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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. If you're using Vista or Windows 7, it's pre-installed with a screen capture utility. Other operating systems may offer a similar utility for screen capture too. As an alternative to the utilities come with the OS, the freeware products in this review cover most of the following useful features and functionalities needed by the users.
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Discussion
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A right click on the tray icon shows a context menu for capturing full screen, active window, window control, rectangular, fixed or freehand region. Auto-scroll, dual monitors and sound effect are supported. No delayed capture setting is probably needed as users have a chance to make, for example, a window current before pressing the Print-Screen key. The screenshot can be saved into a file with an auto-save option, copied to the clipboard or directed to PicPick Image Editor included in the program for resizing or editing the image right away. This program completes with extra functionalities which include color picker, screen ruler, protractor, crosshair, whiteboard, etc. On the downside, drawing objects are flattened and not movable in the editor. Capturing of the scrolling window is slower with the Chrome browser. |
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It allows for setting transparent background (untick 'flatten background') and saving in png format with the alpha channel, good for capturing a window with round corners or in non-square shape (as tested on XP). Auto scroll is supported but performs slower than PicPick. The program has a main window including a thumbnail browser and an image editor with comprehensive tools for resizing, cropping, adding text, border, shadow, frame, arrow and highlight, etc. Creating a pre-defined thumbnail is just one-click away and image files can be saved in various formats. A lot of options and settings including full object-editing tools and clipart library are available to the program for more advanced users. Moreover, external tools can be accessed from this program with proper configuration. Upon running the program, the user is required to register and get a free license key to remove a nag message. |
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It snaps full screen, active windows, control objects, fixed size or selected regions. Scrolling windows is featured but it does not work well with Firefox and Chrome when tested. It has a tabbed image viewer and editor, allowing for cropping, resizing, text annotations, arrows, stamps, highlights and other drawing tools, and saving images in various formats. |
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The application allows for taking full screen, rectangular region and multiple screens, but it has no detection of window objects. Scrolling window can be captured by manually scrolling down the window after the "Delayed Capture" is pressed, a pretty good idea although auto scrolling would be preferred. An image editor is included in the program for basic editing tasks, e.g. cropping, resizing, adding text or shapes and marking. |
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The program supports optional delayed snaps and periodic screenshots via Auto Capture, but it does not allow for freehand captures and detection of scrolling windows. The captured images can be added with text or image watermarks, and edited with the built-in image editor or pre-set external editors. Some extra features include a color picker, language translator and drag-and-drop window. |
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A simple image editor is included for adding arrows, text, frames and highlights. Surprisingly, it currently offers to save the file in png format only. What's more? It completes with an on-screen video recorder which is reviewed in Best Free Screen Session Recorder. This is a good choice if you need a screen capturer with a session recorder. |
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Looking for a screen capture tool for Linux?
The captured screenshot can be edited with a simple inbuilt DrawingTool for adding text, highlights, floating arrows, etc. and executing the included plugins such as resize, 3D rotate, watermark, shadow, soft edge, torn paper, jigsaw piece and other special effects. Shutter can also be linked to an external editor such as GIMP Image Editor for advanced editing. It supports upload or autosave in various formats. On the down side, Shutter does not feature auto-scroll capture but relies on Gnome Web Photographer to generate full-size image files and thumbnails from web pages and html files. |
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Others
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These are a number of other applications for screen capture. Some were brought up in comments here or noted from other sources. As they are not rated in this review, I am listing them here with brief descriptions and relevant links for ease of reference.
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Have Your Say
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2.2.0 
Unrestricted Freeware 
Win XP, Vista, Windows7
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Editor
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This article is maintained by volunteer editor Jojoyee. Registered site users are allowed to edit and improve this article wiki-style. |
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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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Tried PicPick, but it only did auto scroll vertically. Is there any screen captor that does auto scroll horizontally?
I've not come across a good one that will do auto scroll horizontally, but I'd say most web sites require you to scroll vertically rather than horizontally especially if you're using a wide screen.
That said, there's still an alternative. Try Best Free Digital Image Stitcher which can join two screenshots taken horizontally, and of course it needs extra efforts.
I have been looking for a free screen capture utility that would allow me to capture window objects. Thanks to this website I finally found PicPick. Thank's a lot!
PicPick web site appears to be dysfunctional. Unable to get to the site for the last 2 weeks (since 1/3/2010).
The site is very much functional. Just few days ago I had downloaded the latest version from their site. 2 weeks is a big time. You need to look for problems at your end.
New version 2.2 of picpick is out. Changelog http://picpick.wiziple.net/12186#0
Has anyone tried Screenpresso at http://www.screenpresso.com/
It is almost like Snag it(really) and has got many wonderful features.
It uses a different approach for auto scroll which almost works in every app.
IT has its own editor to add shapes, comments, arrow, blur and border effects.
Other features include uploading directly to twitter via twitpic.
