Getting started

From install to power user
in five minutes

Everything worth knowing about InTray - what the install looks like, what to do if something blocks it, the core drag-and-copy loop, and the tricks that make it stick.

First run

What the install looks like

  1. Open the downloaded file

    The download from getintray.com/download is a small file called InTray.appinstaller. Open it from your browser's download list. If the browser asks whether to keep a newly released file, choose Keep - that is the browser's own download check, not Windows.

  2. Check the publisher

    Windows' App Installer opens with "Install InTray?" and shows the publisher: BIT-SOFT TECHNOLOGY LTD - that's us, verified by an Extended Validation code-signing certificate. If the name matches, you have the genuine package.

  3. Click "Install"

    Windows fetches the package (about 85 MB) and installs it itself - no installer program runs. InTray starts by itself when it's done, and from then on Windows keeps it up to date in the background.

Why it looks like this: InTray 2.0 is a Windows package (MSIX), the same format the Microsoft Store uses, rather than a downloaded .exe. Windows copies the files into place, so the "Windows protected your PC" screen that unrecognised installers get does not apply, and uninstalling is a clean slate.

If your antivirus blocks it

McAfee, Norton or Nord blocking InTray

Consumer antivirus rates a program largely on how many people worldwide have already run it, so a newly released app can be flagged before anyone has looked at it. InTray 2.0 installs as a Windows package - no installer program ever runs, Windows copies the files itself - which gives antivirus far less to object to; in our testing a PC running McAfee installed it without a word. Every build is signed with a verified Extended Validation certificate in our company name, BIT-SOFT TECHNOLOGY LTD, and we report each release to the antivirus vendors. If something still gets in the way, here is what it looks like and what to do.

McAfee

"We protected your PC by stopping a threat", or a WebAdvisor notice on the download.

If the download itself never finishes, that's McAfee WebAdvisor rating a new file - click the block message in your browser and choose to keep it, then open it as normal.

If McAfee quarantines InTray after it installs, click See quarantined files (or My Protection → Quarantined items), select the InTray entry and choose Restore. Then open InTray from the Start menu.

Norton

"Unproven - few users have used this file", or the download is removed.

Open Norton and go to Security → History, then filter to Download Insight or Quarantine. Find the InTray entry and choose Restore & exclude this file.

Norton calls this "unproven" rather than unsafe - it's the same not-seen-it-before rating described above.

Nord

The download never completes, with a Threat Protection notice.

This is Nord's Threat Protection Pro scanning downloads. In the NordVPN app, open Threat Protection Pro settings and turn off file download scanning, download InTray, then switch it straight back on.

Downloading from getintray.com/download rather than from your receipt email also often gets through, as it comes direct from us.

Still stuck? Email support@bit-soft.co.uk — we'll walk you through it, or refund you, no quibble, if we can't get InTray running on your machine.

The basics

Thirty seconds to productive

Take a screenshot

Press Win+Shift+S and snip anything. The thumbnail appears in InTray's strip straight away, just above your taskbar. On Windows 10, press Win+PrtScn instead: there, Win+Shift+S only copies to the clipboard and never saves a file for InTray to catch. Nothing arriving on Windows 11? Turn on Automatically save screenshots in the Snipping Tool's settings.

Drag it anywhere

Drag the thumbnail straight into Outlook, Teams, Slack, a browser upload box, VS Code - anywhere that accepts a dropped file. It arrives as a real file, not a paste.

Or click to copy

A single click copies the image to your clipboard, ready to Ctrl+V. You'll see a "Copied!" confirmation on the thumbnail.

Top tips

Make InTray yours

Keep the InTray icon in view

Windows hides new tray icons in the overflow area (the ^ arrow near the clock). Click the arrow, then drag the InTray icon onto the taskbar's icon row - now it's always one click away.

Left-click the icon to show or hide the strip. Right-click it for every setting InTray has.

Learn the hotkey

Ctrl+Shift+Space shows or hides the strip from anywhere - no mouse needed.

Want the combination back for another app? Turn it off via right-click menu → Settings → Show/hide hotkey.

Pin the ones you'll need again

Right-click a thumbnail → Pin. Pinned thumbnails show a badge and are never pushed out by newer files - perfect for a screenshot you'll paste five times this afternoon. Pins last for the current session.

Choose your thumbnail count

Right-click the tray icon → Settings → Thumbnails → 3, 4 or 5. The strip widens to fit. When it's full, the newest file replaces the oldest unpinned thumbnail.

