for easier identification.
• Keyboard Shortcuts for "Close Gap"—Users can now set a custom keyboard shortcut for the “close gaps” function. Multi-select gaps and close with one shortcut.
• Media Library Filtering System & Metadata Panel—New filtering system for the media libraries with metadata display tab. Click the filter button in the library pane to display.
• Preview Audio and Video in Libraries Without Adding them to the Timeline—Audio and video files in libraries can now be previewed without first adding them to the timeline.
• Save Frame as JPEG—Quickly export the current content as a still JPEG image.
• Select Which Audio Channels are Recorded with Audio Interface Devices—Users can now select specific channels to record of a multi-channel audio interface. You no longer need to record all available channels.
• Support Decoding MOV PNG Files—You can now add and work with MOV PNG files in ScreenFlow.
• Support for GoPro CineForm Codec—ScreenFlow now supports the GoPro CineForm codec for import and editing.
• Specify the Thumbnail Image for a YouTube Published Export—Now when publishing directly to YouTube, you can use ScreenFlow to select the image to be used as the YouTube thumbnail.
• Upload to YouTube on a Schedule—When publishing to YouTube, you can now select and schedule a time in which you would like the video to be published.

The Bottom Line

I don't recommend products lightly. And I only recommend products that I use. ScreenFlow 8 is an exceptional upgrade and well worth the price, especially with the stock media library subscription.