It seems, that in a few days, video capture will also be developed.
Although it has got a portable mode, installing makes it work fast and easy.
Please see this and you will be impressed at once.
Does look impressive but I note that the submission of usage statistics and "check for updates" is mandatory in the free version. Presumably therefore an internet connection is also mandatory in order to use the program? This might give some people concerns about privacy.
This from the agreement you have to accept before downloading the program:
The following restrictions apply for unregistered users (if no license key is found) :
- Features and user monitoring (e.g. which features of Screenpresso are used most often, hardware capabilities of the host and Company name of the user) are sent to a web server for statistical purpose. This requires that internet network must be operational, wich means that firewall and other HTTP traffic management must not be used to block HTTP requests between Screenpresso software and the Internet.
- End users of Screenpresso must be warn about the features monitoring mechanism.
Yeah, I read those lines.
But, I think this kind of info is also sent by many good software like Picasa, Google Chrome, Avast and many more.
I'm sure that the program wont be sending any screenshots to them.
It says that it will only send info, such as which features are used often.
I think this wont harm privacy(will it? Sorry I cant make out the meaning)
I'm too a big fan of PicPick and I love it since it has a lot of options.
But this software might be helpful for editing(it has got a wonderful editor)
PhotoScape has also a nice built-in tool
There is a picpick portable version. Select the zip package from the normal download page.
I've been using FS Capture 5.3 Portable on my work computer because I don't have admin rights to install programs. It is located here:
http://www.portablefreeware.com/?id=775
From a quick glance at all the other programs listed, none have a portable option. If there's one out there please indicate in the reviews. Portability is becoming an important feature these days.
Yes it is indicated for PicPick in the Quick Selection Guide. If you go to its download page, it has a zip file (Portable for USB). I'm with you, I also like portable programs :)
Ok, by the comments here, I gave PicPick a try. It looks like a great program but I have one major complaint that has me looking for another alternative.
Auto-Scroll does not work in Firefox 3.5.5 where I spend 99% of my time. Screen print works fine, but the auto-scroll also just takes a screen shot no matter what options I set or where I select on the screen. It works great in IE8.
If I am wrong about or if there is a fix/workaround please correct me because the program looks very promising.
I have tested it on FF3.5.5 and it looks like part of the screen is duplicated in the captured image with the autoscroll.
But there's a workaround to make it work (applicable to PicPick current version 2.1.2):
Change the "Scrolling delay" to 0 ms before capturing with autoscroll.
Thanks for the reply. However, I tried that and other posted methods like turning off Smooth Scrolling in Firefox and still not working. I tried it with 2 different versions of Windows(XP & 7) and 2 different update versions of Firefox one being 3.5.5 same as you. After Googling the problem it doesn't seem like I'm the only one though. Maybe I'll wait a couple of versions and try it out again.
Oh well..love this site and all the great people that keep it running! (including the users with good comments/feedback)
For doing an easy screenshot of a complete webpage in Firefox try the Screengrab extension available at https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1146
If the version has to be bumped up for your version of FF just unzip the xpi and change the max version number in the install.rdf file and rezip and change the extension back to xpi.
Screen Print & Capture 32 3.5 is also very good.
Easy, very fast.
You can set the settings like this, that you click on Print Screen, and then you select what you want on screen.
Then go to for instance word, and click control v.
http://download.cnet.com/Screen-Print-Capture-32/3000-2384_4-10135610.ht...
For some reason pick pick did not download.I hate pages that do not clearly indicate which download button is the right one.routinely you go to one of these free sites and there are a host of other products with download buttons.
i downloaded easy capture and found out it does not support scrolling.I have uninstalled screen shot capture
JUST AFTER DOWNLOADING AND USING SCREENSHOT CAPTURE MY PC WAS INFECTED WITH A WORM.I HAD TO EXIT FIRE FOX TO GET THE PROGRAM OFF MY SCREEN.
Malware links on bad sites are constantly changing so it is imperative that you check every one first. One of the best tools for this is the Dr Web link scanner add-on for Firefox.
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/938
I've just checked our Screenshot Capture link with it and it's clean. This being the case, if your PC is infected then it was either there already or arrived by some other means. I would maybe consider reviewing your security setup to identify where this vulnerability is.
I have Verizon Internet Suite and ran that immediately and it did not find anything.I ran both anti virus and spyware.
I then ran spybot search and destroy and it found 5 cases of spyware.I dont know if those were related to this incident
If you want to screen capture automatically while playing games in full-screen:
http://autoscreen.sourceforge.net/
i personally liked Jing but do not use it because of two drawbacks:
can only save files in one format which means taking time to have to change the format if desired; also that though i like having a file name automatically given while saving an image, you have to wait a minute or so before saving another image or it will be assigned the same file name.
screenrip32 is a good choise http://www.snapfiles.com/get/screenrip.html
Doesn't work.
