Technological innovations and the prevalence of the computer as a means of producing and engaging with texts have dramatically transformed how literacy is defined and developed in modern society. This rise in digital writing practices has led to a growing number of tools and methods that can be used to explore second language (L2) writing development. This paper provides an overview of one such technique: the contributions of screen capture technology as a means of analyzing writers' composition processes. This paper emphasizes the unique advantages of being able to unobtrusively gather, store and replay what have traditionally remained hidden sequences of events at the heart of L2 writers' text production. Drawing on research data from case studies of university L2 writers, findings underscore the contribution screen capture technology can make to writing theory's understanding of the complex series of behaviours and strategies at the heart of L2 writers' interactions.