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Best Free Screen Capture Utility
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Introduction
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On the standard Windows operating system, pressing the Print-Screen key will copy an image of the entire screen to the clipboard, holding the Alt key and pressing the Print-Screen key will capture the currently selected window. Vista and Windows 7 come with a screen capture utility pre-installed. Other operating systems may also offer a similar utility for screen capture. As an alternative to the utilities that come with the OS, the freeware products in this review cover most of the following useful features and functions which users might find they need:
This article's focus is on screen captures. If your priority is editing, after the capture, then check out Best Free Digital Image Editor. Several of the editors listed also perform screen captures. I've eliminated many products because they can't adapt to my screen settings, eg I have the custom text size set to 150%. I feel that I should not have to optimize the screen settings for the screen capture tool. Instead, I should optimize the screen for myself and the item I want to capture. The utility should be able to adapt. As evidence that this is not impossible there are several utilities listed below which meet this criteria. |
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Discussion
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Once captured the program can automatically do the following to the image: keep, save, print, move to the clipboard, display in the built-in editor, email, or upload to hosting services. The built-in editor is rich with features. You might not find it necessary to use an image editor. Requests for free registration on start up.
With this program you can choose to select an image outline, set output target to the clipboard or auto-save to a file. I found this program easy and intuitive to use, but it lacks a simple built-in image editor and a setting for a delayed capture.
Where it excels is in the built-in editor. There are many tools available such as callouts, magnifying lenses, 3D perspective, and reflections. Images can be saved to clipboard, file, email or FTP. There is no direct to printer option.
Output can be directed to the clipboard, printer or an image file.
Output is displayed in the editor window and sent either to email or an image file. The editor is limited to two tools--a freehand highlighting tool and a freehand line drawing tool. There is no printer output function.
I liked that it had an option to automatically open the external editor after saving the file. Lowers screen resolution when attempting to capture a rectangular region so nealy half of the right and bottom sides are unavailable. Requires an email address for registration.
Requires registration with Screencast.com. |
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To be reviewed: SnapCrab: http://www.fenrir-inc.com/us/snapcrab/ |
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Other
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The following screen capture tools were brought up in comments here or noted from other sources. Some tools don't properly handle the text size setting thereby effectively cropping 225% of the screen with a 150% text screen setting. They may work fine if your text setting is normal (100%). |
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Have Your Say
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You are invited to share and discuss your views in our freeware forum. To post in the forum you need to register first but that's quick and immediate. Alternatively, anyone can leave a comment at the bottom of this page. Please help us by rating this review |
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Related Products and Links
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You might want to check out these articles too: |
Save resulting images as PNG, JPG, BMP, GIF, TIF, PDF, etc.
Save resulting images as PNG, JPG & BMP.
Save resulting images as JPEG, PNG, BMP or JNG
Save resulting images as PNG, BMP, JPG
Save resulting images as PNG, JPG & BMP.
Save resulting images as PNG, GIF, JPG, & MHT
Save resulting images as JPG, BMP, ICO & PDF.
Save resulting images as PNG & SWP
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Editor
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This software category is maintained by volunteer editor meetsangvikar. Registered members can contact the editor with any comments or questions they might have by clicking here. |
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Tags
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capture screen, print screen, free screen capture, screen shot, screenshot, thumbnail, capture screen tool, capture screen utility |
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Screen-Shot.me - take screenshots instantly and save them in album style (still in beta):
http://screen-shot.me/Screenshot/Home
ShareX:
ShareX is an open source program that lets you take screenshots of any selected area with a single key, save them in your clipboard, hard disk or instantly upload them to over 25 different file hosting services. ShareX can capture screenshots with different shapes: rectangle, rounded rectangle, ellipse, triangle, diamond, polygon and also freehand. It can upload images, text files and all other different file types. It is able to capture screenshots with transparency and shadow. The program also supports clipboard upload and drag-and-drop.
https://code.google.com/p/sharex
Snagit 11.2.0 Build 102. 64.1 MB. Really? No, Thanks.
Screenshot Captor 4 is out:
http://www.donationcoder.com/Software/Mouser/screenshotcaptor/
New:
# - Full set of scanner acquisition tools and scanner image correction.
# - Perfect capture of Windows 7 partial transparency effects.
# - The most powerful scrolling capture tool in the field.
# - Easy automatic or on-demand uploading of screenshots to a wide variety of image hosting services (imageshack, flickr, ftp, etc.); easy emailing of screenshots to your friends and colleagues.
# - Great special effects, including automatic active window enhancement, ragged edge splicing, pixelation, smart text removal, and many more.