Signo (www.kerkia.com), the hotkey manager/utility, also includes a comprehensive screen capture utility. It seems to lack auto-scroll but does everything else and with a very configurable approach. Also one thing it does that other utilities seem to lack is the ability to send the capture to Team Foundation Server work items, very useful if you happen to work with this Microsoft development environment.
An easy to use screen capture tool , http://horizon33.weebly.com/
Thanks for mentioning Horizon33 which offers some basic features. Added in Others Section.
I can't get a clean uninstall of PicPick :(
After reading this article, I gave PicPick a try. But I think I will uninstall it again for the following reasons:
* When capturing a web page from firefox the autoscroll works vertically but not horizontally.
* When you capture an active window, it captures only that part of the window that is currently visible on the screen. So if anything happens to fall outside the borders of the screen, then it is not captured.
Could NOT get PicPick to copy to email. The "Support" website is a useless mess. Maybe it's just me, but I'm rather persistent, tried several times and different ways, and this ain't my first rodeo. Did I miss something??
PicPick supports output to the Editor, clipboard, save to file and auto save. If I'm not mistaken, I don't think it has a feature to auto attach the screenshot to an email client. This would have to do manually, i.e., attach the image file that you saved from PicPick.
A notable alternative: Jing, by Techsmith
http://www.techsmith.com/
Already mentioned :)
Personally I like the last freeware version of FastStone Capture (version 5.3) that is available here. The main reason is that I like to add annotations with arrows and text to screen shots. FastStone Capture does that. Version 5.3 is available here:
http://www.aplusfreeware.com/categories/mmedia/FastStoneCapture.html
George
I keep looking for something Better than FS capture, but I always end up going back. I'm trying out PicPick... Seems pretty good, if you don't mind the limited output. Otherwise it seems to have the best features of FS capture and MWSnap.
But thanks for posting the info on FS capture. I give it a big nod for the drawing features and how polished the app is. Very, VERY good since it is so easy to use.
zscreen is a must! really great program.
Really happy to see the list here. I have used ScreenShot Captor for a long time and can say it is a great program. I am disappointed that the worst that can be said about it is that it must be registered...If you look into it, you find it really isn't a registration in the traditional sense. You just have to go to the site and request a key - that way the author does not have his freeware ripped-off. Well, that is my take on it anyway. The worst part about it, in my opinion is it isn't exactly easy to use compared to the other alternatives. Of course it does more than most of them too. To each his/her own. The best part that was left out, however, is it supports external tools. Maybe it doesn't have the ruler/protractor/super-great-perfect-tool-thingy going for it, but it has the next best thing (sometimes the best thing): You can access your favorite tool and utilize it from within the program! This is an under-appreciated feature that I noticed was not even mentioned. For the few features missing (most notably a ruler for me), you can add it to your external tools and make it immediately available. That said, PicPick sounds very worth looking into.
Thanks for valuable comments. Mentioning of the external tools that can be configured with Screenshot Captor is added.
CopySafe prevents most screen captures. Do any of these programs work when CopySafe is used?
If i want to capture pages in a website by doing scrolling down till the last page,how do i do it.
I am a n00b here
Assuming you're using PicPick, right click at the tray icon brings up the context menu (as shown in the article).
Select Screen Capture, then Capture Window Control, move the mouse to the left of the scroll bar, ("Auto Scroll" will appear under Output Type in a small window), press Print-Screen key. You'll see that PicPick automatically scrolls the page until the end and captures the full page.
Hope this helps.
"Grab Capture Screen" ? Ever hears of it? I have had it for years now, and it works marvelously. I believe it's no longer available. Thanks for PickPick Gizmo! Never heard of it before...Shows just what a fantastic and appreciated service you render us guys, and how much we appreciated the creators of geed freeware! We are grateful to you.
To me, problem with Picpick is : do not save in pdf format! And I don't want to have to run one more application to save it in this format. So I'll continue using Solid Capture.
Screenshot Captor which is freeware supports pdf output. Solid Capture is excluded from the review as it is commercial software.
This review has been re-written with a new top pick. Your continued comments and suggestions are appreciated.
I didn't see it on the first pageful of comments, and since it's relatively new, I'm betting it's not on the 2nd or 3rd (and if it is, then I apologize for the repeat)...
...but I just learned (maybe it's been around for a while and I just missed it or something) about Extensoft's freeware screen capture utility that is very nice as a screen capturer; however, it also doubles as an animated capturer (or "screen recorder"), too... like Wink or Cam Studio.
Seems well worth a look.
http://www.extensoft.com/?p=free_screen_capturer
__________________________
Gregg L. DesElms
gregg [at] greggdeselms.com
Napa, California
DesElms - THANKS for the link!! It works very nicely, very simple and fast, directly to Outlook Express, too. Never could get PicPick to transfer to email, directly or indirectly, maybe I missed something. Nice little gadget!!
Lowndes
It shows me a total white page.
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