Shutter:Workflow
The workflow of Shutter is a simple 3-step process:
- Add events that are to be monitored, and
- Add actions that are to be executed when the specified events occur.
- Start monitoring for the specified events.
Shutter monitors for the events to be triggered according to the selected logic, then all actions will be executed one by one. Note that individual events are not directly linked to individual actions, but the lists of events and actions are linked.
You can consider that a single instance of Shutter has a single active schedule (preset). If you need multiple active schedules, you need to start multiple instances of Shutter each with its own schedule.
Step 1: Add Events
Events are usually based on periodic checking of a system state, execution state of a process, or system time.
- You can add multiple events, and also set the logical relationship between them.
Note that this step only loads the events; Shutter will not start monitoring for the event till you press the 
button (see Step 3).
Step 2: Add Actions
Actions are executed one by one, from top to bottom.
You can add as many actions as you want, but please be aware of the following factors:
- Each action can affect the execution of the other actions listed below it.
To avoid that, you may have to change the order of the Actions by moving them up/down. - Some of these actions are terminal: They close Shutter, log out the Windows user or shut down the PC. For example: the Shutdown action.
Therefore, such Actions must be placed at the very end of the Actions stack. Otherwise the actions listed below them will never be executed!
Step 3: Start monitoring
Press the button. Shutter starts monitoring for the events. The button changes to 
. Press it if you want to stop Shutter in an emergency.
- Shutter also has a
button, which starts all actions without waiting for triggering the event-set.
- This is useful to check how the specified actions would actually work.