Put the strip where you want it

Drag the strip by any empty part - including onto another monitor. It can never vanish off the top of the screen or hide behind the taskbar.

To send it home, double-click the "InTray." label (or right-click the tray icon → Settings → Reset position). That's also the rescue move if you lose track of it.

Decide when it hides

By default the strip fades away 30 seconds after you last touch it - a new screenshot brings it straight back. Right-click the tray icon → Settings → Auto-hide after for 30s, 1 min, 2 min, or Never if you want it always on screen.

More than screenshots

InTray also watches your Downloads folder. PDFs, documents, images - the moment a download finishes it's in the strip, ready to drag into an email. (Programs and installers are deliberately excluded.) Either watcher can be switched off in the right-click menu.

Right-click a thumbnail for the full menu

Open in its default app · Copy file path · Open in Explorer (jumps straight to the file) · Pin / Unpin.

Beam - from your phone

Photos and files from your phone, straight into the strip

Beam is part of InTray. Nothing to install on the phone, no cloud, no account: the file travels over your own Wi-Fi from the phone to this PC and lands in the strip like any other file - and in a Beam Inbox folder.

Turn it on and scan

Click the phone button on the strip (or right-click the tray icon → Beam (phone) → Show QR code). Point your phone's camera at the QR code and open the link it offers - a small upload page opens in the phone's browser.

Pick photos or files there and they appear in the strip, ready to drag. Up to 10 files at a time, 1 GB each. The QR code changes every time InTray starts, so a photographed one stops working.

Same Wi-Fi, no guest network

Your phone and the PC need to be on the same Wi-Fi network. Guest and hotel networks often keep devices apart from each other; a VPN on either device can do the same. If the phone can't open the page, that is almost always why.

Windows Firewall and work computers

The first time, Windows Firewall may quietly block the phone from reaching the PC. InTray checks for this itself: if the QR popup says the firewall is blocking Beam, click Allow InTray through Windows Firewall - one administrator (UAC) prompt and it's done.

On a managed work computer that prompt may need your IT team. The popup's Copy details gives them exactly what to allow.

No Wi-Fi? Beam Direct

If there is no shared Wi-Fi at all, right-click the tray icon → Beam (phone) → Switch to Beam Direct. The PC becomes its own Wi-Fi hotspot for the session: scan the first QR to join it, the second to open the upload page. Switch back to Wi-Fi mode restores everything. Shown only on PCs whose hardware can host a hotspot.

Received files live in your Beam Inbox folder (in your user folder by default) - change it under the same menu.

Troubleshooting

Quick answers

A snip didn't appear in InTray

InTray watches the folder Windows saves screenshots to. If your snips save somewhere else, InTray shows an amber warning bar naming both folders - either point your capture tool at the watched folder, or right-click the tray icon → Screenshots & Downloads → Change Screenshots folder… and point InTray at the folder your snips actually land in. Also worth knowing: after your PC wakes from sleep, Windows folder watching can briefly lapse - InTray rescans every 45 seconds, so a new file appears within a minute at worst.

The strip vanished

Press Ctrl+Shift+Space, or left-click the InTray tray icon. If it reappears somewhere awkward, double-click the "InTray." label to snap it back to its bottom-right dock.

Where's my licence key?

In your purchase confirmation email from Lemon Squeezy. You can retrieve it any time from your My Orders page. The download itself always lives at getintray.com/download, so you can reinstall without going back through your email. To activate: right-click the tray icon → Licence → enter your key. It unlocks instantly - no restart needed.

"Activation limit reached"

Your key covers a set number of devices - Standard: 1, Personal: 2, Professional: 3. Moving to a new machine? Email support and we'll free up the activation.

The trial says it's ended on a fresh install

The 7-day trial is one per machine, ever - reinstalling doesn't restart it. If you believe this is an error, contact support.

Something else went wrong

Right-click the tray icon → Help → Open log folder and you'll find error.log. Email it to support@bit-soft.co.uk with your app version (shown near the bottom of the tray right-click menu) and we'll get you sorted.

Good to know: InTray has no account, no cloud and no telemetry - your screenshots never leave your machine. The only things it sends anywhere are a licence check, at most once every 7 days and never during the trial, and an update check when you ask for one. Windows itself checks getintray.com for new versions, as it does for any app it installed.

Not using InTray yet?

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