Highlights Explained
Highlights lets you capture and save your best gameplay moments automatically or with a single hotkey.
There are two types of Highlights:
Instant Highlights
Instant Highlights allows you to retroactively record and save recent gameplay clips (15 seconds to 2 minutes) with a single hotkey press.
Quick Capture, Press Ctrl + \ (default hotkey) to instantly save the last 15 seconds to 2 minutes of gameplay. Captures are made in the background with no lag or disruption.
Retroactive Recording, Records what just happened, so you don't need to anticipate moments in advance.
Overlay Integration, Accessible from the Wand overlay while in-game, works smoothly alongside other Wand features.
Auto Highlights
Automatically captures key gameplay moments, such as mod activations or supported in-game events, so important events are saved without needing to press a hotkey.
Highlights are designed to run in the background with minimal performance impact.
Clip Elements
When Highlights is enabled, Wand records:
Gameplay video
Game audio (if audio recording is enabled)
Microphone (if microphone is enabled)
The duration selected in your Highlight Length setting (15 seconds to 2 minutes)
For Auto Highlights triggered by mod activations, Wand records both the moments before and after activation to ensure the full context is captured.
Highlights does not automatically share your recordings.
Clips Location
Your saved highlights are automatically stored and accessible in multiple locations for easy viewing, sharing, or editing:
Wand desktop app
Open the Wand app and go to the "Highlights" tab
From there, you can browse, play, rename, edit, share, download or delete clips.
File system access
Highlights are stored locally on your device
You can locate them manually via Settings > Highlights > Open Videos folder
Or hover over a clip, click those 3 dots, and click Open file location (this option is only available if the highlight is stored locally)
Cloud storage (optional)
If enabled, clips can be backed up to the cloud for safekeeping and multi-device access:
To enable cloud storage:
Open Settings > Highlights
Toggle "Enable Cloud Storage" on
To back up clips to the cloud:
Go to the "Highlights" tab
Click "Back Up Clips" to sync them to your account
Once backed up, clips can be accessed across Wand installations on any device using the same account.
You can also download your clips to use with your preferred video editing software or upload them to platforms like YouTube or Discord.
Clips are private by default and are stored in your personal library. Your clips are never shared publicly unless you choose to share them.
Wand does not automatically publish or distribute your gameplay videos.
Turning Highlights on and off
Highlights has two independent controls, one for automatic capture, one for manual, so you can switch off just the part you don't want.
Auto Highlights is set per game; there's no single switch that turns it off everywhere.
Open the game's page in the Wand desktop app
Click the video icon, then toggle Auto Highlights on or off
Instant Highlights (manual capture)
Open the Wand desktop app and click your profile picture in the top-right corner
Go to Settings > Highlights
Toggle Enable Instant Highlights on or off
This controls manual, hotkey capture only. Turning it off stops hotkey clips but does not turn off Auto Highlights, which stays controlled per game above.
With Auto Highlights off for a game, automatic clipping and its cloud uploads stop for that game; with Instant Highlights off, the hotkey no longer captures clips. Previously saved clips remain in your library unless you delete them.
Note: By enabling Highlights, you agree to our Terms of Service and acknowledge you've reviewed our Privacy Policy.
Update Highlights Settings
You can customize how Instant Highlights and Auto Highlights work through the Wand settings menu:
Access Settings, Go to Settings > Highlights
The settings are grouped into three areas:
Instant Highlights
Enable Instant Highlights: enable or disable manual (hotkey) capture
Highlight Length: choose how much time to save (between 15 seconds – 2 minutes)
Instant Highlight Hotkey: customize the hotkey used to capture Highlights
Enable Highlight Map Pins: automatically drops a pin on the game's map wherever you capture a Highlight, so you can jump straight back to where a moment happened
⚠️ Note: to see clips on the map, your videos must be backed up to the cloud. Map pins are only supported on games with Live Location and a single map.
Highlight Map Pins show up on the game's interactive map, see the Video Pins section there for how they appear.
Capture Settings
Video Quality: adjust the resolution and frame rate of recorded videos
Audio: enable or disable game audio capture
Microphone: enable or disable microphone input capture
Cloud & storage
Enable cloud storage: save your Highlights to the cloud (also lets you share them)
Highlight Uploads: choose when clips upload, Instantly, When game closes, or Never
Keep local copies after upload: when off, Highlights are removed from your computer after they upload, you can download them again anytime from the Highlights page
Delete data from cloud: remove your Highlights data from the cloud
Export all videos: download all your video files into your Videos directory
Open videos folder: open the folder on your device where Highlights are saved
Changes apply immediately and affect all future recordings. You don't need to restart Wand or your game.
Updating Auto Highlights Activation Settings
You can customize when Auto Highlights triggers from each game's page.
Go to a game page
Click the video icon, then click on either of the Game events or Mod events options
Select when to trigger under the Game Events and Mod Events menus by clicking of the checkboxes beside each option
Featured in a shared clip? Request removal
If you appear in a clip that was shared publicly and would like it removed, or want to report a clip that violates Wand's Acceptable Use Policy, our Support team can help.
Clips are private by default and only become public if a user chooses to share them.
For more details, please refer to this article.