# - Take snapshots from webcams; record video with the ESR addon.
I like Screenshot Captor a lot ! But it is a lot of bloatware,donationware, crapware. But thanks anyway :)
...and it's STILL my favourite image capture program! The scrolling windows thing is just SO useful!
Can we arrange some sort of Gizmo's tickertape parade for mouser? Screaming cheerleaders, champagne corks flying about the landscape, that sort of thing?
No?
Phooey.
Maybe I'll capture a picture of a cake and email it. :)
Thanks for posting about the new version 4 release of my Screenshot Captor tool, Panzer! I was just about to post when I saw yours, so I'll just reply to yours instead.
For those that are curious about the new version, I've uploaded a short new video tour here:
http://www.donationcoder.com/screencasts/dc/3ds/sc27/sc27.html
And the actual version history describing what's new can always be found here:
http://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=3474.0.
New features include an optional docking capture bar, a new built-in uploader tool, better object and clipart editing, webcam and video capture, major re-organization of options, and just a ton of fixes and other improvements.
I'm of the belief that different people work differently, so I generally encourage people to try alternative tools and pick the one that best matches how they think. And if anyone has any suggestions for ways to improve my program please do let me know (mouser [at] donationcoder.com). I'm always open to new ideas.
Anyway, I'm a big time fan of gizmo and tech support alert -- amazing site. Keep up the great work.
-mouser from donationcoder.com
Thanks for posting mouser :). We at Gizmo's are fans of DonationCoder :).. so the admiration is mutual. Thanks for a great product. I used to use PicPick until now, but since they have become quite aggressive with the extras bundling, I tried Screenshot Captor recently, and I like it a lot. I was putting off using it, because from the looks, it looked like a program made for geeks with a learning curve.. but I gave it a try, and found it was easy to use. The interface though, with loads of stuff, gives the impression that the program might be a bit difficult to use :).
Keep up the excellent work. Will try the new version soon.
Thanks Anupam!
I'm afraid many people may get scared off by the interface with so many buttons and panels.
But do try the latest version -- one of the major new features is a really simple minimal "Capture Bar" which is designed to dock to top of screen and slide out of the way. When you combine that with the "post-capture" dialog that by default comes up after each screenshot -- it should mean that if you want you never have to see the big main Screenshot Captor window at all :)
Instead, just capture from the quick bar, and choose what to do from the simple post-capture dialog.
Then the main window is only for if you ever want to go back to older screenshots and manipulate them.
There are always tradeoffs in trying to accommodate both power users and casual users -- I've tried really hard to make a tool that can be configured to do everything a power user would need, while still having a default simple interface for casual users, though I'm not always 100% successful. Anyway, I'm glad you like it -- I hope more people will give the program a try and not be intimidated by it.
As always, people should try different programs and find the one that best suits their tastes -- no one program is right for everyone. But if you find something that doesn't work as it should in one of our apps or have a feature request -- don't be shy about posting in our forum -- one of the pleasures of coding is being able to interact with users and add features based on user requests.
-mouser (jesse)
Thanks again Jesse :). Great to know about the latest release... the new feature sounds great! Will download soon, and try it out. Will surely post in the DonationCoder forum, if I have anything to share regarding the program :).
Mr.Shot 1.51 is a fast and easy to use screen capturing program. You need to get use to it at first though. The default hot keys are Control + D, W, R, F which are customizable. Has lot of options and features including free hand drawing and capture mouse cursor. Includes a toolbar to add text, shapes and highlight which can be disabled if you don't want to use the editor.
Definitely worth a try.
http://verifive.com/MrShot.html
It has been mentioned before by George Meyer (at the bottom of this page). Thanx anyway.
I thought it would help the discussion.
Ok.
The Windows Club released the
"Windows Screen Capture Tool v1.0"
Found on the following webpage:
http://www.thewindowsclub.com/windows-screen-shot-capture-tool-free-down...
Neox Screen is ShareX ripoff:
https://code.google.com/p/sharex
More here:
http://www.reddit.com/r/opensource/comments/17qmek/my_friends_software_g...
Thanks to you both. The suggestion for Neox Screen has been deleted, and future suggestions of it will be deleted too.
EzSnap:
http://ezsnap.com/
Does SnapDraw have function to place "Caption" box / object w/ your custom text, above a captured or edited screenshot? Nothing I see on their site mentions it.
Much as old FastStone Capture does? That hopefully has some capability to easily change text font, size, color, border / no border.
Also, caption object / box is EITHER resizable once added, or has word wrap as typing caption text & fairly easy to change caption text properties. FastStone v5.3 is still very nice & intuitive for relatively simple annotating. One FastStone drawback (& WHY I'm looking for something w/ just a BIT more capability) is, once LEAVE its annotation ("Drawing") screen, can't do ANY more editing to annotations - like editing a text box. Can't even delete added objects, once leave the drawing screen.
