Quicktime not working/ not recording screen

Hello Guern,

We understand you were able to determine that there are two copies of QuickTime Player on your Mac, and that one of these allows you to record the screen without an error.

Have you used Spotlight to see where both apps are located? You can Search with Spotlight on Mac to find apps, as well as where they are located.

If you have more than one copy of QuickTime, we'd recommend deleting the outdated version. If needed, please see How to delete apps on your Mac for steps on how to do so.

For help with the Dock, please see how to Use the Dock on Mac.

For any additional questions specific to this issue, as well as any additional questions or requests on the differences between the Screenshot app and QuickTime Player, please Contact Apple Support.

Cheers!

Hello Guern2020,

We understand you are getting an error when selecting "New Screen Recording" from the QuickTime Player menu bar. We also understand you'd like to know the difference between the Screenshot app and QuickTime.

You've done a great job trying to resolve this on your own. Before continuing with any recommendations, we do want to make sure you're aware that some apps might not let you record their windows.

If you're no longer able to Record your screen in QuickTime Player on Mac in any app, we'd recommend making sure your Mac and apps are up to date. Prior to updating, please be sure to Back up your Mac with Time Machine. If needed, please see How to update the software on your Mac. Once you've confirmed your Mac is up to date, please see How to manually update apps on your Apple device to make sure your apps are up to date.

If you're only unable to record the screen on your Mac when using specific apps, we'd recommend confirming the apps allow recording. If you need to contact an app developer, please see How to contact an app developer.

If you're unable to record your screen in QuickTime Player in any app after confirming your Mac and apps are up to date, and that the app you're trying to record allows recording, we'd recommend using the Screenshot toolbar to record a selected portion of the screen, as well as the entire screen. For steps on how to do so, please see How to record the screen on your Mac.

If you've confirmed that an app allows you to record their windows, but you're still unable to do so, we'd recommend creating a new user account to test recording the screen in QuickTime Player, as well as using the Screenshot toolbar to record the screen. This link to our macOS User Guide can help with how to create a new user account: Set up users, guests, and groups on Mac

To help answer your question on the difference between the Screenshot app and QuickTime Player, please review the following links:

• Take a screenshot on your Mac
• How to record the screen on your Mac

You can choose which method you'd prefer to record the screen on your Mac, or if an app doesn't allow recording, you can attempt to take a screenshot.

Cheers!

Guern,

You're very welcome! You've done a great job isolating the cause of the issue to your user account.

To help determine what's causing this when using your user account, you can view Activity Monitor for any unresponsive apps or processes. You can also compare the list of apps and processes from your user account with a new user account to see if a specific app is preventing you from using QuickTime. For help with using Activity Monitor, please see our Activity Monitor User Guide.

If you're unable to locate a specific app or process preventing QuickTime from recording in all apps, and you've confirmed the apps in question allow recording, we'd recommend creating a current backup of your Mac. Please see how to Back up your Mac with Time Machine for details. Once you have a current backup, you can then reinstall macOS to see if this helps. For steps, please see How to reinstall macOS.

In regards to your question about the differences in taking a screenshot and using QuickTime, you mentioned preferring QuickTime due to the Screenshot app not having the features you're looking for. The differences between the two are the options available when using the Screenshot app and QuickTime. When using macOS, you can decide which of these two apps is best for what you'd like to accomplish.

Best regards.

Guern,

We want to make sure you're able to use QuickTime as expected.

Did you have a chance to confirm that the app or screen you're trying to record supports recording?

If it's a specific app that won't record, you can contact the app developer to see if this is supported. Please see How to contact an app developer for steps on how to do so.

We understand this appears to be isolated to your user account. Please be aware that Time Machine backs up the data on your Mac, and a reinstall of macOS should not cause loss of data. Instead, it reinstalls the macOS version you're using.

If you'd like additional assistance with using Activity Monitor, reinstalling macOS, or with using Time Machine to back up your Mac, please Contact Apple Support for additional service and support.

Thanks!

This is the operating system's way of telling you to just use the keyboard shortcut ⇧⌘5 (Shift+Command+5) and this. Once you hit that key command, you'll jump right to the screen recording function with options to record your entire screen, selected window or selected portion