Helping people with computers... one answer at a time.
Windows includes screen capture by default, but if you use it often and rely on it alone, you don't know what you're missing.
One of the more surprising questions I get fairly often has nothing at all to do with computer problems, Windows configuration or general computing. It's very simple:
"How'd you get that cool tear-off look to your screen captures?"
I use SnagIt.
By the way, this is what they're talking about:
As with any utility like this, I'm certain that there are many alternatives, but I've been using SnagIt for several years now and have been exceptionally pleased with how quick and easy it is to use.
But I had to be convinced.
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The issue, of course, is that all versions of Windows include screen captures. Just hit the Print Screen key and a copy of the current screen is placed into the clipboard. You can then paste that into your favorite image editing application and go to town.
After using SnagIt for about five minutes, I realized what I'd been missing.
SnagIt allows for much better control of what portion of the screen you're capturing. It's trivial to capture exactly and only the window you want, to specify an area you want, or to capture the entire screen as before, if that's what you would like. Even better, SnagIt includes "scrolling capture," which automatically captures an image of entire web page, even if the page is much taller than your screen.
As powerful as the capture utility is, I also find myself using SnagIt's image editor by itself as well. Yes, I have PhotoShop, but SnagIt's editor is a quick an easy way to add highlights, arrows, boxes and whatnot to captured images. If you see an arrow I've placed on one of the screen shots on the site, that was all of about two or three mouse clicks worth of work to add.
And, of course, the SnagIt editor is where I get those fancy torn edges (one of several options, I might add) when I only want to show a part of a window or dialog.
SnagIt is also more than screen shots. While I haven't played with it much, SnagIt also includes a PDF capture printer driver, so you can capture by printing to PDF as well.
As you can tell from various examples on Ask Leo! I rely on SnagIt a fair amount. It's one of the applications I keep running at all times - it's just too handy.
If capturing on-screen images is a part of what you do, or is something that would just help you be more effective at what you do, SnagIt's worth checking out.
I recommend it.
Article C3457 - July 25, 2008
Leo A. Notenboom has been playing with computers since he
was required to take a programming class in 1976. An 18 year career as a programmer at Microsoft soon followed.
After "retiring" in 2001, Leo started Ask Leo! in 2003 as a place for answers
to common computer and technical questions. More about Leo.
Leo
Posted by: Hans Selig at August 10, 2010 2:55 PMyou forgot to mention that Windows 7 has a similar tool to Snagit namely "Snipping Tool"
It does not do the fancy edges but it will do exactly the same as Snagit and it is FREE
Why didn't you mention in your newsletter article that:
(1)SnagIt is NOT free. It costs $48.95.
(2)It is NOT downloadable but has to be shipped to the buyer. Most software purchased on the Internet IS downloadable, why not SnagIt?
(3)I, as probably many others of your newsletter readers, am currently stationed overseas. Standard shipping to my location takes 3 to 4 weeks and costs an additional $9.98.
(4)I have to enter all my personal financial information (credit card #, or bank acct info, etc.) before I can find out the amount of the import duties and fees deposit. Why do I have to enter all this very sensitive data before I find out the total cost of the product?
So I would have to pay $58.93 plus an unknown amount for the import duties and fees deposit to get SnagIt.
18-Aug-2010
Posted by: Ivan Quentin at August 17, 2010 10:50 PM
I have snagit9 but use snagit 8, I only get 30 mins of video capturing. Can snagit10 go longer-say 60mins of video capture? Thanks in advance.
Posted by: MACRIST at November 26, 2010 11:07 PMI love SnagIt, bought it on your recommendation, but I have to agree with Hans that the Snipping Tool in Win 7 is pretty slick. It doesn't have all the bells and whistles as SnagIt, which I continue to use to prepare images for the Web, but when I just want to show a friend something on my screen, maybe a mysterious error message, or how big a 500GB hard drive is visually, I use Snipping.
Posted by: sharon at February 22, 2011 8:56 AMFYI: Snag-It has been around for a long time. I remember seeing it and using it in some of the earlier versions of Windows. (I tried to do a quick lookup how long it's been around, but couldn't find anything too easily.)
My point is that it's had plenty of time to fine-tune its features and interface.
But, frankly, if Windows' snip tool had a scrolling capture, there is little more value to Snagit.
Posted by: Jeff at March 20, 2011 9:14 AM