FastStone has excellent quality captures. Printing (for me in Vista 32 / 64) no longer works, but can save or copy to another app to print. Many prgms reviewed in this section don't have direct printing, anyway.
PLEASE feel free to suggest other prgms that have above features & decent, INTUITIVE, easy to use annotation for simpler things; Adding (resizeable) text boxes, arrows, highlighting, easy drawing / editing of common shapes - rectangle / circle outlines, etc.
If I want more complex features (that I rarely use), I'll use something like SSC. But, for simpler things, it's way more complicated (& occasionally irritating) than needed.
I'll agree w/ the review that Screenshot Captor has many nice features. I've used it quite a while. But it's also one of the most unintuitive (mostly its editor) on how to use many of those features, or where the settings are found. If you can figure it out, or use it on a daily basis & become "expert," it may be great. It also captures scrolling screens, but process is hardly "one click & done." There's a learning curve on scrolling captures & it doesn't work on some screens / web pages, but most don't have that function at all.
Screenshot Captor also does SOME functions in ways that NO other app w/ same feature does it (back to unintuitive editor). Its Caption "editor" is simplistic compared to its other features & can be more difficult to enter anything but one line, than other apps w/ that feature. It's feature packed, but the way some work are plain "weird," which many complain about on their forum. Has a decent Help file, but in no way explains how all the "advanced" features work (or some of basic). You'll have to search / post on forum for those directions.
TextBox in ScreenshotCaptor doesn't support properly RTL language.
Greenshot is published under GPL. Software under the GPL license may be used for all purposes including commercial use. Most of the titles that were reviewed here are "free for personal use". I've been using PicPick for quite a while at home but needed something that I could use and install on users computers at my office. I'm still testing, but it looks like Greenshot may be exactly what I need.
Anyone done a side-by-side results comparison for capture clarity ? Simplicity and features are nice, but clarity is most important, of which I don't even see mentioned of.
I tried Screenshot Captor and PicPick, both of which were unable to successfully to capture a scrolling window of products at Amazon. Then I came across a recommendation of Screenpresso free version at MakeUseOf.com and it works excellent for capturing scrolling windows.
I highly recommend TechSupportAlert do an evaluation of Screenpresso!
QuickScreenshot is a lightweight and very easy to use application that enables you to take screenshots of your desktop with a few mouse clicks. Just press the wanted screenshot key (or press it multiple times) and your screenshots are done!
Feature Overview:
- Multiple screenshots with a few button clicks
- Custom screenshot key (works everywhere, even in games)
- Own screenshot name
- Custom, fixed or fullscreen capture region
- Image formats: JPG, PNG, BMP
- Ability to add a "screenshot captured" sound
- Ability to put QuickScreenshot to the system tray
- Ability to take in-game screenshots (works in every DirectX-based game)
http://www.softpedia.com/get/Multimedia/Graphic/Graphic-Capture/QuickScr...
QuickScreenShots aims at making and using screenshots as quick and efficient as possible.
Features
* Full desktop, active window or custom region screenshot
* Pixel precise region screenshot with use of magnifying glass and arrow keys
* Include mouse cursor in screenshots
* Multi screen capture
* Delay screenshots
* Auto save with incremental file names
* Auto copy to clipboard
* Auto apply shadow effect
* Auto apply rotation
* Auto convert to greyscale
* Sits in notification area
* System wide keyboard shortcuts
* Drawing tools: filled square, filled ellipse, straight line, free line, arrow, blurring.
http://code.google.com/p/quickscreenshots/
I think MWSnap is excellent. I've used it to produce publishing quality images, saving as high specification TIFF files. Also, as I have lots of other things to do, I was really pleased that it took next to no time to learn. And I like the swishing noise it makes when it takes the snap. A great tool.
MW Snap hasn't been updated since 2002! My experience w/ apps updated that long ago is they don't work completely - or at all - w/ Vista & later. Not to mention unfixed bugs because of changes / updates in Windows & other apps.
Dudes...just download the PORTABLE version of PicPick from Softpedia: what's the problem in doing that?? And anyway, you can avoid installing that rubbish by simply uncheck those options during installation....that's it!!
PicPick is much better than all the software mentioned here, at least for ADVANCED users...that's why I pointed it you out here...but of course if you are noobs and need just basic features you can skip it!!
Hey, dude, I don't use software that installs malware on my computer, which is what PicPick did two days ago. Despite the fact that I unchecked all extras, PicPick installed the browser hijacker VideoSaver. For this PicPick has earned Oxa's Royal GDMFSOB Award. I will never use the &$%&^%*&* software again. Time to try Screenshot Captor.