# Recognition Modes There are four ways to harness the power of Polarity. Choose the mode that’s right for you either from within the main window, the Polarity Overlay or via the Polarity icon in the system tray. 1. **On-Demand Only** -- Real-time recognition is off but you can still execute a search in Polarity. 2. **Stream** -- Polarity will automatically stream information in real-time to the overlay when more context is available. 3. **Highlight** -- Information is highlighted in real-time. Hover on highlights to get more details. 4. **Focus** -- Take a screenshot of a section on your screen and lookup any indicators within that section. ## On-Demand Only > Force a search when you want it ![](/files/EPmcIKgAOiQBJ3H0kLAZ) Users can run On-demand searches regardless of what recognition mode is being used. In this mode entities will not be highlighted when recognized. There are three ways that you can use the Polarity On-Demand Only mode: 1. **Shortcut keys** - Select/Highlight the text you want to obtain more context on press and hold **Ctrl + C** (or **CMD + C (Hold)** for macOS) for about 2 seconds. This will run an On-Demand query against all integrations and channels within Polarity.
2. **Search My Clipboard** - You can also right click anywhere within Polarity (or select the `Search My Clipboard` option from any Polarity menu). Clicking `Search My Clipboard` will take any data that is already on your clipboard and run a query against all integrations and channels within Polarity. 3. **Focus Mode** - To Activate Focus Mode, use the keyboard shortcut **CTRL + Alt + A.** Your mouse cursor will transform into a green pointer to indicate that Focus Mode has been activated. Click down on your left mouse button and drag your mouse over the area of your screen that you want the on-demand search to be run on then release the button when done. {% hint style="info" %} The default way to perform an On-Demand search when using Polarity Client versions **prior to version 3.4** is as follows: * Select/Highlight the text you want to obtain more context around and hold **CTRL + C** (or **CMD + C** for MacOS) and then press **SHIFT**. {% endhint %} ### Focus Mode Focus mode allows you to run an on-demand search by drawing a box around the area of your screen that you want Polarity to return results for. This mode is particularly useful as it enables you to harness the power of Polarity’s on-demand mode even when not being able to interact with the data on your screen! {% hint style="info" %} Further tweaks to how Focus Mode works for you can be made in[ Recognition Settings.](/enterprise-guide/polarity-settings/polarityx-advancedsettings.md#recognition-settings) {% endhint %} ![](/files/uqE3KGoG3bGtJLEz22Cx) ### QR Code Recognition With our latest 5.2.2 release analysts can now utilize our QR code recognition feature within Focus Mode. Is all an analyst has to do is trigger Focus mode either through the button or with the shortcut key and then draw the reticule over a QR code. The analyst will then get any information on urls, domains, IPS and more that are contained within that QR Code. Enabling analysts to quikly triage QR codes now to determine if there is any nefarious occurring within the QR code.

QR Codes in Action

## Stream > Automated search while you work ![](/files/ahNAmb483S6r86Knerp1) Polarity automatically streams contextual information into the Polarity Overlay based on the content of your active application. ## Highlight > Highlighted search while you work ![](/files/nOmVL9UoUJ4RFIe8eg95) Polarity highlights keywords in your active application. You can mouse-over highlighted keywords to populate the Polarity Overlay with related contextual information. ## Switching between On-Demand, Highlight and Stream modes. There are three different ways to switch between the On-demand, Stream and Highlight modes. {% tabs %} {% tab title="Windows" %} **The Overlay Window** Select your mode of choice by clicking on one of the three toggles at the top of the of the Polarity Overlay window. {% hint style="info" %} See [Common Terminologies Used](/enterprise-guide/master.md#common-terminologies-used) for more info on system trays and menu bars. {% endhint %} {% endtab %} {% tab title="MacOS" %} **The Overlay Window** Select your mode of choice by clicking on one of the three toggles at the top of the of the Polarity Overlay window. {% hint style="info" %} See [Common Terminologies Used](https://app.gitbook.com/@polarity/s/user-guide/~/drafts/-MDVSfseP0GSn4I-pz6m/#common-terminologies-used) for more info on system trays and menu bars. {% endhint %} {% endtab %} {% tab title="Linux" %} **The Overlay Window** Select your mode of choice by clicking on one of the three toggles at the top of the of the Polarity Overlay window. {% hint style="info" %} See [Common Terminologies Used](https://app.gitbook.com/@polarity/s/user-guide/~/drafts/-MDVSfseP0GSn4I-pz6m/#common-terminologies-used) for more info on system trays and menu bars. {% endhint %} {% endtab %} {% endtabs %} {% hint style="info" %} Users can also choose to run both the Highlight and Stream modes at the same time. For more info on how to do this see [Simultaneously Run Stream and Highlight](/enterprise-guide/polarity-settings/polarityx-advancedsettings.md#simultaneously-run-stream-and-highlight). {% endhint %} ### --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://docs.polarity.io/enterprise-guide/using-polarity/recognition-modes.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.